一个优秀的律所律师是怎么炼成的？

I'm an attorney at a F50 who hires outside counsel for projects every day. Knowledge of the the subject matter and being good in negotiations are the table stakes that get you into the rotation for vendor consideration.

The best OSCs have been around for a decade+ and understand the internal dynamics and politics of their client corporations. This is incredibly important because most people in giant companies have only been around for a few years and there's so much turnover that no one has any clue what's going on when things get complicated... except the OSC who has been around a long time.

My best OSC should be in-house for us and should be managing 5+ attorneys. Instead, he bills us $500/hr and works exactly as much as he wants. He's the only guy who has any clue what HQ will do with nonstandard contracts. I manage multiple states and I don't know one person at HQ.

Yeah I think attention to detail is important but mistakes happen and they’re not always fatal. I think the greatest skill you can have as a corporate attorney is project management. There are a lot of moving pieces and you essentially need to keep track of them all and shepherd everyone towards closing. The best senior/mid level corporate attorneys know exactly what is in their court, what’s in the other side’s court (likely have a handy dandy checklist updated with this info) and diligently follow up to keep things moving along. We’re considered quarterbacks for a reason - you usually have specialists across the firm you’re working with on discrete points of the deal. Sometimes the best way to close something out is just to pick up the phone. You can’t always just forward an email to a client - take some time to make it easier to digest so the client can react faster and you’re giving them enough info about things to think through without drowning them in legalese.

The last partner I worked for was a great corporate lawyer. Knew the documents and the law in our practice group inside and out, never saw anybody throw anything at him that he didn’t understand or had to ask for clarification. Excellent ability to look at a document and quickly tell what was going to be an issue for the client, what was off-market, and why.

I think what made him a great corporate lawyer though is that he had this knack for de-escalating negotiations that ultimately made people agree with his side. Sooo many times we’d be on a call with opposing counsel and they would start getting heated, almost yelling, about some random point. The partner I worked for never ever raised his voice or got angry; instead, he’d act like their point was the most reasonable in the world (even if it wasn’t), then calmly state what our position was. They’d be thrown off guard because he didn’t escalate the argument and acknowledged their point. Seems so simple, but it really worked.

Varies by level. As a junior it’s being diligent and detail-oriented. As a mid-level, it’s being able to stay on top of deadlines and manage people and documents. As a senior, it’s being able to execute what the partner/client wants quickly and effectively.

As a partner it’s understanding what the client wants and coming up with creative solutions to get them where they want to go. That includes effective negotiation, understanding the client’s goals, their leverage, dynamics between players, etc., and figuring out how to get the best possible deal based on what they want.

People have said “market dynamics,” but even mediocre senior lawyers can figure those out. It’s no secret what’s market (there are private deal term studies, and public deals are filed publicly), and it’s not hard to figure out a decent argument for why your deal should be on the minority side of market if it suits your client. What separates an average lawyer from a good one is the ability to leverage that knowledge to get your client a better deal.