Being The Lawyers' Lawyer And So Much More; Life As A Law Firm General Counsel

Cyan Partners recently sat down with Claire Larbey, General Counsel (GC) at Trowers & Hamlins, where she told us all about how the GC role fits into the modern law firm structure, what she finds most rewarding and challenging about her work, and why all law firms – big and small – need a GC’s unique skills and knowledge to navigate the challenges facing them, now and in the future. Read on for the full interview.

 
Claire Larbey is GC at Trowers & Hamlins, where she manages the firm’s internal regulatory, risk and compliance functions and advises the firm’s partners on the myriad of legal issues affecting their practice.To say Claire is busy is an understatement, as she juggles the many demands placed on her as the firm’s top legal counsel and wears the multiple hats necessary to galvanise different stakeholders and departments across the firm.To top it all off Claire is also a mother to two small children, acting as a role model for women and parents in the legal profession and showing us all that being a law firm GC is a rewarding and sustainable career path.

 
So, where does Claire’s story begin? Why did she choose the GC career path and what has made her stay?

One could say Claire’s path to GC was rather accidental, having started her legal career as a traditional private practice lawyer specialising in shipping and international trade. After starting her young family, Claire decided a career change was right for her and joined the SRA’s Practice Standards Unit. This position threw her very much into the deep end of regulatory work; a core part of her role involved inspecting law firms and ensuring they complied with the SRA’s handbooks, rules and regulations. It was during her time at the SRA that Claire cut her teeth on regulatory and compliance issues, from money laundering to upholding the Solicitors’ Code of Conduct. She didn’t know it back then, but this first role outside of private practice would be pivotal in shaping her future career and where she is today.

Claire’s career journey has been far from traditional. After the SRA, she spent time lecturing on risk and compliance at BPP Law School, which is where her passion for this area of law truly flourished. After some time spent freelancing, setting up risk and compliance structures for City law firms, Claire finally joined a more classic in-house role with the Paribas Group. In this position, she was exposed to a more traditional, commercial GC role, putting in place compliance structures and getting to grips with sophisticated risk management. Claire then brought all this diversity of thought, experience and skill set back to the legal sector, joining several international firms as in-house Counsel before finally finding her match in Trowers & Hamlins. 

Claire reflects on how her line of work has changed since she started out: “There is much more of a set career path now. We have trainees who choose to qualify into the in-house legal team, or analysts in the business intake team who are focused exclusively on forging a pure risk career path. What I did was ground-breaking, moving between different organisations, self-learning along the way, and shaping my role around the needs and requirements of the firm. Now it is a more structured and mature career path”. 

Is being a GC worth it? Claire nods her head enthusiastically: “It’s an incredibly rewarding job; you really get to see the business of the firm, everything that happens behind the scenes and how it all comes together – there is no tunnel vision when it comes to being a GC.”

What are the biggest risk areas for law firms? In other words, what’s the most important aspect of a GC’s job?

 
Anti-money laundering (AML) continues to be one of the hottest risk areas as law firms increase their global service offering and get involved in a growing number of cross-border transactions. It’s a particular risk area for partners, as they could face personal responsibility for AML breaches. That’s why it’s important for law firms to continuously educate, train and update their lawyers on key AML risks and red flags. Having a knowledgeable GC can help firms ensure they never drop the ball on this ever-looming threat. 

Navigating data protection and data subject access requests in a professional and secure way also proves challenging for the legal industry. Like any other organisation, law firms must ensure they have appropriate and smooth structures in place for handling privacy-related requests and claims. According to Claire, this is a particularly weak spot for smaller law firms, who may lack dedicated staff to handle these matters and instead rely on partners and fee-earners to carry out this type of work. On the contrary, Claire says: “Firms should invest in the right skills to ensure they are protected”.

 
Horizon scanning leads Claire to cite cyber and artificial intelligence (AI) as posing significant risks for law firms. Even where firms have cyber insurance in place, there are still numerous costs and expenses that fall outside of their policy’s coverage, which means any breaches or incidents can put considerable financial strain on the firm as a business. AI is set to transform the practice of law, but it is not without its risks and challenges. In fact, the SRA is particularly alive to the problems that use of and reliance on AI may bring to the profession and is on the cusp of issuing guidance on the subject. In Claire’s view, there is a great deal of unchartered territory to navigate when it comes to utilising AI in the legal sector and GCs will be instrumental in ensuring law firms embed AI into their operations sensibly and sustainably. Claire’s biggest concerns when it comes to AI are that there is not enough scrutiny and supervision of what AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) produce, unfounded assumptions prevail that AI systems have learned the right capabilities, and there are potential issues with confidentiality breaches as well as unconscious bias affecting AI decision-making and output. 

What skills and qualities do GCs need to navigate the challenges faced by the legal sector? 

Above all, the people with whom a GC works must be able to feel safe and secure coming to that individual for advice and guidance – so being approachable, understanding and somebody who gets on with people are essential attributes. After that, organisational skills are crucial, as GCs are often at the helm of coordinating and supervising the firm’s various risk and compliance teams and workstreams, from AML and business intake to sanctions, regulatory compliance, GDPR, contracts, complaints and so much more. Maintaining clarity of thought and a clear head when facing problems and challenges and having a killer instinct for prioritising tasks are key qualities for a GC. 

The best GCs will also be intellectually rigorous, with a commitment to constantly learn and adapt. As Claire puts it: “you need to be someone who really enjoys getting into the detail, into the nitty gritty, of a particular question or issue but who, at the same time, is able to take a step back, see the bigger picture and think outside the box when looking for solutions.” Ultimately, GCs are the law firm’s chief problem solver, so this must be up there with their skills and attributes. 

Finally, GCs must be excellent team players, not just because they will be in charge of managing and leading their own team, developing and helping their reports to grow, but also because the GC role involves collaborating and working with colleagues across the entire organisation, from legal teams to Board and senior management, to finance and accounts, IT and even marketing and business development. The GC role is truly a 360-degree, holistic function and people skills are therefore a must-have. 

Last but not least, how are ESG issues impacting law firms?

 
Claire has witnessed the legal sector truly embrace net zero transition planning and put in place efforts to reduce their emissions. There has been a great deal of commitment and action by law firms to address their own negative carbon footprints. After all, law firms are part of their clients’ value chains and are increasingly being expected to participate in ESG-related audits by commercial clients. In Claire’s view: “climate transition planning, doing business sustainably and just being better and more responsible as a commercial organisation is becoming more important than ever for both law firms and their clients; and when something is important to your client base, it will naturally become a more prominent and important consideration for you too”. 
Where law firms may struggle and run into conflicts is when it comes to deciding whether their clients’ actions and values align with their own climate-related commitments. This raises a series of financial, ESG and communications issues. The question for every law firm in the coming years will be: how far should we go to ensure our clients’ messaging and actions on climate change reflect our own? And how can we determine which client is more “green” or environmentally friendly than another? These are extremely tricky and existential questions for law firms to grapple with. 
What we are really talking about here is how law firms can address and control advised emissions (otherwise known as scope 4 emissions). Claire considers assessing the environmental merits and/or impact of each instruction or matter as a more viable option than trying to assess the sustainability credentials of a client’s entire organisation or business. 

Will GCs have a role to play in all this?

It’s complicated. On the one hand, GCs will inevitably have oversight where risk and compliance overlaps with ESG issues (such as on disclosures and reporting, supply chain auditing and greenwashing risks). However, it is also true that, due to their complexity, specific skills and sophisticated knowledge levels are required to effectively implement corporate sustainability strategies. The GC will likely have more of a connecting and facilitating role, bringing the right heads in the business together to tackle the firm’s ESG issues. 

As Claire puts it: “GCs can bring everything together from a governance perspective, acting as the bridge connecting the various parts of the business and making sure they’re talking to each other on ESG issues so that they don’t act in isolation. But at the same time, we need specialists around us to navigate the nuances and complexities”.  

Claire’s concluding remarks on the law firm GC role 

“Many law firms, especially smaller ones, seem to think they don’t need GCs because they are lawyers and can handle all that legal and compliance stuff, but this is so misguided. GCs have a multitude of skills and capabilities that go beyond just technical legal knowledge; the ability to foresee and manage risk, balance strict compliance with commerciality and, of course, have the right legal knowledge on the right issues. The GC role is an absolute necessity for all law firms in what is fast becoming a landscape rigged with costly risks and challenges. The best thing firms can do to protect themselves is hire a GC”.

One of the core areas of expertise at Cyan Partners is helping law firms recruit GCs and entire in-house legal teams. Our expert recruiters, Chris Cayley and Michelle Corneby, can help you find the right match for your organisation. Contact us today for an initial call to find out how we can help future-proof your firm.