First of all, I'm no expert, just one that applies logic and what knowledge I have. I have one Associates, am back in school for more, and none of it is in labor education.
From what I understand, there would be some but little value having an attorney attending negotiations. The simple fact is that at the end of the week everything goes to the lawyer on both sides anyway. It certainly would be convenient to have an attorney there (I think the company in fact does), but think about that; would you really want to discuss things with the attorney at the table? No. Sidebar? Sure, but if it's a simple question it can wait, and if not it likely needs to be researched in which case I want legal in their office, not at the table or in a back room working on a laptop.
That said I think there is value to having an inhouse attorney. I've HEARD that the DLs have full and complete access to GL legal, but I don't know how well that does or doesn't work. If it works then we don't need our own lawyer, if it doesn't, well, we need adequate legal counsel.
Yes, some things need to go by a lawyer. Actually all things, but only some things would likely require word for word input for negotiation. In fact, think about it. Do you want a lawyer writing your contract? Wouldn't you prefer someone who actually speaks English and will get you a contract that you can understand? Run it by the lawyers to make sure it's good, but keep them away for the most part. And THAT is something I've had experience with in some contracting that I was involved in. The CUSTOMER needs to be happy with the result, not the lawyer. In my case we (a small construction project) were buying (in part) windows. Our contract from the manufacture actually said we would not get the best price. Our lawyer said that was wrong, they should be giving us the best. Our logic, that we are a small customer (say 1000 windows) that is undeserving of the better rates they give to companies that buy far more (like KB Home or Pulte). The fact that the manufacturer already did a competitive bid and was the lowest didn't matter to the lawyer, nor that we would have lost the deal entirely due to that point.
The other day I asked if anyone knew how many people worked for the company in Labor Relations. From what I've been told, it's like five. I was wondering this because someone said we weren't meeting with the company enough. Well, since there are FIVE employees (plus however many lawyers, didn't ask that) currently negotiating with most union workgroups on new contracts do the math. It's not possible to meet more then something over once a month. We are not the only ones out there. They need to negotiate with us, the FAs, MX, DX, CSRs, even the pilots if that group ever grows up... It simply can't be done. Once negotiations are done they need to put together new proposals in response to our proposals, plus proposals on the new sections of the contract. Plus, don't forget about managing the contract issues and grievances that are existing now. There would be a valid argument for the company to hire more people for that department, but that's not our call, and not the fault of anyone in the union.