CORALS COURSE

Are you looking better to understand the role and challenges of your clients? Would you like to get to know senior in-house counsel at leading regional and international corporations?

Welcome to Corals, Delos's exclusive training programme designed and curated in collaboration with Corail Consultants, which features a faculty of senior in-house with sophisticated experience of legal risk management and attendant governance, corporate and business issues.

The programme considers the role and challenges of the modern GC and in-house legal team, mainly at major international groups. The aim is to equip you with an understanding of how clients think of success and damage in legal matters, particularly with respect to arbitration, and thus increase your chances of a successful pitch and retainer.

The course will also discuss:

1.  The changes in how in-house legal teams are working and engaging with external counsel, including as a result of AI.

2.  The frontier legal issues that GCs see as most significant today and how these may arise in the context of disputes.

3.  The economics of the in-house legal function, and relatedly law firm economics.

COURSE OUTLINE AND CALENDAR

Corals will be delivered remotely as a series of interactive workshops with the seasoned faculty and a limited group of participants. The course will take place over 5 weekly sessions of 2hrs each.

The calendar and outline is as follows, and will involve discussion of practical examples drawn from the faculty's extensive experience:

Week 1 – The view from the driver’s seat (GC perspective)
[Weekday], xx of month 2025, at [times] ([timezone])

(i) Evolution from the traditional role of the GC and organisation of the in-house legal team to contemporary challenges and how legal departments are adapting as a result. 

(ii)  The GC’s place and authority in the hierarchy of a company (relative to the C-suite and Board of Directors), and the place of legal as a function of a business.

(iii) The economic and social environment of a business (notably, competition, internationalisation, ethics), and new matters arising as a result on the GC’s dashboard, including anti-corruption, data protection, regulation, product regulation and sanctions. The impact of these new matters on the internal organisation of a company and the in-house legal team, and the business vision of (legal) risk and risk management.

Week 2 – To dispute or not to dispute?
[Weekday], xx of month 2025, at [times] ([timezone])

(i) Risk management generally, and legal risk management specifically, including to what extent a legal answer to a question or dispute is rarely a satisfactory business answer.

(ii)  Litigation risks: how they are assessed, and the importance of company-specific jurisprudence.

(iii)  How the new matters seen in Week 1 might come up in a dispute, and how to anticipate these.

(iv)  The place of arbitration in the GC’s range of dispute resolution options, and how choosing arbitration as a forum has become more complex.

Week 3 – The economics of legal
[Weekday], xx of month 2025, at [times] ([timezone])

(i)  The economics of the in-house legal function, including the legal function’s budget, the way the legal function’s success or failure is assessed, accounting provisions and depreciation for legal matters. The importance of anticipating future budgeting challenges.

(ii)  Related discussion of law firm economics and of the economics of disputes.

Week 4 – The in-house counsel/external counsel relationship 
[Weekday], xx of month 2025, at [times] ([timezone])

(i)  Pre-engagement, how to get a GC’s attention, get onto a panel (where applicable), and dos and don’ts when pitching for legal work.

(ii)  A review of RFP standard terms and the related process, and how best to prepare for and respond to one.

(iii)  During the engagement, working with an in-house legal team.

(iv)  Post-engagement, staying in touch meaningfully.

Week 5 – AI GCs?
[Weekday], xx of month 2025, at [times] ([timezone])

Future challenges of the in-house legal role, including the rise of legal ops and the place of AI. Implications for the future organisation of legal teams, contracting, contract management, and especially disputes.

COURSE FEES

The cost of the course is EUR 2500 excl. VAT. Delos full annual members receive a 10% discount, and certain GAP firm members receive a 20% discount. The course capacity is limited to 10 participants to ensure that sessions are as interactive and lively as possible.

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