60 seconds with…. Leigh Monteforte, In-House Lawyers Committee Member

Ahead of the In-house Annual Conference we catch up with one of the Law Society of Scotland’s In-house Lawyers Committee members, Leigh Monteforte, to discuss her transition to working in-house, the importance of platforming different career paths and showing the human side of working in the legal sector.

Leigh, could you start by telling us a bit about your career so far?

I started my law degree with the aim of becoming a litigator and qualified into the commercial litigation team at Dundas & Wilson (which became CMS), where I spent the next 12 years. I was involved in a wide variety of interesting and challenging work at CMS and had the opportunity to go on secondment – twice – to HBOS/Lloyds Banking Group (LBG). When a permanent role came up as a senior lawyer at LBG, it felt like a natural progression. Like most in-house positions, the role required a diverse skill set and I learned a huge amount during my time there. It really did make me a better lawyer.

In 2021, I moved into legal publishing at LexisNexis, where I’m responsible for the creation and maintenance of Scots law practical guidance across key practice areas in Lexis+ and Lexis+ AI. The past four years there have absolutely flown by and it’s been so interesting to see up close the incredible pace of development with legal AI.

LexisNexis is quite different to your role at CMS and Lloyds Banking Group – how was that transition?

For various reasons, towards the end of 2020 I started to re-evaluate what I wanted my life to look like. I was having a difficult time deciding how to move forward in my career and I realised that my identity was really tied up with being a lawyer of a certain level of seniority. Working with a coach was a real turning point for me. She helped me get clear on my core values and I used them to help me make much more intentional decisions about my career path. We also spent time considering why I had pursued a career in law in the first place and what I still loved about it.

For individuals, it’s all about being more intentional with your career path and about what success means for you at that stage of your life. Be open to different types of opportunities and remember that moving sideways is also progression.

Once I let go of that identity, the transition was easy. When the opportunity at LexisNexis came up, I immediately saw it as a perfect fit and I had the confidence to embrace the role, even though it didn’t carry a particular ‘status’.

You’ve been very open in promoting the positives of a ‘squiggly career’ in contrast to the more traditional definitions of what success might look like in the legal sector. How do you view career development?

Around the same time I was seeing a coach, I came across a podcast called Squiggly Careers hosted by Sarah Ellis and Helen Tupper. It really resonated with me and completely changed my whole outlook on the concept of ‘success’.

Like most other sectors, the legal industry is guilty of simply viewing progression and success as moving up the ladder into more and more senior roles. For some people that will absolutely accord with their career goals but organisations should also be able to accommodate different paths. It’s about not having a one-size-fits-all definition of success. Many in-house organisations are particularly well placed to embrace a more flexible approach by offering the chance for employees to explore different roles or develop skills in other areas.

For individuals, it’s all about being more intentional with your career path and about what success means for you at that stage of your life. Be open to different types of opportunities and remember that moving sideways is also progression.  

You’ve been a part of the group advising on content for the In-house Annual Conference – what topics do you think are especially important to your in-house colleagues this year?

AI remains a crucial topic for in-house lawyers who are keen to explore how emerging technologies can bring efficiencies through responsible use. We have two sessions this year to help in-house lawyers navigate AI.

Legal professional privilege is always important and attendees are keen to stay up to date with developments in that area, so the case law update will be essential viewing.

For in-house lawyers, skills development is as important as legal expertise. There’s an interesting session planned on project management and I’ll be chairing one on authentic networking – exploring stress-free (and cringe-free) strategies to build genuine connections.

At last year’s In-house Annual Conference you referenced the importance of platforming the ‘human-side’ of being a solicitor, which resonated with attendees. A year later, do you think this has come into focus more?

Over the years, there has certainly been an improvement in terms of wellbeing resources being available to employees, such as mental health first aiders and access to counselling. But these sorts of measures aren’t directed at the root cause of stress within the workplace, which can cause or exacerbate personal difficulties.

While in-house is often lauded for having more reasonable working hours, the intensity of the work and the environment can still be significant in certain organisations. The flexibility of working from home provides some relief, allowing individuals to better manage personal challenges, but it can also be isolating and make it more difficult for people to recognise if colleagues are struggling.

I read somewhere that a worker’s most important asset is a good manager and I think that’s so true – ultimately, our wellbeing can depend so much on the empathy and understanding of our direct supervisor. It’s important that people in a leadership position receive training on how to handle the human aspects of their role, fostering a more supportive and empathetic work environment.

I’m aware that the Law Society of Scotland has launched a new network called WIDEN, with the first session exploring what processes can be embedded within the workplace to directly tackle things like overwork. It’s only through this sort of industry-wide collaboration that real change can take place.

It feels fitting now to finish with this last question: what keeps you busy outside of work?

Ferrying the kids to their various sporting and other activities! My husband and I have become the taxi service I remember my own dad complaining about.

We try to spend as much time as possible outdoors as a family. There’s nothing better than exploring somewhere new together and I just feel better being by the sea or out in nature. Otherwise, my happy place is curled up somewhere with a good book.

I’m proud to volunteer with Alzheimer’s Research UK (ARUK) as a member of its Lived Experience Involvement Group. I lost my mum in 2019 after 10 years of living with young onset dementia and it’s important to me to do whatever I can to help ARUK’s amazing work to revolutionise the way we treat, diagnose and prevent dementia.

This year’s In-house Annual Conference is spread across two days, from 30 April to 1 May. Over two mornings, earn six hours of CPD and hear directly from in-house experts across a range of topics.

Join Leigh, the rest of the In-house Lawyers Committee and your in-house colleagues for free at their annual conference later this month by registering now.