This month Lawyer Monthly has heard a great deal from Erin Stephens of Sport England, who believes her in-house counsel role is more than just answering legal queries and is more about getting involved in the nitty gritty details and tasks of the teams she leads. Here Erin reveals to LM what her legal career has had to offer, how she gained her long-standing reputation and how working for Sport England has been a career changing experience.
What does a day in your role as in-house solicitor at Sport England look like?
My day is probably 40% proactive, 50% reactive and 10% general problem solver. I have days where I literally run between meetings and won’t even have the chance to look at emails until 5pm, to other days where I spend most of the day doing strategic or transactional work. This all has to be balanced with team management responsibilities.
Since being promoted three years ago, I do less transactional work which has pro’s and con’s. I miss the freneticism that comes with closing a deal, but equally as my role is now more about providing strategic legal advice, having the time and thinking space to consider complex legal issues is welcomed. This week has been all about our investment into football – other weeks can be a blend of sports/legal issues.
What led you to embark on a career in the legal profession? Why in particular an in-house counsel career?
The moment I decided to become a lawyer came whilst at University in Sydney. I initially decided to study law to become a policy adviser and thought a law degree would provide me with a strong foundation in understanding the complexity surrounding legislation. Towards the end of my degree, an opportunity arose for summer internships at the NSW Attorney-General’s Department. Several weeks into my internship, I came to realise that I actually enjoyed working within law and for an organisation. Upon reflection this was mainly due to the fact that I was putting my studies into practice and could see a tangible result to how the law helps people and could influence and change policy. This shaped my thinking about in-house roles, which completely changed my career focus.
Which of your roles stands out for you and what are the professional and personal rewards therein?
‘THIS GIRL CAN’ has been a career changing project, not simply because it has been hugely successful both nationally and internationally, but more so because this project was a major learning curve for me. As it was Sport England’s first ever marketing campaign, it presented a range of challenges and opportunities from a legal perspective. I had to navigate through regulatory provisions to ensure we could fund it and set the framework to achieve this. Then there was facilitating Government approval, and the procurement of the creative and buying elements. And finally, I had to secure our IPR and contract with a range of partners. Not only was I able to upskill myself across a myriad of legal issues in an area where I was frankly a little out of my depth, it is a project that I truly believe in. This is what makes those long hours’ worth it; being part of a project where you know you are making a real impact to people’s lives, and are able to effect social change. The campaigns launch at the BAFTA headquarters last January was a career highlight – the atmosphere in the room when Missy Elliott’s ‘Get Ur Freak On’ started as the TV advert premiered was something that will stay with me. Its days like that why I work in-house, you get to be really proud of something you have helped create and also the organisation you work for.
Being named as one of The Lawyer’s ‘Hottest 100 In-House Lawyers’ for 2015 certainly stands out as a professional accolade considering the calibre within that 100. However, a bigger reward was my team named runners up at this year’s The Lawyer Awards for ‘Public Sector In-House Team of the Year’. Working in-house is a tough job – you are constantly dealing with new requests for advice from colleagues as their queries are rarely routine. This means judging ever changing priorities all while trying to deliver a high-quality service to the business. It’s fast-paced, and you really need to learn to think on your feet to survive and flourish – there is no hiding behind the shield of being an external adviser. You can sometimes feel a bit detached as all the glory (rightly so) is directed to the delivery of the organisation initiatives. Over the past few years I have developed a highly skilled team, and it was great for their achievements to be recognised.
Which parts of your role at Sport England do you find most challenging and how do you navigate the complexities involved?
Sport England is a public body who receives the majority of its funding from the National Lottery. This means we have to operate within a complex regulatory framework that comes with certain constraints. Over the years, these constraints have actually turned into opportunities. I am constantly challenged to find ways to deliver our strategy and work in a more commercial/customer focused way with a range of new partners. This is actually exciting as I get to be innovative and push the regulatory boundaries, and at times, influence policy change.
In the nine years you have been with Sport England, what do you feel has been the biggest lesson learnt in your work thus far?
How to manage relationships, be it the people you directly manage, laterally across your organisation or with your external stakeholders. Providing legal advice is the easy part, getting colleagues to engage with you and take on-board recommendations is the challenge. If you take the time to listen to what colleagues want to achieve you can provide them with alternative solutions rather than just a rigid ‘legal’ response. I have found with this approach you can generally get colleagues to come on the journey with you, which makes your advice land all the better.
Do you think the hardest professional challenges have been and gone or are still to come? Do you have any examples?
I am hoping my hardest professional challenges have been and gone, however as I continue on my career path, I suspect there will still be a number of hurdles to overcome. Moving forward, I know I will come to a crossroad with respect to my next role. My longer term aspiration is to move into an Executive role, and hopefully one day be a CEO. However, I am not quite ready to give up being a lawyer. Choosing the right next role, and making sure that I am in a position to make that transition will be the challenge.
Which of your previous roles do you consider to have been paramount to the experience and reputation you now hold?
My second legal job was at the NSW Crown Solicitor’s Office where I had an amazing supervisor who taught me the foundations of both how to be a great lawyer and more importantly, how to develop and motivate a high-performing team. I have predominately worked for women which I believe has helped my career advance as I have always had strong role models who showed me that women can excel in the legal profession. When I began line-managing a team, I often reflected on this particular person and tried to emulate the way she helped assist me. I hope that has come across in how I have and continue to develop my team; I have mentored several junior lawyers over the years who have gone on to a mix of great next jobs, which is what you want.
With plenty of experience behind you, what advice would you give future potential lawyers wanting to begin a career of in-house legal counsel?
It’s quite interesting how in-house roles are regarded these days; 10 or so years ago it wasn’t seen as an attractive career choice in comparison to working in Private Practice and I remember thinking have I made the right choice? However I believe the perception has changed as it is now it is viewed as an attractive alternative to Private Practice. Having worked predominately in-house, my advice for future potential lawyers wanting an in-house career is firstly, get yourself qualified. Becoming a qualified lawyer isn’t easy, and is very competitive.
Secondly, if you want to work in-house, choose carefully as you are deciding to work for a business and therefore, it needs to be an organisation with values and ethos that you really buy into. You can’t get away with sitting in a corner answering legal queries, you are expected to become part of the organisation. As in-house counsel, you have the benefit of widening your skill-set as you are more involved in the business-side of an organisation, advising on such a wide range of legal and quasi-legal matters. This has allowed me to develop my financial, governance, business and strategic planning skills, along with people management. These are opportunities unique to in-house counsel roles which then open up future career options such as Non-Executive and Executive roles.
Do you have further future goals in your legal life? Are there avenues you still wish to explore in the global law landscape?
I would like to use my legal and sport experience to further my Non-Executive Director aspirations. I was previously the Legal & Governance NED on the British Showjumping Board. This was a great opportunity which arose because of my current position and provided me with wider business skills which I have been able to put into practice at Sport England and my other non-executive roles. I’m currently on the Board of the Manchester Institute of Health and Performance, an £18m world-class sports science joint venture between Sport England, Manchester City Council and Manchester City Football Club. My future goals would to do more of this, perhaps with an international sports bodies or regulator.
I also did my first stint at lecturing in January this year at Manchester Metropolitan University as part of their Master's Sport Directorship course. Not only did this help overcome my fear of public speaking, but sparked my interest in doing more of these types of engagements. I have since spoken at a sports law masterclass and will be the keynote speaker at the Annual Sports Law Conference in Northern Ireland later this year.
