My Colleagues Are Probably Terrified of Me.

Employees of any company are probably terrified, or at the very least — apprehensive, of the department they call ‘Legal’.

I get it. The word ‘legal’ doesn’t exactly conjure up images of maternal old ladies in fuzzy sweaters (or for an Asian feel, kain batik) offering cups of tea.

(Before anyone might think that I act like a fire-breathing dragon at work — I don’t. I really don’t.)

As a legal executive, I’ve noticed that my colleagues from other departments (especially business departments) will treat my fellow legal executives and I as the final authority in many things, even things that don’t concern legal issues per se. We are consulted in a myriad of things ranging from “Can we write this in our letter?” to “Can we punch holes in this document?”. Yes, the last bit actually happened last week.

Although we feel exasperated (“Why are you asking me?!”), I can’t help but think that us legal executives are guilty for perpetuating this fearful atmosphere.

We act tough because we want to be respected and we want to protect the interests of the company. That comes with a certain amount of stern-talking and reminders of the legalities of things.

But if we continuously frighten colleagues, unintentionally or not, there’s a few serious downsides:

• We take away their agency and independence. They are scared to make decisions because they don’t want to break the law.
• We diminish their responsibility over their own jurisdictions. If we decide, then we are culpable if something goes wrong.
• We invite more work to be heaped on our plates. If we become the final authority, everything necessary and unnecessary will be directed to go through us.
• We reduce their desire to know and understand legal processes. Rather than take a chance and learn about why Legal does things, they would rather leave ‘the legal stuff’ completely to us.

I’m not saying my colleagues are fragile, easily scared or unable to think for themselves. Far from it. But to them, we represent The Law, and they don’t want to mess with The Law.

The playing field is uneven, don’t you think?

Here’s what I think should be done to make Legal more accessible, familiar, and understandable to colleagues from other departments:

1. We need to get to basics and define the ‘legal processes’ that we provide to the company.
2. We need to understand what our colleagues are doing in their own jurisdictions and make connections to our legal processes.
3. We need to have clear and comprehensive SOPs on legal processes available for reference by everyone.
4. We need to continuously communicate our reasoning to our colleagues so that they know why we say the things we say.
5. We need to conduct regular sessions or trainings on basic principles for our colleagues, especially for the fresh faces.

There are probably more that I could touch on, but these are the things I’d like to focus on for my colleagues.

In the end, Legal is just a support department. Our input is necessary and relevant, but we don’t drive the company. Our colleagues in the core departments do.

And I strongly believe that if we support them and become a true partner, that will be best for the company.