Legal Lightbulbs: Do in-house lawyers owe their law firms a duty of care?

Many lawyers move in-house seeking greater work/life balance. What they cannot forget, however, is that they may have a responsibility to the health and wellbeing of the law firm’s lawyers they brief. On this episode of Legal Lightbulbs, our hosts — Lawyers Weekly editor Jerome Doraisamy and Bowd chief executive Fionn Bowd — reflect on the extent that law departments, and particularly leaders of those in-house teams, owe a duty of care to the firms that make up their external legal services panels (even if that duty isn’t written into a position description). The pair discuss the moral and ethical imperatives to support other professionals and the need for a holistic approach to stakeholder management. They consider the capacity of firms to turn down work in favour of clients who may offer better working conditions, and the balancing act with which in-house legal teams must grapple when working with firms but also meeting the needs of their internal clients. Jerome and Fionn workshop incentives that could be offered, ways of showcasing value for stakeholders, and other practical approaches that can and should be explored by both sides. To learn more about Fionn Bowd, click here. If you have questions you want to see answered on this show, reach out to Jerome at editor@lawyersweekly.com.au or Fionn at fionn.bowd@bowd.legal.