Community Perspectives: Is it Better to Specialize or to be an In-house Generalist?

As in-house legal professionals weigh their career options, one common question is whether to choose a specific area of specialization or to remain a generalist.

A legal professional in the Legal.io In-House Fishbowl asked:

"Is it better to be in a generalist in-house role or a specialized role? [...] What are the pros and cons of each of these types of roles?"

This question resonated with the group and several members shared their perspective.

One in-house professional responded:

Really depends on what you are looking for. Also how comfortable you are with pushing back and not always knowing the answer.
As a generalist you need to be great at issue spotting even in areas you aren’t familiar. Then you need to be able to say to the business I need you to hold while I investigate further. Also get comfortable with absorbing more risk.
As a specialized attorney you get to be really good at your niche but there’s limited room for growth. You’ll learn one area of the business really well and become a trusted adviser and partner in my experience.

Another member chimed in along similar lines:

I’ve got a specialist role. I’m never going to be GC. That role will likely be filled by those generalists who not only have a full flavor of the business, but are also good managers and politically savvy.
While I still need to understand my organization thoroughly to do my job, I still tend to focus more on my core work than anything else.
But there is upside - I do what I’m good at, I do what gives my organization the most value that I can give them, and because the niche I fill is not easy to fill in-house, I feel very secure about my position, both in terms of job security during tumultuous times and in terms of perceived value to the organization.

A third member shared this experience in response:

I was very similarly a specialist in-house and liked it a lot. My company was based entirely around my specialty so our entire legal team had a background in that specialty, although we handled one off projects here and there outside the specialty, and our GC also did broader work.
I got laid off (since found a new position) so do want to caution you on that front, but personally I still wouldn’t go the generalist route, I’ve invested too much time and energy at this point to give up my specialty (plus I really like it).

A senior counsel noted:

At my first in house job straight out of law school I was in more of a generalist role, with a focus on contracts but with lots of other responsibilities as well.
After that, I went to a larger company in a more specialized role (contracts only). I got bored very quickly with that and after a year went to a smaller company in a generalist role again.
Personally I love having more impact on the overall business and working on interesting issues. I think it is better as well if you want to be a GC one day. In the end, I think it comes down to personal preference.

Amongst the other perspectives shared, this one by a Chief Legal Officer also stood out in particular:

Different perspective: I believe deep subject matter expertise makes you incredibly valuable and differentiates you from the other generalists that I have on my team.
Nobody on my team at AGC level is a “generalist”. My AGCs have deep subject expertise, coupled with the ability to connect dots and manage areas in which they are not expert. They are “player coaches”.
What will really differentiate you is whether you can pivot (sorry... overused word these days) from your specialization to a high level “connect the dots” strategy/risk analysis that covers more than your area of expertise; this does not necessarily come from acting as a legal generalist but it does require a deep understanding of every area of your business and the way your business makes money.
You can do this by managing a function in which you are not expert... not by attempting to perform legal analysis in a function in which you are not expert.
My role by definition makes me a generalist; but I didn’t start that way and I now consider myself a deep expert in a number of areas... though I know what I don’t know - for reference- I’m a F500 CLO with a team of 100+.