Lessons I Learned in Law

Alex Haskell, General Counsel and Head of Global Affairs at ElevenLabs, joins Scott in Amsterdam, just a day after the company opened its Netherlands office and in the same week it reached a $22bn valuation.His first lesson is about humility. With the right attitude, good outside counsel and the support of experienced mentors, you can practise almost any area of law. The key is knowing what you don't know, finding the people who do, and being prepared to put in the hours. His second lesson is that creativity and flexibility are what really set great lawyers apart. There will always be someone who knows the code or the case law better than you do. When hiring, Alex also puts a lot of weight on references from people outside the legal profession.His third lesson is knowing when you're in yes/no mode and when you're in mitigation mode. Legal needs to have the credibility to say a clear no, but most of the time the job is about finding the most responsible way forward. That takes EQ just as much as IQ. Along the way, Alex talks about why he's never been a fan of long-term career plans, how he made the move from consulting to in-house, and how his legal team grew from around three people to 25.Alex joined ElevenLabs in April 2024. He leads legal, public sector partnerships and global expansion, and helps lead the company's music efforts. Before joining, he spent 2021 to 2024 in the White House, serving as Special Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff in the Office of Legislative Affairs and in the Office of the White House Counsel, where he vetted nominees for senior Senate-confirmed roles. Earlier in his career, he was Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee staff, an associate at Skadden in Washington D.C., and a clerk to Judge Amit P. Mehta on the D.C. District Court.There's plenty happening at ElevenLabs right now. Founded in 2022, the company builds voice AI, covering everything from speech and music models to voice agents for businesses. It released its Eleven v4 text-to-speech models on 28 September 2026, and just two days later, an employee tender offer valued the company at $22bn, double its February Series D valuation.The company opened its Amsterdam office on 1 October, with KPN, Just Eat Takeaway and Medendo among its Dutch customers, followed by Singapore on 8 October as its Southeast Asia hub. October also saw its first India Summit in Bengaluru, where it signed an MoU with the Karnataka government covering Kannada voice AI pilots and a safety framework. On 21 October, it launched Eleven Realtime Translation, bringing live translation for calls in more than 90 languages, initially in alpha for enterprise customers. Alex also mentions that the company currently has more than 300 open roles, including across legal.This episode is brought to you in partnership with Wordsmith AI — the legal AI platform built specifically for in-house teams.Resources & Links Mentioned in This EpisodeRegister your interest in joining The Lodge In-house Legal Community: https://bit.ly/TheLodgebyHBHeriot Brown: https://heriotbrown.com/Wordsmith AI: https://www.wordsmith.ai/Legal Engineering Project Application form: https://wordsmith.fillout.com/legalengprojectListen to the PodcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/61xrrepWuWxNsnXIaYxsj5Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lessons-i-learned-in-law/id1563397804YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@HeriotBrownInHouseRecruitmentConnect with Heriot Brownhttps://heriotbrown.com/About Heriot Brown: At Heriot Brown, we help lawyers find fulfilment in their careers. Beyond recruitment, we foster a thriving community of in-house legal professionals who share insights, experiences, and growth opportunities.Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to Lessons I Learned in Law, leave a review, and share it with a colleague who is building legal for a fast-moving company.

In this instalment of our Lessons Relearned in Law recap series, Scott revisits four past conversations on the theme that came up most often across the archive: being understood. He calls it the most fixable of them all. It’s effectively storytelling, it leads to influence, and nobody is born clear. It’s built from small habits.The episode opens with Pola Karolczyk, General Counsel and Chief People Officer at Cowboy, on the oldest lesson she has learned: non-lawyers aren’t interested in the workings of the law, only the outcome. So be brief and specific, and tell them yes or no and how it helps them.Next, Emilie Mathieu, General Counsel at Checkout.com, on putting the bottom line up front. Executives trust you, so answer in the first line of your next email and put your reasoning underneath.Roel Staes, formerly General Counsel International at FedEx, adds the idea of “pregnant sentences”. If you tell the exec committee the company may be fined, they’ll want to know how much, so give a range. Be accurate, be complete, and talk in business terms rather than legal ones. Scott’s exercise: take the last piece of advice you gave and cut it down to three key messages.The last clip is Steph Lopes, Chief Legal Officer at Volt, on taking people along on a journey rather than announcing a decision, and the buy-in that follows.Scott’s three habits for this week: answer first, distil your message to three things, and take people with you. And remember that nobody in your business cares about the law as much as you do. Once the sting passes, it’s freeing.This episode is brought to you in partnership with Wordsmith AI — the legal AI platform built specifically for in-house teams.Resources & Links Mentioned in This EpisodeRegister your interest in joining The Lodge In-house Legal Community: https://bit.ly/TheLodgebyHBHeriot Brown: https://heriotbrown.com/Wordsmith AI: https://www.wordsmith.ai/Legal Engineering Project Application form: https://wordsmith.fillout.com/legalengprojectListen to the PodcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/61xrrepWuWxNsnXIaYxsj5Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lessons-i-learned-in-law/id1563397804YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@HeriotBrownInHouseRecruitmentConnect with Heriot Brownhttps://heriotbrown.com/About Heriot Brown: At Heriot Brown, we help lawyers find fulfilment in their careers. Beyond recruitment, we foster a thriving community of in-house legal professionals who share insights, experiences, and growth opportunities.Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to Lessons I Learned in Law, leave a review, and share it with someone who wants to be better understood.

Nick Clayson is General Counsel at Rocco Forte Hotels, the family-founded luxury hotel group with around 15 hotels, including The Balmoral in Edinburgh and Brown’s in London. He joined as the company’s first in-house lawyer, after 18 months as interim General Counsel at Maybourne Hotels and around 15 years as a Norton Rose Fulbright partner, first in the Middle East and then London.In this episode of Lessons I Learned in Law, Nick talks about the move from partner to in-house, running legal as a business function rather than a gatekeeper, and what luxury hospitality can teach lawyers about client service.His three lessons: first, that the client-law firm relationship is stickier than it looks — steady instructions don’t mean a healthy relationship, so ask your clients about service, communication and how they like to receive work, even something as simple as WhatsApp or email. Second, that law is a service, and the best service is mirroring: the goal is to be remembered, not just memorable. Third, make mindful career choices — choose work you love and build a niche, rather than simply chasing seniority.He also explains his micro-secondments, a few days in-house for mid to senior associates from law firms, so they see what it’s like to consume legal services. Nick calls it a win for the associate, the firm and his team, at zero cost. And on AI, he argues the skill that separates good lawyers from excellent ones is being a reader: it can produce text that looks right but still needs a human to do the thinking.This episode is brought to you in partnership with Wordsmith AI — the legal AI platform built specifically for in-house teams.Resources & Links Mentioned in This EpisodeRegister your interest in joining The Lodge In-house Legal Community: https://bit.ly/TheLodgebyHBHeriot Brown: https://heriotbrown.com/Wordsmith AI: https://www.wordsmith.ai/Legal Engineering Project Application form: https://wordsmith.fillout.com/legalengprojectListen to the PodcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/61xrrepWuWxNsnXIaYxsj5Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lessons-i-learned-in-law/id1563397804YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@HeriotBrownInHouseRecruitmentConnect with Heriot Brownhttps://heriotbrown.com/About Heriot Brown: At Heriot Brown, we help lawyers find fulfilment in their careers. Beyond recruitment, we foster a thriving community of in-house legal professionals who share insights, experiences, and growth opportunities.Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to Lessons I Learned in Law, leave a review, and share it with someone building their career in legal leadership.

In this instalment of our Lessons Relearned in Law recap series, Scott revisits four past conversations on a reputation many in-house teams are trying to shake: the Department of No. It isn't a personality transplant, and it doesn't mean changing your approach to risk. It comes down to a few learnable habits in how you answer questions and take answers back to your stakeholders.The episode opens with Alex O'Connell on why "is it legal?" is almost never the right question, and why the better move is to unpack what the business is actually trying to do.Next, Douglas McClure on understanding what you're being asked, why, and what the company's attitude to risk is. Scott's practical step: before saying no, write down the risk you're assessing and find one route that gets the business most of what it wants. Even if the answer stays no, you've tried to get to yes.Daniel Winterfeldt, General Counsel for EMEA and Asia at Jefferies, adds that almost every problem has a solution. Scott pairs it with a simple exercise: find out your stakeholder's number for the quarter, whether revenue, launch date or headcount, and treat it as your North Star.Finally, David Flavell, General Counsel at PepsiCo, on putting commercial solutions on people's desks rather than problems. He prefers four bullet points (the issue, the concern, the proposed solution, can we talk) to a five-page memo, and shows his working afterwards.Scott closes with a reminder to keep a log of the problems you've solved. It becomes your greatest-hits list for the next promotion or interview.This episode is brought to you in partnership with Wordsmith AI — the legal AI platform built specifically for in-house teams.Resources & Links Mentioned in This EpisodeRegister your interest in joining The Lodge In-house Legal Community: https://bit.ly/TheLodgebyHBHeriot Brown: https://heriotbrown.com/Wordsmith AI: https://www.wordsmith.ai/Legal Engineering Project Application form: https://wordsmith.fillout.com/legalengprojectListen to the PodcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/61xrrepWuWxNsnXIaYxsj5Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lessons-i-learned-in-law/id1563397804YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@HeriotBrownInHouseRecruitmentConnect with Heriot Brownhttps://heriotbrown.com/About Heriot Brown: At Heriot Brown, we help lawyers find fulfilment in their careers. Beyond recruitment, we foster a thriving community of in-house legal professionals who share insights, experiences, and growth opportunities.Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to Lessons I Learned in Law, leave a review, and share it with someone who wants to be known for solutions.

Nicki, Group General Counsel at Reach, joins Scott Brown to share lessons from a career spent at the heart of media, publishing and broadcasting law.In this episode of Lessons I Learned in Law, Nicki reflects on her role leading legal at Reach, the UK’s largest newspaper publishing group, home to titles including The Daily Mirror, The Daily Express, The Daily Star, OK Magazine, regional titles, and publications across Ireland and the US. She discusses what it means to be “a newspaper lawyer through and through”, and how her career has taken her from private practice into broadcasting, global media, and ultimately into the Group GC role at Reach.Her first lesson is that the law is only interesting to other lawyers. For the business, law is a tool: a way of getting from A to B quickly, practically and with the least aggravation possible. Nicki explains why in-house lawyers need to avoid getting lost in the weeds and focus instead on translating legal complexity into clear, commercial guidance.Her second lesson is that it’s all about the people. Whether handling litigation, negotiating contracts or advising internal stakeholders, success depends on understanding how people communicate, react and make decisions. Nicki shares why lawyers should be approachable, easy to talk to, and trusted before a problem becomes a crisis.Her final lesson is about being comfortable saying “leave that with me”. Stepping into the GC role meant learning quickly that nobody knows everything — and that guessing is far more dangerous than taking time to find the right answer. She also reflects on returning to work after a ten-year career break, encouraging others not to apologise for the time they’ve taken away from practice.This episode is brought to you in partnership with Wordsmith AI — the legal AI platform built specifically for in-house teams.Guest RecommendationsNetwork: Eagle ClubReturner support mentioned: Obelisk and the Law SocietyResources & Links Mentioned in This EpisodeRegister your interest in joining The Lodge In-house Legal Community: https://bit.ly/TheLodgebyHBHeriot Brown: https://heriotbrown.com/Wordsmith AI: https://www.wordsmith.ai/Legal Engineering Project Application form: https://wordsmith.fillout.com/legalengprojectListen to the PodcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/4 YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/Connect with Heriot Brownhttps://heriotbrown.com/About Heriot Brown: At Heriot Brown, we help lawyers find fulfilment in their careers. Beyond recruitment, we foster a thriving community of in-house legal professionals who share insights, experiences, and growth opportunities.Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to Lessons I Learned in Law, leave a review, and share it with someone building their career in legal leadership. 

In this instalment of our Lessons Relearned in Law recap series, Scott revisits four past conversations that tackle a question raised at nearly every legal conference and within The Lodge community: how do lawyers earn a genuine seat at the top table?The episode opens with Steph Lopes, Chief Legal Officer at Volt, on the idea that you're a business leader as well as a lawyer — the business needs more than just your legal brain. Scott builds on this by noting that a recent report found around 45% of GC and CLO appointments are internal versus 55% external, and that visibility with the people around your immediate stakeholders is often the deciding factor.Next is Emilie Mathieu, General Counsel at Checkout.com, whose episode explored how GC appointments really get made. The practical takeaway: the people most likely to open your next door don't necessarily sit within legal, so mapping your stakeholders, picking two to genuinely help this quarter, and being deliberately visible in your work matters more than traditional networking.The third clip features Anoop Joshi, at the time of recording Chief Trust Officer at Trustpilot and now SVP, Legal at Airalo, on the discipline of "it starts with a table" — mapping the key elements, issues and owners of a project before diving in — and progress over perfection: get work to 80% and ship it rather than waiting for it to feel ready.The final clip is Katja Fenton, General Counsel at Fugro in the Netherlands, recorded shortly after she stepped into the role, on reframing imposter syndrome as a sign of growth rather than something to suppress — a feeling that shows up precisely because you're stretching into something new.Scott closes with the same thread running through all four: nobody lands on the exec table by accident — most had to ask for it, and being visible is what gets you there.This episode is brought to you in partnership with Wordsmith AI — the legal AI platform built specifically for in-house teams.Resources & Links Mentioned in This EpisodeRegister your interest in joining The Lodge In-house Legal Community: https://bit.ly/TheLodgebyHBHeriot Brown: https://heriotbrown.com/Wordsmith AI: https://www.wordsmith.ai/Legal Engineering Project Application form: https://wordsmith.fillout.com/legalengprojectListen to the PodcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/61xrrepWuWxNsnXIaYxsj5Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lessons-i-learned-in-law/id1563397804YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@HeriotBrownInHouseRecruitmentConnect with Heriot Brown https://heriotbrown.com/About Heriot Brown:At Heriot Brown, we help lawyers find fulfilment in their careers. Beyond recruitment, we foster a thriving community of in-house legal professionals who share insights, experiences, and growth opportunities.Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to Lessons I Learned in Law, leave a review, and share it with someone building their case for a seat at the table.

Alistair Day is General Counsel for International at AECOM, the US-headquartered construction and engineering business, leading a team of 65 lawyers across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia and New Zealand. He joined AECOM seven years ago and stepped into the international GC role three years ago, having started out covering the UK and Ireland before his remit grew to include India, Europe, and beyond. Before AECOM, Alistair trained as a litigator and made partner in private practice, before moving in-house to Bechtel.In this episode of Lessons I Learned in Law, Alistair talks about what makes for a genuinely embedded legal function, why the litigator-to-in-house move is often underrated, and how AECOM is putting AI and legal ops to work.His three lessons: first, confidence in having a voice — the best in-house lawyers don't just advise on the legal risk, they engage with what the business is trying to achieve, and that confidence builds over time and repeated exposure to the exec table. Second, flexibility and embracing change — there's never been a more exciting time to be an in-house lawyer, but that means genuinely engaging with AI and technology rather than assuming the job stays the same. Third, have a real passion for the industry you're in — people can tell whether a lawyer actually cares about what the business does, and that interest is what earns trust and buy-in.He also shares due-diligence questions for lawyers considering a move in-house — including whether legal reviews decisions or actually approves them — and reflects on why litigators often make excellent in-house hires.This episode is brought to you in partnership with Wordsmith AI — the legal AI platform built specifically for in-house teams.Resources & Links Mentioned in This EpisodeRegister your interest in joining The Lodge In-house Legal Community: https://bit.ly/TheLodgebyHBHeriot Brown: https://heriotbrown.com/Wordsmith AI: https://www.wordsmith.ai/Legal Engineering Project Application form: https://wordsmith.fillout.com/legalengprojectListen to the PodcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/61xrrepWuWxNsnXIaYxsj5Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lessons-i-learned-in-law/id1563397804YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@HeriotBrownInHouseRecruitmentConnect with Heriot Brownhttps://heriotbrown.com/About Heriot Brown: At Heriot Brown, we help lawyers find fulfilment in their careers. Beyond recruitment, we foster a thriving community of in-house legal professionals who share insights, experiences, and growth opportunities.Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to Lessons I Learned in Law, leave a review, and share it with someone building their career in legal leadership. 

In this episode of Lessons Relearned in Law, Scott looks back across the Lessons I Learned in Law archive to explore what happens when in-house legal careers move beyond the traditional boundaries of the legal role.This recap episode brings together clips from previous guests, each offering a different perspective on how lawyers can build careers that go beyond legal advice alone. The common thread is that none of these career moves were presented as superhuman or perfectly planned. Instead, they came from deliberate choices, uncomfortable opportunities and a willingness to think more broadly about what lawyers can contribute.Scott reflects on James’s point that meaningful career change often starts with one honest question: are you in your current role because you chose it, or because it was simply the next thing available? From there, the episode turns to Pola’s lesson on choosing discomfort, and why messy, challenging work can teach lawyers more in a few months than years of routine business-as-usual activity.Finally, Jim Reid shares why senior lawyers need to step away from being the expert in every detail and start thinking like the person who runs the room. For aspiring legal leaders, the message is practical: choose deliberately, pick discomfort, and watch how your CEO operates — then try it for yourself.Resources & Links Mentioned in This EpisodeRegister your interest in joining The Lodge In-house Legal Community: https://bit.ly/TheLodgebyHBHeriot Brown: https://heriotbrown.com/Wordsmith AI: https://www.wordsmith.ai/Legal Engineering Project Application form: https://wordsmith.fillout.com/legalengprojectListen to the PodcastSpotify: [LINK]Apple Podcasts: [LINK]YouTube: [LINK]Connect with Heriot Brownhttps://heriotbrown.com/About Heriot Brown:At Heriot Brown, we help lawyers find fulfilment in their careers. Beyond recruitment, we foster a thriving community of in-house legal professionals who share insights, experiences, and growth opportunities.Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to Lessons I Learned in Law, leave a review, and share it with someone thinking about what their legal career could become next.

Christie McCluskey is Chief Legal and People Officer at Ooni, the pizza oven and cooking products company, having joined in 2022 as its first in-house lawyer. Before Ooni, she spent almost six years at William Grant & Sons, home to brands including Glenfiddich and Balvenie whisky and Hendrick's Gin, after training and qualifying in Scotland.In this episode of Lessons I Learned in Law, Christie talks through building a legal function from scratch at a fast-growing, founder-led business, and the shift in mindset that came with moving from a 130-year-old institution to a younger, more agile one.Her three lessons: first, that legal is only one lens — good in-house lawyers give firm advice while recognising there are other legitimate factors at play, and that the job is to navigate risk rather than eliminate it entirely. Second, that it's okay to say "I don't know yet" — slowing a decision down to get it right is different from blocking it, and confidence and self-doubt can coexist productively. Third, to find your passion within the role — for Christie, that's the relationship-building that comes from sitting across every part of the business — because a sustainable legal career needs more than just the technical work.She also reflects on Ooni's growth from Scotland to Austin, Texas, and the value of building a strong network within Scotland's legal community.This episode is brought to you in partnership with Wordsmith AI — the legal AI platform built specifically for in-house teams.Resources & Links Mentioned in This EpisodeRegister your interest in joining The Lodge In-house Legal Community: https://bit.ly/TheLodgebyHBHeriot Brown: https://heriotbrown.com/Wordsmith AI: https://www.wordsmith.ai/Legal Engineering Project Application form: https://wordsmith.fillout.com/legalengprojectListen to the PodcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4H4tBzknDSCejrvIqKxKyiApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lessons-i-learned-in-law/id1563397804YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@HeriotBrownInHouseRecruitmentConnect with Heriot Brownhttps://heriotbrown.com/

Umar Aziz, Partner, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel at DG Partners, joins Scott Brown to share lessons from a career that nearly took him into shipping brokerage before a major life event brought him back to law.In this episode of Lessons I Learned in Law, Umar reflects on how personal circumstances shaped the start of his legal career, including his decision to return to Clifford Chance after initially turning down his training contract. His first lesson is that there is more to life than work. Drawing on his own experiences of loss, family responsibility and high-pressure legal environments, he discusses the importance of building a full life outside the job — and why excellence matters across work, family, friendships and personal pursuits.His second lesson comes from advice he received early in his career: learn from the best bits of the lawyers around you. Umar explains why every lawyer you work with has something worth copying — and something worth leaving behind.His final lesson challenges the idea that lawyers should always try to “win” every point. Whether negotiating with clients, managing internal teams or building long-term business relationships, Umar argues that sustainable success comes from fairness, trust and mutual respect — not squeezing every last drop out of the other side.Along the way, Umar discusses moving from litigation into funds, the transition from private practice into DG Partners, his COO and GC role, and why full-contact karate helps him stay disciplined, present and switched off from work. This episode is brought to you in partnership with Wordsmith AI — the legal AI platform built specifically for in-house teams.Guest RecommendationsSport: Full-contact karate Sauce of choice: Buffalo or curry sauce Resources & Links Mentioned in This EpisodeRegister your interest in joining The Lodge In-house Legal Community: https://bit.ly/TheLodgebyHB Heriot Brown: https://heriotbrown.com/ Wordsmith AI: https://www.wordsmith.ai/ Legal Engineering Project Application form: https://wordsmith.fillout.com/legalengproject Listen to the PodcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/4 YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/Connect with Heriot Brownhttps://heriotbrown.com/ About Heriot Brown: At Heriot Brown, we help lawyers find fulfilment in their careers. Beyond recruitment, we foster a thriving community of in-house legal professionals who share insights, experiences, and growth opportunities.Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to Lessons I Learned in Law, leave a review, and share it with someone building their career in legal leadership.Chapters: 00:00 Intro – Umar Aziz & DG Partners   03:40 Turning down Clifford Chance twice   09:28 From private practice to GC & COO   16:12 Lesson 1 – There’s more to life than work   24:03 Karate, resilience & switching off   30:08 Lesson 2 – Learn from great lawyers   34:22 Lesson 3 – Winning isn’t everything   39:55 Building long-term relationships   44:31 GC, COO & wearing multiple hats   56:42 Hot or Not, AI & closing thoughts