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I know, I know: You want to be a conduit. It’s so easy; you don’t have to do anything. You just mindlessly pass along information, giving it no thought. You can’t possibly be wrong about anything, because you’ve never expressed an opinion about anything. And you get paid as though you’re a lawyer! What could be better than that?
In-house, being a conduit looks like this:
“I’ve attached Bigg & Mediocre’s fee proposal. What do you think?”
(Being a lawyer would require effort: “In the attached fee proposal, Bigg & Mediocre proposes X. That proposal does not make sense for three reasons: A, B, and C. Instead of what Bigg & Mediocre has proposed, we should suggest….”)
Alternatively, you could be a conduit like this:
“You said that this case would turn on the definition of the term ‘Event’ in the insurance policy. I’ve therefore attached the insurance policy for you to review.”
(Being a lawyer would require effort: “You said that this case would turn on the definition of the term ‘Event’ in the insurance policy. On page 7, the attached policy defines ‘Event’ as …. This means that we’re able to argue A, B, and C.”)
Or maybe you could be a conduit like this:
“I’ve opened the new matter that you sent to me. What expense reserve do you propose?”
(Being a lawyer would require effort: “I’ve opened the new matter that you sent to me. The case is silly, but Bigg & Mediocre is an expensive firm. Are you comfortable with an expense reserve of $X?”)
At law firms, you can also be a conduit:
“We just received 4,000 pages of documents from the plaintiff. I’ve attached them for your information.”
(Being a lawyer would require effort: “We just received 4,000 pages of documents from the plaintiff. There are three key admissions in the documents. At page P140 (third line), you’ll see that the plaintiff admitted ….”)
You can also be a conduit at a law firm like this:
“You asked me to research Topic A. I’ve attached copies of two cases for you to read.”
Being a lawyer, of course, would require effort.
Turn this over in your mind: When a novel coronavirus hits, and times are tough, and the firm is deciding who to lay off, who will get laid off first — the conduit or the lawyer?
Or consider this: When a firm is deciding who should be invited to enter the partnership and who should be discarded, who do you suppose will receive the invitation — the conduit or the lawyer?
I’m just sayin’.
Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and is now deputy general counsel at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at inhouse@abovethelaw.com.