In-house legal compliance - what's it like? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I may have an opportunity to go in-house as a legal compliance attorney with a fairly large company. My background is broadly litigation, let's say 4-6 years of experience at a large firm - I don't want to discuss specifics of my background here, but it does seem to be what they want.

I can google and read up, and I have, but thought I'd pick the collective brains here - what's the job like? I'm well aware it's different than my life as a litigator.

Anyone do this work, or know friends who do?

Things to emphasize in an interview?

Any insight is appreciated. I'm trying to avoid specifics of the job and my current job for obvious reasons, but if there is something you need to know in order to better answer, let me know and I'll see if I can flush out some details for context.

Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous User]

Just gonna bump this once.

[071816]

what industry? and what do you mean by in-house legal compliance?

[Eastboundndown]

what industry? and what do you mean by in-house legal compliance?

Compliance is a very broad field so this would be good to know

[Anonymous User]

what industry? and what do you mean by in-house legal compliance?

Compliance is a very broad field so this would be good to know

International manufacturing company with plants on every continent - so this is the very root of my problem - I don't quite know what it means. The job description is somewhat vague and to the extent it offers details I just don't want to type them here on the *very slim change* it gives the job or me away. They want someone willing to travel frequently.

[071816]

what industry? and what do you mean by in-house legal compliance?

Compliance is a very broad field so this would be good to know

International manufacturing company with plants on every continent - so this is the very root of my problem - I don't quite know what it means. The job description is somewhat vague and to the extent it offers details I just don't want to type them here on the *very slim change* it gives the job or me away. They want someone willing to travel frequently.

sounds weird. I know nothing about this industry. compliance jobs can sort of be a mixed bag. do you need a jd to do the job or no?

[Anonymous User]

what industry? and what do you mean by in-house legal compliance?

Compliance is a very broad field so this would be good to know

International manufacturing company with plants on every continent - so this is the very root of my problem - I don't quite know what it means. The job description is somewhat vague and to the extent it offers details I just don't want to type them here on the *very slim change* it gives the job or me away. They want someone willing to travel frequently.

sounds weird. I know nothing about this industry. compliance jobs can sort of be a mixed bag. do you need a jd to do the job or no?

JD is required. It seems they want a sort of internal "inspector General" like the military has - make sure company is operating in compliance with regulations, and if not, devise and implement corrective policies.

[ozymandius]

A compliance job like that has three main components.

One is drafting and revising policies (e.g., codes of conduct), as well as the ancillary procedural mechanisms to implement those policies (e.g., complaint hotlines, stuff like that). Some people like this type of work and some people find it soul-crushing. It is very different from litigation. Depending on whether you like litigation, that might be good or bad.

The second is conducting and supervising internal investigations. Sometimes these can be cool and interesting--maybe you get a tip on your anonymous hotline that some employees of your Mexican sub are entertaining local governmental officials with prostitutes and drugs, and then you have to figure out how to respond to that knowledge in such a way as to minimize the company's exposure to outside liability. Sometimes, though, you have a governmental agency sending you three subpoenas a week asking for every document your company has ever produced, and it's your job to sit in a room and be your CEO's punching bag. This isn't much like litigation either, but it can definitely be interesting.

Finally, you will answer a bunch of tedious day-to-day questions about whether such and such business group can do such and such thing. Sometimes these questions can verge on interesting, but usually not. And usually the businessfolk who are asking you hate you because you always tell them some variation of no, you can't do that because it violates the FCPA to leave a packet of unmarked bills in the Deputy Minister of Corruption's trash can during your backchannel meeting about your operating license.

All in all, these jobs can be cool, but they can also be crap.

[Anonymous User]

A compliance job like that has three main components.

One is drafting and revising policies (e.g., codes of conduct), as well as the ancillary procedural mechanisms to implement those policies (e.g., complaint hotlines, stuff like that). Some people like this type of work and some people find it soul-crushing. It is very different from litigation. Depending on whether you like litigation, that might be good or bad.

The second is conducting and supervising internal investigations. Sometimes these can be cool and interesting--maybe you get a tip on your anonymous hotline that some employees of your Mexican sub are entertaining local governmental officials with prostitutes and drugs, and then you have to figure out how to respond to that knowledge in such a way as to minimize the company's exposure to outside liability. Sometimes, though, you have a governmental agency sending you three subpoenas a week asking for every document your company has ever produced, and it's your job to sit in a room and be your CEO's punching bag. This isn't much like litigation either, but it can definitely be interesting.

Finally, you will answer a bunch of tedious day-to-day questions about whether such and such business group can do such and such thing. Sometimes these questions can verge on interesting, but usually not. And usually the businessfolk who are asking you hate you because you always tell them some variation of no, you can't do that because it violates the FCPA to leave a packet of unmarked bills in the Deputy Minister of Corruption's trash can during your backchannel meeting about your operating license.

All in all, these jobs can be cool, but they can also be crap.

Thanks, that's exactly what I was wondering about. Based on the job description I have, what you wrote is probably exactly what the job will entail.

Just curious, how do you know this? Work in that field (or used to)? Know a friend? Or just knowledgeable?