Rachel Hyland meets new Client Legal Director, James Godbee to find out why he's made the transition to becoming a TLD lawyer.
I’m chatting with recent starter James Godbee today to find out about his career, what he loves about working in-house and why he made the move to TLD.
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Q&A with James Godbee
James, tell me a bit about your career to date.
I started as a lawyer in private practice advising on a variety of corporate transactions such as private equity fundraising, public listings, takeovers, disposals, mergers and acquisitions. I moved in-house 20 years ago into the tech sector, first working for IBM. I supported them on a variety of matters: IT and business process outsourcing; government IT projects and software licensing; working with leadership and sales teams to win new business with major clients and helping manage and find solutions to problems, crises and disputes.
Subsequently, I joined the legal team at a global provider of banking technology with market leading software-as-a-service as well as standard licensed products. This was a fascinating opportunity to advise on deals and disputes arising from business with customers in a variety of different countries and cultures.
And then for the last decade, I’ve worked in a general counsel role for the EMEA corporate business of a major professional services company in the real estate sector. I led the legal team responsible for managing the risks, operations and negotiations on a variety of complex offerings such as corporate outsourcing, facilities management, technology projects, as well as on the provision of construction, engineering and design services and development of properties.
Why did you decide to move in-house?
The frustration of working in private practice is that, although you can be involved in exciting major transactions, you typically become involved at a rather late stage and then finish quite early, without really being able to experience and help on the full lifecycle of a matter. You may only see a brief snapshot of a deal. Also, there is a tendency in private practice to become a specialist in just a handful of particular transaction types and just advise on those repeatedly. While in private practice you may take satisfaction from becoming an expert in a narrow area, it’s rarely demanded that you understand your clients in any depth. So, you don’t know what truly motivates them, how they make their money, and the kind of risks and challenges that really matter to them.
Working in-house is much more stimulating. You become part of a client’s business and you’re very aware of what it needs to do to survive and to thrive. You develop an instinct as to what problems it might encounter and how to work with business leaders and colleagues in different functions to navigate through. You feel part of an actual enterprise and its mission; you have a long-term vested and emotional interest in its success. Also, frankly, you get to talk to more people who are not lawyers! Collaborating with a whole variety of people with different mindsets and motivations is interesting in itself.
A GC’s role is enormously varied. Is there anything particularly that you enjoy in your work? What do you like doing most?
I like being stretched by a variety of challenges. I’ve worked a lot on large commercial transactions – winning new business for my clients, helping them negotiate deals with their clients and putting on a customer-friendly face for them while protecting their positions. However, what I find particularly interesting is when something unusual comes up. So sometimes there may be a special project, such as an acquisition, divestiture or reorganisation; negotiating those kinds of deals is interesting because it tests you to think about a business’s objectives and risks from different angles.
I probably shouldn’t say this, but I also gain a lot of satisfaction from helping when something is going wrong for a business. I like the extra challenge of dealing with a crisis or a problem where the solution isn’t immediately obvious. Various examples come to mind: a business unit losing a team who are being poached by a competitor; a data breach that’s affecting the business’s customers; a trademark infringement claim; defusing an escalating dispute with an important customer. Or it might be that a business has a large project that’s losing a lot of money, and they need you to renegotiate the deal and think about ways to create leverage. All these unexpected matters challenge you as a lawyer. It’s a crucial component of how you develop your knowledge and wisdom over time.
Why did you choose to work with TLD?
I’ve worked long term for a small number of clients in–house. I’ve reached the point where I’d like to have a breadth of clients, but still with the in-house mentality of giving each some focus and curiosity. It’s an opportunity to learn about different businesses and to prioritise what I like doing best, which is giving strategic and practical legal advice.
The TLD service model has a proven track record and will enable this. There’s so much I’ve been lucky to learn during my career; I now want to use my expertise and experience to support a variety of clients.
And when you’re not working, what do you like to do?
Enjoying live music and trying new things. I have just returned from camping at a music festival, and I’ve recently started learning Argentinian tango dancing!
If you would like to know more about James Godbee and find out how he can support your business, connect with him on LinkedIn and find out more about his experience and specialisms from his team profile.
