Nicole Oden
Legal Managing Director—Global Cloud First Client Contracting Lead – Accenture

 

Description of field of expertise

A day in the life…

“There is no typical day at Accenture,” says Nicole Oden, Accenture Legal Managing Director. And it’s the ever-changing nature of life at Accenture that Nicole loves most.

Nicole wears many hats; Global Cloud First Client Contracting Lead, Portfolio Legal Lead for U.S. South region and Retention and Progression Lead for the Global Legal I&D ethnicity program. Each role brings many differences in daily activities but also similarities in their focus on people—one that’s a passion of Nicole’s. A passion well suited in a company so committed to investing in its people. “We don’t sell products at Accenture, we sell the ingenuity of our people,” Nicole says. “That’s why there’s such a big focus on creating a culture for happy and successful people.”

Day-to-day, Nicole strategizes for the long-term development and growth of Accenture’s business and that of its clients. Leading a team focussed on the company’s cloud business unit while also overseeing and supporting all legal professionals in U.S. South means leading with purpose and prioritization, in addition to being ready and willing to tackle whatever emerges on a given day.

Nicole also never compromises on her commitment to her other roles. As a career counsellor, she meets each of her five counselees at least once a month to discuss their careers and what she can do to help them be successful. She also built a new team to develop and roll out Elevate Legal—an engagement and retention program focused on enhancing the career experience of more than 100 ethnically diverse legal professionals at Accenture.

“Every so often I even get to be a lawyer,” Nicole says with a laugh. But this broad scope is something she has cultivated herself, and for her, it’s the best part about working at Accenture, as people are often encouraged to bring leadership and ideas to gaps they see, and then take ownership of developing the solution.

 

What advice would you offer to new attorneys interested in your field?

For a contracting lawyer who is starting out, Nicole says it’s important to really understand your client­, their industry, how their company makes money and what drives them because ultimately, everything is driven by the business and your client’s ability to succeed in the marketplace. That means seeing the contract as an expression of the goals and ambitions for shared success and seeing beyond a more traditional legal position of creating terms and conditions to protect against anything and everything. 

For example, Accenture aims to deliver excellence for its clients and develop long term, deep client relationships, so the contract should reflect that Accenture and its client are embarking on a journey together and creating a contract to support their mutual success.

Nicole adds, “In other words, our role as Accenture lawyers is not to simply say no and protect at all costs. Our job is to partner with our business teams, our client and understand how to figure out an agreement that works. It’s about thinking collaboratively, creatively and out-of-the-box—all through a business lens.”

 

Final thoughts…

“Stay curious,” says Nicole. Accenture is a great learning environment where the most senior leaders strive to continue growing and developing. And in an environment that demands comfort with ambiguity, an insatiable hunger for knowledge and continued growth will take you a long way toward a successful career—because the moment you think you have it all figured out, anything can change. And that’s where the excitement is for Nicole.