Secondment: A Winning Strategy
by Valerie Fontaine and Barbara Mayden
Valerie Fontaine is a Board Member and officer of NALSC® and the author of The Right Moves: Job Search and Career Development Strategies
for Lawyers (2nd edition 2013, NALP). She is also a Principal of SeltzerFontaine (www.seltzerfontaine.com), where she can be reached at
[email protected]. Barbara Mayden is a Principal with Young Mayden, LLC (www.youngmayden.com) and can be reached
at [email protected].
Secondment (si-kond-muhnt) — Noun,
British, The transfer of a military officer or
corporate executive to another post for
temporary duty.
difficult to adequately staff otherwise,
such as:
In the legal marketplace, secondment is the
loan by a law firm of one of their lawyers to a
corporate entity in need of in-house expertise
on a limited basis. The secondment can be a
full-time engagement for a period of time
(weeks, months, or a year or more), or structured as a certain number of hours per day or
days per week, as needed.
• A project that doesn’t promise sufficient
continuity to ensure a lawyer’s consistent
attention to the end;
While flexibility is key with secondments,
certain practices are common. Usually the
seconded lawyer continues to be paid by
the law firm and to receive the law firm’s
employee benefits. The law firm and the
company typically work out a flat fee for the
use of the seconded attorney, with an understanding regarding pricing for any additional
“backup” legal services from the law firm
itself, if required.
European and U.K. firms have used secondments for decades, and U.S. firms increasingly see the benefits of utilizing this strategy,
as well. Done right, secondments are a
win/win/win situation for the corporation,
the law firm, and the seconded lawyer.
Win: For the Corporation
The law department may need an experienced
lawyer to fill the gap left by a lawyer on maternity or medical leave, come in and clean up a
mess, or oversee or help with a specific but
time-limited project such as to manage a
major transaction or lawsuit. Other than filling
in for an in-house lawyer on leave, situations
appropriate for a secondment often are
8 / June 2017 — NALP Bulletin
• A specific project that isn’t amenable to
predictable hours;
• A situation where specific expertise is not
available in-house but is needed on a
short-term basis only; or
• A situation where available in-house
lawyers may have the substantive expertise but not the judgment/gravitas required
to properly execute an important but
short-term project.
The secondment alternative, where a skilled
lawyer is assigned to the company as needed
at a flat, reasonable, predictable rate, provides the requisite expertise and assurance
that the project will be seen through, plus
backup skills of other attorneys at the lending
law firm if necessary.
Win: For the Law Firm
Why would a law firm send its lawyers to work
somewhere else (while still paying them the
crazy salaries they do)?
Secondments provide training for associates
in law firms where the old method of “learning by carrying the partner’s briefcase” is a
relic of the distant past. The training is not
only in the “how to’s” of the substantive law
involved but also typically provides on-the-job
leadership/ownership skills that often are
neglected when the junior lawyer is but one of
many on law firm “teams.” The seconded
lawyer becomes the go-to lawyer who exer-
cises leadership skills and gains the confidence that comes with the assignment. This
will carry over to instill confidence in the
lawyer’s future client contacts once back at
the firm.
Secondments bind the relationship of an
existing or new client to the firm. With new
clients, the firm has a chance to demonstrate
its flexibility by providing the seconded lawyer
in the first place, as well as by offering its
expertise when the seconded lawyer needs
backup for thornier issues. Moreover, there
may be opportunities to cross-sell new services when issues ancillary to the secondment
arise and, further, with new and existing
clients, to instill a reliance on the seconded
lawyer who will be returning to the firm.
Secondments are a way to inspire goodwill
when used as an “off ramp” for a lawyer the
firm wishes to outplace. Most firms understand that promoting a culture of friendship
and collegiality has long-term benefits, and
ongoing relationships with lawyers who move
on can be a valuable business proposition. A
lawyer who is seconded instead of “up and
outed” is much more likely to be grateful for
the opportunity and inclined to retain the firm
when business requires, whether at the company to which he or she is seconded or in
future corporate in-house positions.
There’s also a financial advantage for the
firm. In most cases, lawyers aren’t financially
productive to a law firm until around year
three, whether because their learning curve
necessitates writing off hours or billing them
at reduced rates. Further, general underutilization of lawyers is a continuing issue
since hiring the correct number of lawyers for
entry-level classes out of law school is more
art than science. Sending these more junior
lawyers out on secondments at a flat,
negotiated, discounted rate may be more
profitable for the law firm that is offering the
seconded lawyer.
opment often is an important indicia of partnership potential.
Win: For the Lawyer Being Seconded
A secondment also helps position a lawyer for
future opportunities. The smart junior lawyer
always seeks to enhance marketability for the
next opportunity. If looking for a lateral law
firm move down the road, the possibility that
Another truism is that the successful lawyer
is one who understands how the clients’
businesses work. A secondment not only
immerses the lawyer in a specific business,
but also gives the lawyer a taste of the business world generally, which often is a gap in
the background of many lawyers who go
directly from college to law school. This valuable information is not readily available to
lawyers in the law firm environment.
Secondments provide
training for associates in law
firms where the old method
of “learning by carrying the
partner’s briefcase” is a
relic of the distant past.
The seconded lawyer also gains direct client
contact. While the secondment is good for the
law firm in that it tends to “bind” the company to the firm as noted above, it also is
good for the lawyer, who inevitably becomes
the client’s law firm contact or go-to lawyer
upon return to the firm. This is a huge benefit
for the seconded lawyer since business devel-
this client still sees this lawyer as its lawyer
and may well move along with that lawyer is a
great competitive advantage.
Especially if the lawyer is considering an
in-house move at some point, the secondment may be a big plus. The combination of
law firm and in-house experience in the form
of a secondment is likely to make a candidate
more marketable than one who has only law
firm experience. From the potential law department employer’s point of view, a stint in-house
is more likely to yield a lawyer who isn’t uberspecialized, as is often the case with law firm
lawyers, who appreciates the in-house issues
and pressures attendant to the use of outside
lawyers, and who understands the specific
industry the company is in as well as the different expectations of “captive” in-house clients.
Becoming More Common
Secondments are a common practice internationally, and are becoming more so in the U.S.
With potential benefits for all parties involved,
corporations, law firms, and attorneys should
seek out such opportunities to score a win/
win/win. ■
This article is based on an article that
appeared in the Spring 2016 NALSC (National
Association of Legal Search Consultants)
Newsletter.
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