Are you a first-time GC, or looking to move your career in house? We get it, the struggle is real!

Here’s a replay of our first ever 'Ask the Expert', where Hank Greenberg shared his thoughts on what you need to know as a first-time GC.

Key Takeaways: 

• Set & drive your own goals

• Build and promote integrity & trust

• Redirect legal outputs as inputs 

• Be more than just a lawyer 

• Be willing to put your name on everything

• Keep things simple, yet be ready to answer tough questions

• Find & maintain your voice as a leader

Meet the Presenters: 

• Host: Raad Ahmed

  • CEO & Co-founder at Lawtrades, giving busy GC’s the superpower to do more, with less

• Presenter: Hank Greenberg 

  •  General Counsel at Oscar Health, a health company utilizing technology, design, and data to humanize health care. 

What To Expect:

3:30-5:02

• How to build a model to do the GC job: common ideas, skills, principles  

• Work-in-progress

• There is no one size fits all

  • Success can and will look different

Design your Agenda:

5:02-8:28

• Agenda is what differentiates a lawyer from a GC 

• Budget resources across the team

  • Understand where your priorities lie 

• Deploy your agenda as a leader

  • Set your own workflow

• Understand risk according to company framework

  •  Use your voice to catalyze action

Understand the Business:

8:28-13:42

• Grasp full bounds of risk

  • GC has to understand the operations and strategic goals of the company

  • Know the market - how it works, and what it does 

  • Share knowledge with lawyers working with you

• Legal analysis as an input, rather than an output 

  • Forces you to strategize market risk

  • Starting point for guidance to client

Handling C-Suite:

17:50-21:55

• Build credibility

  •  CEO and CFO should see you as a trustworthy person

• Convey pertinent issues to clients so as to minimize work they have to do

  • Clients do not need to know or understand the intricacies of law 

• You can’t be a one-stop-shop for everything

  • It is okay to admit you do not know an answer 

  • Make sure to circle back when you find answers

Be a Paid Skeptic:

26:23-29:49

• Test other’s ideas and conclusions

  • Do not rely wholesale on advice without testing it yourself

• Play the role of CEO or CFO

  • Be ready to face the rigor of underlying assumptions

• You are an expert of your client

  • Trust your legal team, stop comparing to strategies of competitors

Find Your Voice: 

33:40-40:45

• You are not just another lawyer

  • Recognize the immense power and authority you hold

• Wield power in a responsible way 

  • Build your own integrity, promote your confidence

• Set rules for behavior

  • Form a list of values you adhere to every single day 

• Be direct, use analysis as an input 

  • Do not need to deploy rationale for everything

  •  Utilize concise (yes or no) answers

• Develop a simple style of communication

  • Be ready to explain pertinent answers

  • “Spoon feed” info by utilizing layman’s terms

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