How do you do this?
My m8 Dave works somewhere where there's a lot of running around shouting and talk of putting plans into action quickly, with no one wanting to know much about the many and varied compliance and legal angles.
So do you just go with it and only pipe up (and deal with it) when there's a problem (thereby being a "team player") or do you make it clear there are risks, ways to mitigate them, but no the moon on a stick can't be promised (thereby being a "blocker")?
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The latter ZG. Not so much a blocker as an averter of disaster. I really don't think it's the role of an in-house lawyer to stay silent in the face of something they know carries huge risks. Assuming they do in fact know about it of course ....
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It's a balance. I err on the side of going with the concept the business wants and only being a "blocker" where it really needs it. Most businesses recognize that you need to profile risks. There is also an art to presenting something that might seem like a "block" as a positive.
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I knew someone who kept saying this all the time. 'Its all about managing expectations'.
His firm used to say to him 'Why aren't we as well known as Clifford Chance, we're just as good as them. Come on, we pay you a lot of money, sprinkle some of that magical marketing pixie dust around, or whatever it is you do'.
I advised him he was on a hiding to nothing.
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This. Present it as their problem (what are you doing about X?) and when they are floundering offer yourself as the solutions to the blocks (not a problem, I can work with you to do Y to get round it).
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Your words are as of iron.
I will be watching out for more of your vision.
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I wish our politicians had this view.
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