In this Q&A with The Texas Lawbook, American Airlines Senior Attorney Steffen Horlacher discusses the traits he seeks in outside counsel, what outside counsel need to know when working for him and more.
The Texas Lawbook: What do you look for in hiring outside counsel?
Steffen Horlacher: Lawyers with skill, experience and ideally knowledge of the areas of law and types of transactions they are hired to support — or at least quick and easy learners with regard to the quite special area of law that is airline law and some very unique transactions that are very specific to the airline world. Also, a pleasant personality. I prefer outside counsel with whom I get along on a personal level as well, since it allows for much better cooperation and provides better results, especially with regard to giving the American Airlines in-house clients what they need and want, which usually is to get the transaction closed, but without creating unnecessary risk for American Airlines.
Click here to read the Lawbook profile of Steffen Horlacher.
Lawbook: What does outside counsel need to know about working with you?
Horlacher: The primary responsibility of an in-house commercial lawyer is to get the in-house clients what they need or want without creating unnecessary risk for the company. This means that American should be protected but not absolutely and not at all cost, especially if that means that the transaction might fail. Accordingly, I need outside counsel who is ready, willing and able to assist me in finding a way to get the deal done, which occasionally, if not frequently, means getting creative and finding acceptable ways and/or compromises to achieve this goal. However, they also need to know when to put “the legal foot down” [and] support me with good arguments when I try to present good reasons for why we should not give in to a certain demand by the counterparty.
Lawbook: How has the world of commercial airline law changed during your time at American?
Horlacher: It has definitely seen a lot more regulation. Not just after and as a consequence of 9/11, but also with regard to safety regulations, consumer protection and antitrust.
Lawbook: Regarding DEI, where do most law firms drop the ball? Why are law firm diversity numbers struggling to improve?
Horlacher: I believe that one of the biggest issues with DEI is the pipeline. There simply are not enough diverse lawyers coming up through the pipeline, which leads to serious competition among the firms for the diverse talent. If we could increase the number of diverse students graduating from high school, college and ultimately law school, the pool of available talent would increase and make it easier for firms to recruit said talent. And with larger numbers of diverse lawyers in a firm it would/should be easier to retain and eventually move the diverse attorneys at firms into leadership positions. Accordingly, more efforts need to be invested at the high school and undergraduate college levels in order to create a greater interest in the law as a profession among diverse students, and then law firms could do quite a lot in supporting these students when they actually get into law school.