Most Important Skills For An Associate Counsel At JW Player
For an in-house counsel position, Molly emphasizes the importance of "managing expectations" and excellent communication skills, surpassing even strong legal knowledge; this involves active listening to understand underlying needs and "filtering through" questions to deliver effective solutions.
Communication, Problem-Solving, Listening Skills, Expectation Management, Legal Knowledge
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Molly Noreika
Associate Counsel
JW Player
UCLA 2015
University of Pennsylvania School of Law, 2020, JD
History, Art History
Arts, Entertainment & Media, Technology
Legal
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans
Video Highlights
1. Effective communication is crucial, even more so than strong legal knowledge alone.
2. Managing expectations is key; under-promising and over-delivering builds trust and rapport.
3. Active listening skills are essential to understand the underlying needs of those you're advising and to give appropriate advice
Transcript
What skills are most important for a job like yours?
One of the most important skills for my job as in-house counsel is managing expectations. I work with many different people daily from various teams, who have different communication styles and work expectations.
When working as a lawyer with non-legal professionals, misunderstandings or different conceptions about how the law works can arise. Being able to set expectations with the people I work with is huge.
Always trying to underpromise and overdeliver is crucial. It's always appreciated when you can exceed people's expectations and ensure everyone is on the same page.
I believe a good communicator is very important, perhaps more so than being a good lawyer. Having that base of knowledge and experience from working at a law firm first is definitely needed, and I highly recommend it.
However, you're really in a people role; you're talking to people all day. With that, I would also emphasize listening. You listen to people's questions and try to determine if the question they're asking is what they truly need. People often come with questions they don't fully understand, so filtering through that is also huge.