In this Q&A with The Texas Lawbook, 7-Eleven’s Nayelly Dominguez discusses the traits she seeks in outside counsel, what outside counsel need to know when working with her and more.
Texas Lawbook: What do you look for in hiring outside counsel?
Dominguez: We look for deep expertise in the subject matter, because what we do is very specialized and requires not just legal acumen but at minimum a baseline understanding of the technical aspects of IT as well. We also value diverse teams, because we understand the benefit of having multiple viewpoints and backgrounds coming to the table. Internally we work with many stakeholders, and as such we need a team that is able to interact with our different stakeholders as partners.
Lawbook: What does outside counsel need to know about working with you?
Dominguez: The most important thing outside counsel needs to understand is that our volumes are high. We do not always have time to work with attorneys who cannot own a deal and drive it forward to execution. We need outside counsel to take ownership of deals and be comfortable speaking directly with our business teams and subject matter experts to solve problems. This is an extremely fast-paced environment, and we trust our outside counsel to keep up with our needs and support us to the extent we need them to.
Lawbook: Regarding DEI, where do most law firms drop the ball? Why are law firm diversity numbers struggling to improve?
Dominguez: There are many things law firms can do better, but I want to bring attention to recruiting methods. I think I am not alone when I say that law school does not always reflect the practice of law. Yet law firms often follow traditional recruiting criteria that prioritize certain qualifications, such as law school rankings and grades, over transferable and tangible skills. This approach often reinforces the homogeneity we see in the legal profession today. There are many attorneys that are outstanding attorneys thanks to skills that manifest themselves outside of conventional educational settings. By failing to think beyond familiar hiring pipelines or hiring from the same network of schools and social circles firms miss out on attorneys whose skills as well as professional and personal experiences are directly relevant to client service, business development and navigating complex legal problems, skills that are often far more predictive of long-term success than academic metrics alone.
Click here to read the Lawbook profile of Nayelly Dominguez.