Balancing ethics and business
He may seem the ultimate anti-hero, but could lawyer Saul Goodman, of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, actually be a role model for in-house lawyers? (warning: contains spoilers).
Once upon a time in New Mexico, there was a lawyer who was really, really good, or really, really bad, depending on your view of things. His name – or, at least, one of his aliases – was Saul Goodman, and he worked very hard for his clients to help them grow a small start-up into a business empire using the raw ingredients of over-the-counter medicine, stolen lab equipment, a dying chemist and a young punk with a memorable way with a swear word.
As one of TV’s sleaziest attorneys, Breaking Bad’s shiny-suited Saul Goodman provided legal counsel to his criminal clients with an unwavering advocacy, and often added enormous value to their operations. In doing so, he displayed many of the traits that we regularly hear are optimum for in-house counsel, from a thorough understanding of the business and its wider context to a consistent focus on commerciality, combined with an expert ability to weigh risks against opportunities. Goodman became much more than the sounding board for legal problems – his advice and real-world connections were so integral to the success of the business that he became a de facto partner in a wildly successful Albuquerque meth empire. There is much an in-house counsel can learn from Goodman and his approach (just as, admittedly, there is also much from which any smart lawyer should run screaming).
