Four years ago, on a knowledge answering platform, a netizen asked everyone: As the only legal person in the company, how to work?

The problem description is like this (for the sake of truth and better showing the analysis process, the walker tries to reproduce it here as it is):

I am a fresh graduate and have no work experience. Just entered the supervision and examination room of a relatively large company to do business. Our company has a turnover of tens of billions. Due to several recent cases in our company, the leaders realized the importance of legal affairs and felt that such a position was newly established. Just graduated and inexperienced. I don't have any information about any department predecessors. I have no idea how to carry out my work. Even if I review a contract now, it is difficult to find the risk points in practice. We also have an external lawyer, but he basically doesn't give any advice (personally, I prefer that we have disputes, because he will charge more for handling cases and now he takes over all cases). My task is risk control, but I don't even know how to do it.

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Supplementary introduction:

Why do you want a lawyer now?

Although our company has a large turnover, there are only dozens of people in the whole company. Our company is growing year by year, so we also realize the importance of risk control, so we recruit lawyers. I read the internal information of the company these days. SASAC requires state-owned enterprises to pay attention to legal risks, establish internal control system and equip legal personnel. We also have a headquarters above, and the headquarters has set up a risk control department. Therefore, no matter according to the requirements of SASAC or headquarters, we should set up legal personnel to take charge of legal affairs. The boss assigned the most capable minister of the company to our department as a minister.

Why is it a fresh student?

Because of the reform of state-owned enterprises in 2004, our company is getting younger and younger. Except for middle-level cadres, most of them are employees in their twenties, and they are old employees at the age of 27 or 28. I basically don't feel any bureaucracy here. The boss, vice president and department leaders go to the canteen with us, play ball on weekends, watch the World Cup with leaders in the evening and cook in the canteen on holidays. That's why I turned down invitations from other high-paying companies. Our company basically recruits fresh graduates, and indicates that it does not recruit non-key undergraduate courses.

Finally, thank you for your answers.

Two years ago, the pioneers accidentally saw this problem, and the scene of a man fighting several years ago came to mind, which was deeply touched. So he came uninvited and answered angrily.

A few days ago, Walker pushed an article "On the road of legal career choice, you must not ignore this factor", discussing a factor that is closely related to us, but rarely talked about in the industry. This factor needs to be considered in career choice-the main factor. Today, travelers want to further improve the answer to the question "How does one do things?" in combination with the consideration of career choice. I hope I can inspire you in confusion.

Before choosing

When considering the position of "one-person legal affairs" provided by a company, Walker suggested that in addition to combining his education, professional experience, professional expertise, the industry in which the company is located, the company's development stage, salary, rank, future development expectations and other factors, he should also focus on his own subjective factors, that is, his own personality characteristics, talents, mental model and so on.

Specifically, suppose you are more dependent, less assertive, and prefer to passively accept tasks and seriously implement them, rather than actively initiate and promote them; You don't want to conflict with others, but rather sacrifice yourself to get temporary harmony; You are afraid of loneliness, the sense of helplessness that you bear alone and so on. Then, you are not fit to be a lawyer.

What is said here is not appropriate. It's not that you can't do this job at all. On the contrary, even after a long time, it is difficult for you to make a big breakthrough and rise.

Maybe you don't agree with this view, but you will argue that people will grow up. As long as they work hard and study hard enough, their congenital deficiencies and personality defects can be gradually improved, and their skills can also be gradually improved. Don't you think many introverts are quite successful as lawyers?

Yes, we will have many friends around us. Your first impression is that you are introverted and blush when you speak. However, after several years of training in the legal field, we are getting along well now. For this phenomenon, the walker thinks that we should look at it this way:

1, it is one-sided to outline a person's personality simply by introversion. As we know, personality composition includes five factors, also known as Big Five personality (including openness, responsibility, extroversion, agreeableness and emotional stability), and introversion is only described from one of the characteristic dimensions.

2. Introversion does not mean closure, nor does it mean that the basic conditions of oral or written expression must be problematic;

There must be other factors suitable for legal work in this person's personality traits, such as being rigorous and meticulous, logical, organized, fond of loneliness and so on.

4. In the specific practice direction, you will find that introverts will choose more fields that are more suitable for their personality. For example, a large proportion choose to engage in non-litigation business; Or, you usually choose a business with a high degree of specialization in the litigation field, such as intellectual property and so on.

In other words, if you make a more comprehensive and in-depth analysis of these "counterexamples" (many introverts are also successful lawyers), you will be more convinced of the important role of subjective factors in career choice.

?

Skills can be improved, habits can be changed, and training and promotion in the workplace will really make you grow a lot. However, if you can choose a career that is more in line with your subjective factors, you will certainly grow faster and dig deeper in this field more permanently and happily.

After selection

If you have made a choice (or have no choice), how should you deal with the above specific cases?

First, combined with the background description provided by the subjects, several information points were extracted:

1, background 1: state-owned enterprises, the whole company has only dozens of people, 10 subsidiaries, and billions of revenues. The employees are very young, mostly in their twenties.

-Walker interpretation:

(1) The target company may belong to the high-tech sector in the traditional monopoly business group system, such as large electromechanical, communication electronics, complete sets of equipment, etc. And the signing price is very high, and it is mainly aimed at corporate customers with special needs;

(2) There are many young people in the company, and their thinking is relatively active, making it easier to accept new things;

(3) The subjects are also young people, so it is easy to have daily communication;

2. Background 2: There has never been a legal position. Because there have been several cases recently, it is considered to set up a legal office in the supervision and examination room.

-Walker interpretation:

(1) Due to the particularity of business and customers, the company has been operating normally for so many years, and there are not many places where laws are applied. If a dispute arises, it is easy to negotiate and the degree of litigation is very small;

(2) There is no separate legal department, but a post is added in the supervision and examination room. Therefore, in the view of the company's top management, legal work should exist as an integral part of the responsibilities of the audit supervision department, and the work content focuses on process control and compliance risk control.

3. Background 3: According to the requirements of SASAC, we have made new efforts to serve posts and recruit fresh graduates as the subject. At the same time, department leaders are the most capable department managers in the company.

-Walker interpretation:

(1) For so many years, only a few cases have appeared recently. Although the risk awareness is gradually enhanced, it is unlikely that there is an urgent need to set up legal posts due to endogenous factors. It is more of a top-down reform attempt based on SASAC requirements.

(2) For the newly established legal post, although there are objectives and requirements, it is not clear, and there is nothing new to learn from; Secondly, since it is a reform, it is better to take it slowly; It is not in line with the style and culture of the enterprise to introduce a senior legal manager from outside at once with high salary.

(3) Send the most competent department manager to the leader of the unit supervision and examination office, indicating that the company still attaches importance to this piece. There may be some reasons for this, and it is also very likely that some problems that have appeared before are mostly concentrated in violation of discipline, risk control, honesty and self-discipline.

4. Background 4: At present, there are external lawyers, but they basically don't work, and this lawyer basically handles cases.

-Walker interpretation:

(1) At present, it is basically impossible to expect lawyers to assist legal affairs in internal control and compliance;

(2) At present, external lawyers have cooperated with the company for a long time or many times, and established certain trust, but it is not so strong.

Second, combined with the above information points, Walker's suggestions are as follows:

1. As the only legal affairs in the whole company, the subject has both opportunities and challenges.

Opportunity is a good picture on a blank sheet of paper. You have a lot of room to play and opportunities to grow, and it is easy for individuals to stand out. The challenge is that the formation of legal culture needs to be cultivated slowly, and the top management of the company also takes it slowly, watching while doing it. So, don't expect to make great innovations. It is suggested to start from a small place and start from the place with the least change. From the perspective of promoting business and improving service, the obstacles will be much smaller. Combined with the speculation about your company's business, you will definitely not face as many disputes and controversies as those companies that do C-side. Therefore, your work should pay attention to the control before and after, pay attention to the process and compliance, and do more work to establish rules and regulations. In addition, the establishment of trust needs a process. At first, you consciously choose some small projects that are easy to achieve results. After gradually accumulating trust, you will challenge some difficult things.

2. Be good at following the trend.

You are a fresh graduate, with little experience and qualifications, and you are recruited from outside, and your foundation in this unit is not deep. Many times, your voice is not very loud, or you need a megaphone. When expressing your professional opinions, you need the support of people who have prestige in the company. At present, this person is mainly your department manager In addition, it is also possible for the company to hire external lawyers.

Emphasize this point because you are the only legal person. If your department manager is a layman, you will have many opportunities to directly face the leader who is much higher than you. Pay attention to strengthen communication with your direct leader, get his approval and support, and let him add more weight to your professional opinions. The same is true of external lawyers. Even if you already know the answers to some questions, you can ask a lawyer to say what you want to say by email or WeChat, and then forward it to the leader to enhance the possibility of being recognized.

We still need to talk about politics.

Although you say there are many young people in the company, it is easy to get along with the leaders. But since it is a state-owned enterprise, we still have to talk about politics. In addition, you can't ignore some basic rules of the workplace just because you are mixed up with leaders like buddies. You are the only lawyer. If you gain the trust of the company's top management, there will be many opportunities for the top management to send you jobs directly. At this time, you can't abandon your department manager just because he is a layman or because this task is directly assigned by other senior leaders. You should combine the style of department managers, or ask for instructions early and report late, or ask for their opinions before the activity begins. After confirming that you are authorized, you will send them a periodic progress email. In addition, since it is not impossible for you to accept the tasks of multiple supervisors, you need to ensure that the tasks assigned by your department manager cannot be affected by dealing with the tasks of other bosses.

4. Don't think about replacing the existing external lawyer at the beginning.

Perhaps, this lawyer collects consulting fees all the year round, but basically does not work on weekdays, and still expects to charge separately after the dispute arises; Perhaps, this lawyer doesn't like you at all, and you can't communicate with him smoothly. His feedback always likes to bypass you and go directly to your boss or even the top of the company; Maybe it's hard for you to learn anything from him ... but in any case, you should remember that you should not replace this lawyer as the main sponsor. At least not at first. Because you don't know why and what background he became your company's external legal adviser. Even if he doesn't work well, don't think about it at first. Whether or not to change, when to change, is not the focus of your question, so I won't go into details here.