Analysis
Contributors
Unlike their private practice counterparts, in-house private equity (PE) lawyers prefer a low profile. Or, as one private practice partner puts it: ‘PE is a murky, sharp-elbowed world. In-house lawyers like to stay out of the limelight.’
Yet despite being publicity shy, in-house PE lawyers need to be very visible internally and, unlike many in-house teams, are required to practise effective integration with all business lines, rather than paying lip service to it. Working in a business where internal clients feel they know more about the subject matter – deals and investments – than their in-house lawyers, Gavin Gordon, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, observes: ‘The more successful in-house PE lawyers tend to be quite forceful characters, because you are in an organisation with a lot of alpha personalities. One of your roles is to curb behaviours where they’re going to put the general partner and/or the fund at risk, and maintain discipline with respect to risk mitigation.’
