Lawyers, especially
those of us from the corporate world, seldom gain the opportunity to do
something which is both truly ground-breaking and puts something back into the
broader legal community. So I was
delighted to have the opportunity to join the LBC Wise Counsel team working
with colleagues in South Africa, in holding the inaugural meeting of the Legal
Counsel Roundtable Africa. This was a
two-day meeting for in-house counsel in Africa, creating an opportunity for
learning, but also and perhaps more enduringly, to form a community.
The meeting took place
in Cape Town in a hot week in March while Albion shivered, so the benefits of
going were not purely professional and we made good use of the time we had
allowed to get used to the local environment.
But by Sunday evening, delegates were starting to gather and it was time
to get our working heads on.
I already knew from
working with and managing lawyers in South Africa that they possessed high
levels of experience, technical excellence and commercial savvy. So bringing a programme directed at direct
legal skills and awareness would, however high in quality, not represent the
landmark we were looking for to launch the Roundtable properly. Instead the event had to provide content
which respected the seniority of most of the delegates, but more importantly
required their active participation in order to create a true Roundtable.
The programme was
overseen by LBC Wise Counsel's Chief Executive Officer, Paul Gilbert. Paul started the event by outlining the
schedule for the next two days, presenting some of his insights on the role of
the in-house lawyer, drawn from his experience as a general counsel as well as
his subsequent career as an advisor to the in-house community. After an entertaining and thought-provoking
presentation, delivered with the panache and insight which participants in
UK-based events such as the LBCambridge programme would recognise, there was
then an extended time for the delegates to discuss the themes developed by
Paul, sharing their own experiences and responses to the issues he had
aired.
Sitting at each table
of delegates was a so-called "Wise Owl" whose role was to help shape
the conversation, ensure all delegates were involved and to collate the table's
key findings and questions - again a feature familiar to LBCambridge
attendees. This was a role I had come to
fulfil, together with Feizal Hajat from Birmingham City Council, Lawrence Smith
from LBC Wise Counsel, and two locals, Graeme Wilson from Legal &
Commercial Solutions and Ursula Fikelepi from the South African banking giant
ABSA. Subsequent sessions addressed the
issues of operating in tune with the business, the future of in-house legal
services, choosing and using technological support and the effective selection
and use of in-house counsel. Careful use
was made of a case study - which a number of delegates found uncannily
descriptive of their own situations - to underpin the discussions.
The highly
participative nature of the sessions meant that the delegates had begun to know
one another well even by the first day and this made for some lively
conversations in the room. Dinner also
provided a suitable environment for delegates to develop these relationships
and to have individual discussions with Wise Owls. In my experience both here and in Cambridge,
the role that the Owls play in facilitating discussion in the main part of the
day makes them more approachable than if their role had been a more traditional
one as presenters. As a result, the
"off-market" conversations that delegates have with Wise Owls, as
well as each other, represent some of the most valuable aspects of the
event. Rather than providing direct
answers to narrow questions about in-house legal practice, the Roundtable aimed
to give attendees the tools to address these questions, and a level of
strategic perspective with which to use them - following the Confucian maxim
that to see is to remember but to be involved is to understand. One of the most powerful of these tools lies
in drawing on the skills and experience of the delegates themselves; the
cross-sector relationships that were built in the course of the two days will
ensure that these skills and experience are continually available to the
delegates.
Some measure of the
success of the event was in how long it took delegates to leave after it
formally ended. Those who did not have
to rush off to catch planes lingered, as if to take a last draught of the
atmosphere surrounding the two days.
Business cards and warm farewells were exchanged and a number of
delegates sought out Paul or Wise Owls for individual follow-up
discussions.
Launching an event, and
a community, like this requires considerable efforts from many people. In this instance the delegates themselves
should take a bow, since it was their energy and willingness to share which
made the event sing. But if it had not
been for the vision and passion for the event of Graeme Wilson and his zeal in
recruiting a full house of attendees, this could not have happened (nor would
it have done without the very considerable behind the scenes organisational
skills of Ann Peacocke); and the content would not have been nearly as rich and
inspiring if it had not been for the unflagging enthusiasm which Paul Gilbert
brought to his presenting and the carefully honed architecture (not to mention
the creative mind behind the well-received case study) brought to the whole
event by Lawrence Smith.
The intention behind
the meeting was to hold an inaugural Roundtable conference; what was achieved
included this and more, as it represented the beginning of new relationships,
new ways of thinking, and a new community for the greatly talented in-house
lawyers in Africa. We were delighted to
receive feedback from one delegate even before we landed in the UK, saying it
was the best investment they'd ever made in their career development and saying
that all in-house lawyers should attend the event.
If in some small way my
taking part had helped to promote this, it was a journey worth making; retiring
to a comfortable place to relax under warm African skies, we dared to hope that
we had launched something new, valuable and special.
For further reading:-
LBC Wise Counsel - http://www.lbcwisecounsel.com/
LBCambridge - http://www.lbcwisecounsel.com/lbcambridge/
Paul Gilbert - https://twitter.com/LBCWiseCounsel
