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Industry veteran recounts hard lessons learned

By: Caley Clinton, [email protected]//March 27, 2012//

Industry veteran recounts hard lessons learned

By: Caley Clinton, [email protected]//March 27, 2012//

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Karl Dahlen, vice president, general counsel and secretary at Land’s End Inc., sits in his Dodgeville office recently. Dahlen has 18 years of experience as in-house counsel. (Staff photo by Kevin Harnack)

Though he started out with seven years in private practice, Karl Dahlen has since spent the past 18 years making a name for himself as in-house counsel at companies such as A.O. Smith Corp., Milwaukee; Tower Automotive Inc., Racine; and, for the past 14 years, Land’s End Inc., Dodgeville.

As general counsel at the nearly 7,000-employee company, Dahlen leads a six-person corporate legal team. The team manages all legal affairs for Land’s End and its subsidiaries, operating stores, direct-to-consumer businesses, inlet and outlet stores, and international operations in three countries.

Wisconsin Law Journal: What you do you consider to be your most important role as in-house counsel?
Karl Dahlen: The most important role in any general counsel is the ability to bridge business issues with legal issues. They often mask themselves as each other.

There’s a legal gloss on a business risk, whether the issue is contractual or regulatory in nature. That requires somebody to be able to bridge the gaps between what the business people are concerned about and what the legal requirements mandate.

The ability to play in both camps is the most critical value that any in-house counsel can have.

WLJ: Did that take some getting used to when you made the switch from private practice?
Dahlen: It was a hard lesson learned.

A lot of lawyers in private practice struggle with the idea of being able to roll up their sleeves and clarify or define the legal issues they’re asked to opine on and how they affect business. … Particularly fresh out of law school, young lawyers think there are business issues and then legal issues, and that’s not what clients want. … When I look back on my early career I think, ‘Gosh, I said that an awful lot.’

WLJ: How is life as in-house counsel different from that of a private practitioner?
Dahlen: The one thing you give up a little bit when you leave law firm practice, is it’s a much more intellectually rigorous environment at firms. There, you’re focused on legal minutiae and discreet questions of law. You’re getting into the deepest recesses of these legal nuances. Not that what I do isn’t intellectual, but lawyers go into practice law because they love these legal challenges.

When you move into in-house, you’re really seeking to advance business goals. A lot of times, it’s more pedestrian, more commonplace. But at the same time, what makes it superior is you have an end goal in mind. You know what you’re trying to accomplish as part of an enterprise.

That motivation of being part of a team versus a hired gun makes the effort seem so much more worthwhile.

WLJ: What piece of advice would you give to a lawyer considering going in-house?
Dahlen: First, get a business background. Lawyers in law firms, a vast majority of clients are business clients and you want to be able to talk their language.

So first of all, really understand the rules of business. That was another lesson I learned the hard way. One of the options I had at University of Virginia School of Law is I could do a three- or four-year program. So, if I had spent another year and done four, I could have gotten an MBA. A joint JD/MBA program is a good place to start.

The second thing is, you want to be comfortable being part of the business decisions. Some people just aren’t built that way. Some lawyers are more comfortable living in the legal world and aren’t ready to roll up their sleeves and sit next to the business person and say, ‘Have you thought about this or that,’ delving into business issues.

If you aren’t comfortable with that, you shouldn’t go into in-house.

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