Become an Industry Insider: The Secret Weapon for In-House Lawyers

What if your greatest asset as an in-house lawyer isn’t your legal training, but your business fluency? For global legal teams navigating complexity and cross-border operations, deep industry expertise is more powerful than a passport full of bar memberships. And according to legal executive Nikhil Patel, it’s the fastest way to become indispensable.

In a recent episode of Notes to My (Legal) Self, Nikhil Patel shared how in-house lawyers can unlock more impact—not by collecting credentials, but by embedding themselves in the business. The result? Smarter legal strategy, faster alignment, and deeper trust across teams.

Watch the full conversation with Nikhil Patel here:

Think about it from a hiring perspective. If you were filling a sales role, would you pick someone who technically knows how to sell, or someone who’s already worked in your industry and understands your customers? The same logic applies to legal work.

What makes you valuable—especially in a global company—isn’t just your knowledge of the law. It’s your understanding of the business. And this is exactly where industry expertise for in-house lawyers shines. It allows you to plug in quickly, spot strategic risks, and give advice that aligns with what actually drives the company.

One of the most effective ways to build that kind of expertise? Spend time with your company’s sales and business development teams.

These folks live and breathe the business. They know what keeps customers happy, what the roadblocks are, and what’s on the horizon. Sitting in on their meetings, asking curious questions, and building relationships isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s essential. You’re not just gathering facts; you’re building real partnerships across the company.

And the better you understand how the business works, the better you can tailor your legal guidance to support it.

Another powerful strategy is simple: follow the revenue stream.

Understanding how your company makes money reveals so much about where the legal team’s focus should be. It helps you prioritize. It helps you support the most business-critical activities. And perhaps most importantly, it positions you as someone who gets it—who can see legal risk through a commercial lens.

That’s the kind of influence most in-house lawyers want but struggle to earn. Industry expertise makes it possible.

Customer feedback is often a goldmine, but legal teams rarely tap into it. Why not change that?

Listening in on sales calls or reading through support tickets gives you a front-row seat to what customers really care about. You learn their pain points, their language, their expectations. That insight helps you tailor contracts, policies, and even compliance guidance to better fit the real-world experience of your end users.

When legal decisions reflect customer realities, everyone wins.

What’s great about this approach is that it works regardless of where you’re licensed. You can build influence in any region by knowing the business better than anyone else in the room.

In fact, the most successful in-house lawyers I’ve seen aren’t necessarily the most credentialed—they’re the most plugged in. They understand the market, the company, and the bigger picture. That’s what sets them apart.

And the truth is, this doesn’t just make you better at your job—it makes your job more meaningful. You move from being a gatekeeper to a partner. From reviewing contracts to shaping outcomes.

Becoming an insider isn’t automatic. It takes curiosity, commitment, and a willingness to step outside traditional legal silos. But the rewards? They’re huge.

When you develop industry expertise as an in-house lawyer, you become someone the business truly trusts. You’re not just brought in to fix problems—you’re invited in to prevent them. You contribute to strategy. You become essential.

And perhaps most importantly, you grow. Because when you understand both the law and the business, your value isn’t tied to geography—it’s recognized everywhere.

Industry expertise for in-house lawyers isn’t a side skill—it’s your power move. It’s what turns good legal advice into great business decisions. And it’s what allows you to thrive in global roles without constantly chasing new licenses.

If you’re willing to step beyond the legal box and into the business trenches, you’ll build a career that’s both impactful and future-proof. So—what’s one area of the business you could get closer to this month? Go sit in on a sales call or shadow a customer success manager. The insights you’ll gain might just change everything.

Watch the full conversation here:  Notes to My (Legal) Self: Season 4, Episode 6 (ft.Nikhil Patel)

At Notes to My (Legal) Self®, we’re dedicated to helping in-house legal professionals develop the skills, insights, and strategies needed to thrive in today’s evolving legal landscape. From leadership development to legal operations optimization and emerging technology, we provide the tools to help you stay ahead.

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