Why legal project management changed the way I work

Many in-house lawyers believe great legal work speaks for itself – until projects stall, deadlines slip, and the business gets frustrated. In this short reflection, Roman Koch, Commercial Legal Counsel EMEA at ManpowerGroup in Poland, shares how working alongside project managers reshaped his legal mindset – and why the best in-house lawyers now lead with structure, communication, and clarity.

Early in my legal career, I thought being a great in-house lawyer meant knowing every risk, drafting perfect contracts, and getting deep into the intricacies of law.

I was wrong.

Because no matter how solid my legal work was, I kept running into the same problems
– Contract negotiations dragging on forever.
– Business teams looping in legal way too late.
– Last-minute fire drills because no one aligned expectations upfront.

Then I was fortunate to have started working with fantastic project managers. I understood that this was not a legal problem. It was a project management problem.

Here’s the difference in mindset that every in house counsel should consider:

“Stop thinking like a lawyer. Start thinking like a legal project manager.”

Traditional lawyer:
“We need to secure ourselves against every risk before moving forward.”
Legal project manager:
“We’ll flag the risks, assess impact and probability, align with stakeholders on how to manage it and keep things moving.”

Traditional lawyer:
“We’ll review the contract and get back to you.”
Legal project manager:
“Here’s what we need from you, our timelines and key stakeholders to involve.”

Traditional lawyer:
“This deadline isn’t realistic.”
Legal project manager:
“We’ll prioritise the pieces that are on the critical path, break it down, and hit the most important items first.”

What I learned (and what I’m still learning):
– Define the scope upfront. Without clear scope you will waste a lot of time doing double work. PMs always define scope first.
– Stakeholder alignment is everything. Assumptions kill deals. PMs confirm before they act.
– Overcommunicate before things go wrong. Check-ins, shared timelines, expectation-setting. It’s not a waste of time. It’s simple, but it saves so much legal chaos.

The results?
– Contracts move faster.
– Fewer legal bottlenecks.
– Legal is a partner – not a roadblock.

The best in-house lawyers don’t just think like lawyers. They lead like project managers.

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