“How do you maintain an
organization-wide perspective?”
“Be ever mindful of your professional
obligation to your client.”
An in-house lawyer acts as advisor, advocate, negotiator and evaluator. Serving the client in
these various roles requires the in-house attorney to understand the organizational client’s big
picture. If the legal team embraces the idea that maintaining an organization-wide perspective
is a necessary component for providing superior client service, then in-house attorneys will find
ways to better understand the client’s business.
As general counsel, my role is to set the expectation of superior client service, explain how
organization-wide perspective is essential to delivery of that service and make sure that the
client sees our group as reliable and trustworthy. To accomplish this last objective, I have over
the last several years created opportunities for our lawyers to spend time with organizational
leaders. For example, I invite organizational leaders to have lunch with the in-house attorney
group. We average six of these lunch meetings per year. We have no formal agenda, but
I ask each guest to tell us about his or her areas of responsibility. Similarly, each attorney
describes his or her practice to our guest.
I am fortunate to work for an organization that understands the value that in-house attorneys
can add to the enterprise. I’ve invited our CEO and all of the senior leadership team to lunch
and every invitee has accepted and participated enthusiastically. When leadership sees that
the in-house attorneys want to better understand the business, and the attorneys see that the
executives believe that a “no agenda” meeting with the legal staff is worthwhile, we have set
the stage for good communication and effective relationships between client and attorney.
I ask each lawyer in the Carolinas HealthCare System Office of General Counsel to maintain
a current knowledge base germane to his or her practice, keep abreast of trends in the health
care business sector, and understand the big-picture goals, hurdles and interconnectedness of
our organization. This may seem like a tall order. I believe, however, that most people who
Keith A. Smith
Senior Vice President and
General Counsel
become lawyers – and certainly the people I want to hire – want to be helpful and derive
professional satisfaction from believing that the work they do is important.
So, when I am effective in communicating how important it is to the client that in-house lawyers
Carolinas HealthCare System
bring an organization-wide perspective to all that we do, and I provide examples of how
Charlotte, North Carolina
matters that may not appear mission critical actually are important to the organization, the
in-house team rises to the challenge.
Each month, K&L Gates LLP presents Top of Mind®—a leading in-house lawyer’s take on
key issues shaping business and legal strategies. For more Top of Mind features, please
visit our website at www.klgates.com and click on the Top of Mind icon.