Community Perspectives: Has anyone come into a company in a non-attorney position and transitioned to counsel?

In-house legal professionals share insight their experiences with internal growth.

(Author) Attorney

I have a non-attorney role but my company often assigns legal issues to navigate (contract review, dispute resolution, legislative/policy developments). I’ve been there 2.5 years and, when I came on, the role was pitched as one that would grow into counsel, then GC, within 5 years. I plan to leave but I want to change my title so my resume/LinkedIn look better for job applications. - Has anyone come in on a non-attorney role and grown to counsel? Has anyone pitched their way into a counsel title?

Counsel Responses:

Yes, I came in as “contracts specialist”. About 8 months in, I did a pitch with what I could be doing as counsel. The slide deck was complete with a new job description and responsibilities, I showed where they could cut out side costs etc. I had to wear both hats for about a year before they made me manager and hired another contracts person under me. It was definitely worth it for the title and growth potential.
Does your employer pay for your Bar membership, CLE expenses, etc? If so, it would appear like they are treating you like as a lawyer without compensating you like one. As for your direct question, I'd be careful referring to myself on a formal résumé as "counsel" if an HR reference-check would not support that characterization. I would, however, include some job description referencing that I "perform other functions typical of in-house counsel" and let your prospective employers infer from there.
I would definitely try to get the title, as it's critical that you have an attorney title for career growth. We have legal analysts doing most of our contract review and basic legal research work, but legal opinions are only rendered by an attorney. If they're treating you as an attorney, and paying for your licensing, it sounds like you have an attorney role, but they are deflating the title just to warrant paying you less. Aside from ethical issues, there may also be issues with maintaining attorney-client privilege (or lack thereof) since you are not the company's attorney. You might be able to use this the help persuade them to give you an attorney title, like counsel, or even associate counsel. Once you get it, jump ship.

Attorney and Associate Responses:

I started in-house after law school and came in without the counsel title, but I was doing a lot of counsel-type work just supervised by counsel. The only thing I didn’t do was provide legal opinions to the business. After two years they promoted me to counsel.

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