In-house: The top team – three more years

In 2019, in a first for the In-house Lawyers’ Committee (ILC), not one but two conveners were appointed. Now entering their second term, we caught up with Sheekha Saha, an in-house solicitor with Comhairle nan Eilean Siar in Stornoway, and Vlad Valiente, head of Governance & Assurance at Dumfries & Galloway Council, to ask them about the past three years, and their plans for the ILC now they have been reappointed.

You must have enjoyed working with each other, given that you are back for another three years. How have you found working together? Did it live up to expectations?

SS: Oh my, the stories I could tell! Before we threw our hats in the ring together, Vlad and I knew each other pretty well, from SOLAR (the Society of Local Authority Lawyers & Administrators), the ILC and just being part of the in-house community. The past three years have given us a lot of challenges both work-wise and in our personal lives and I’m just incredibly grateful for the strong partnership we have: one based on mutual respect, trust, honesty, patience, care for each other and about what we’re doing; and last but not least, being able to share the tears as well as the laughs. Lots of laughs! 

VV: We have known each other for a very long time and always got along brilliantly, which has undoubtedly helped in this co-convenership marriage. Our friendship has grown in the last three years as we worked closely together through the COVID period. We are very much aligned in our thinking and drive to represent the in-house community and do our very best as ILC co-conveners. This translates into a fantastic working relationship which allows us to manage our role effectively. The role is a complex and demanding one, so it has definitely helped to have two of us sharing the responsibilities and tasks. So, yes, it has definitely lived up to our expectations and I’m pretty certain it will continue to do so for the next three years.

You were first appointed in 2019. The world has changed a lot since then. How has the work of the ILC changed?

SS: Jings, 2019 seems such a long time ago. Like all things, the ILC has had to respond to the changing demands on it and the fast-moving changes around it. I think the biggest shift has been the almost universal adoption of online ways of working. That has meant greater agility, and flexibility in being able to get together – we can easily grab a quick half hour meeting, virtually face-to-face, whereas before we’d have been scheduling around in-person and travel. We’ve always been able to speak on the phone of course, but it is nice to see people. I think the work itself continues to be about supporting and promoting the membership – across education and training, celebrating in-house successes, increasing opportunities to connect and learn from each other, and supporting the next generation.

VV: The impact on all of us has been significant, and particularly the way we do our business. We were impacted in terms of our normal business and delivery of our workplan. Getting out and about the way we would have in the past, meeting the in-house community and other stakeholders at events and progressing our workplan was very difficult. In saying that, we have done a lot in the last three years and in some ways there has been more accessibility to our ILC meetings through the hybrid approach, saving time and effort for those not in the central belt and helping reduce our carbon footprint. In addition it has highlighted the need to provide a mechanism for the in-house community to communicate and interact, which is one of our main workstreams – an online networking platform for the in-house community. We have adapted and improved as we learned from the COVID experiences.

The composition of the ILC has changed since you became co-conveners. What has this meant for its work?

SS: I think the ILC goes from strength to strength. I’m glad to see plenty of us on the committee, but more than the numbers I’m really pleased to see the representative spread across sectors: no one on committee is wearing their day-job hat as such, but it’s really important that we have a wide breadth of practice experience as that directly impacts the breadth of our understanding of our membership.

VV: As mentioned earlier, we have a workplan with a number of tasks and projects we aim to deliver as a committee. Having more enthusiastic and driven “in-housers” to deliver these is always welcomed. We are all in the ILC to do the best we can for the in-house lawyers family, which is a broad church. It’s important that we try as best we can to have representatives with different perspectives and levels of experience. We have a fantastic team with a brilliant mix of experience and perspectives, and very much look forward to continue working with them for the next three years. A brief mention to those members who have recently retired or moved on – their input throughout the years has been invaluable and we thank them so much for their contributions.

What were the biggest achievements of your first term?

SS: I’m immensely proud of the last three years. Despite the pandemic, we have seen continued energy across the sector; indeed in-house is growing. Keeping the lights on in the face of such a challenge is not to be underestimated – as a committee of volunteers, all with demanding day jobs, that we were able to keep up the level of service is a huge testament to the committee, the support from the Society and indeed the membership for continued engagement.

In terms of specifics there are lots: we’ve developed our CPD opportunities including our Best Practice Course and the Annual Conference, both of which are very popular and now work really well in the online environment as well as in person; and we are hopefully in the final stages of “The Platform” project, a few years in the development, which will provide an online, secure space for in-housers to gather, share practice challenges and ideas etc (watch this space!).

We’ve also started the champions initiative, in its early days and designed to increase membership connection for the purposes of shaping the ILC’s work to better meet members’ needs; and there are our trainee round tables which give in-house trainees (often the only trainee in an organisation) a space to connect with each other and the ILC, raise issues and celebrate good practice. I could go on!

VV: First and foremost, we have with the help of the Law Society CPD team delivered two very successful online In-house Annual Conferences: a lot of brilliant teamwork resulted in their success. Secondly we have continued to progress the workplan, which includes (amongst others):

• The online platform Sheekha mentioned.
• We continue to contribute to ongoing Law Society CPD events and the Journal, ensuring that the in-house lawyer’s voice is represented and heard.
• We continue to improve our social media presence through LinkedIn and Twitter.
• We continue to grow the number of ILC champions, to be one of our main links between the ILC and the in-house community.

One thing the in-house community certainly has noticed is the shift towards remote working and more virtual communication, for example with the Annual Conference. Will we see more of this in future?

SS: I think the in-house community has shown a tremendous resilience and flexibility with the new ways of working. I think we’re in a curious and fascinating phase of personal and business development now: the post-crisis phase of the pandemic, and emerging into a space where we can redefine how we work, no longer because of essential need, but now out of personal choice, optimal practice and that’s a really interesting space to be in. It’s not without its challenges, but exciting.

I hear lots of people craving a return to in-person events and engagement, but still very committed to the flexibility and time-efficiency of the online options. I’m really proud of the way the ILC adapted key things like the conference, to keep meeting members’ needs throughout the pandemic. Will we do more of it in the future? We’re passionate about meeting members’ needs, so we’ll be asking and listening to what members want and how they want it.

VV: Yes, absolutely. As mentioned previously we have learned and adapted from the COVID related impacts on how we do our business. Wider accessibility to our conference and other CPD events has always been an objective; virtual communication helps us to deliver that.

What have you learned about yourselves and your colleagues in your first term, that will help you in your second term, and in your professional lives?

SS: The experience has really confirmed a lot of positives: that we really can do; that we are a strong team who look out for each other and want to do more; that we are ambitious to do more. The ILC members are a seriously committed group, who get stuck in, are solutions focused, realistic and optimistic, and between them bring a huge range of experience and understanding of in-house practice and issues. It’s a great place to be, looking ahead at the next three years.

VV: We can’t ignore the COVID years, and therefore the main learning curve is probably that we can be much more resilient and adaptable than we gave ourselves credit for. That probably comes as second nature to in-house lawyers, but we need to celebrate that we successfully got through that period together as an ILC team and continued to deliver on behalf of those we represent. These successes, and resilience and adaptability skillsets, will make us stronger going forward as an ILC team but also personally in our professional and family lives.

What will be your top priorities for the ILC’s next three years?

SS: Member services. The Society, and the ILC, need to continue to listen to the membership, the challenges of practice and support. I’d love to see even greater engagement and ownership by the membership for the Society’s priorities – this is a statutory but also a members’ organisation and we’re always mindful of that.

VV: As referred to previously, the delivery of the networking platform is a key priority. We hope this brings real benefits to the in-house community, allowing us to share best practice and connect with other in-house lawyers for sounding board or guidance. As an ILC it will give us a platform for direct communication with the community and vice versa.

The Annual Conference will also continue to be a priority, with ongoing improvements based on our experience and feedback that we have received.

How do you plan to expand the reach of the ILC and to engage with more in-house lawyers?

SS: I’m really passionate about this. The online platform will provide secure space for in-housers of different sectors and practice areas to connect and share practice, ideas and so on. This is a fantastic opportunity to harness the enormous strength of the in-house sector and support that vital cross-collaboration that we all benefit from. We’re also extremely keen to get back on the road and actually meet colleagues, sit down, hear first hand what their needs and challenges are and appreciate how these differ sector to sector, as well as locality to locality. The champions and round table initiatives will be part of that outreach too. 

VV: We will continue to deliver the Annual Conference, continue to feed into the Society’s CPD calendar and the Journal, and continue to improve our social media presence. In addition we will continue to recruit more in-house champions; and did we mention the online networking platform?

What does the future look like for in-house lawyers?

SS: Despite all of the personal and business challenges of the last two and a half years, the in-house community has expanded in volume and breadth. The benefits and rewards of in-house practice – for practitioners and their client organisations alike – are being recognised more and more. It’s an exciting and desirable way to work: being able to provide a really tailored service, that is deeply understanding of the client organisation’s needs, stressors and ambitions, all with the fundamental security of the quality and independence of the profession, which is so important. There are significant challenges ahead for all of us, personally and business-wise, navigating the legal and business landscape post-pandemic, post-Brexit, with the possibility of Indyref2 on the horizon and huge financial pressures across all sectors. That all said, and for all of the positives shared above, I’m undeterred, in fact bolstered by the resilience and growth of the sector; I’m only excited to get stuck in and continue to develop the support the ILC can give the in-house community. The future looks vivid and exciting. Bring it on!

VV: The future is bright, the future is in-house. As a community, we have many traits and attributes which will stand us in good stead moving forward. We are by nature problem solvers, collaborators, influencers within our respective businesses. As long as we continue to apply and improve on these traits, we will be successful and this will undoubtedly lead to the continued growth of in-house lawyer teams and the community as a whole. The ILC will continue to support the community in this journey, celebrating successes and promoting what in-house lawyers do.

Questions put by John Morrison, In-house Lawyers’ Committee