Many of the innovations and ideas that legal teams need to embrace – such as those relating to project management and use of technology – have already evolved within the wider business environment. Despite this, many general counsel and other legal leaders report that they feel unprepared to tackle key business challenges and concepts.

Business Thinking in Practice for In-house Counsel: Taking Your Seat at the Table takes a practical look at key concepts from influential business theory and illustrates how these are applicable to managing or working in an in-house legal department.

Topics covered include purpose, culture, talent and innovation, all of which intersect to provide the structure and framework for legal teams to create a competitive edge. Each chapter features an interview and case study with a general counsel and/or legal team to demonstrate how business concepts can be used in-house most effectively.

The author, Catherine McGregor, has engaged with the in-house legal market for many years as a journalist, consultant and commentator. During this time she has built close relationships with leading general counsel around the world and has observed first hand how the role of general counsel has changed and continues to change.

Business Thinking in Practice for In-house Counsel is packed with lots of real-life examples and makes essential reading for any general counsel or senior in-house lawyer seeking to develop their business skills and maximise their team’s success.

This is a must-read for any in-house counsel who wants to lead their department into the future. Catherine McGregor offers excellent insights and thought-provoking perspective about blending traditional business thinking with best in class in-house counsel practices.This book is an essential guide.
Karen Dillon,
former editor of Harvard Business Review

What drives this book is the observation that business law is often insular in terms of the frameworks of understanding its uses. For in-house legal departments new ways of thinking are crucial. The good news is that this work is packed with learning not just from the business world but from in-house counsel who are applying their legal skills broadly and in new ways. Collaboration is key, thinking creatively need not induce terror in any of us and, preparation, process and focus are what really matter when you seek to innovate. Dr McGregor’s work will stimulate much thought about how businesses can attract better and more fulfilled lawyers.
Eamonn Kennedy,
former Director of Legal Affairs RTÉ

Catherine McGregor is a thought-leader and visionary at the forefront of in-house counsel operations. She has cleared the path for future conversations about leadership, management and culture. Her insights are ones that should be treated as gems.
Deborah Farone
Marketing Strategy Consultant and Author of "Best Practices in Law Firm Business Development and Marketing" (PLI 2019)

Modern general counsel and senior in-house lawyers are expected to be business leaders not simply good lawyers. Even lawyers with a first-rate legal education are not typically provided education on the business concepts included in this book. With her experienced lens into successful in-house legal teams, Dr. McGregor translates important business frameworks, such as purpose, culture and collaboration, to the business of leading law departments. I could not agree more with the author’s statement that "particularly for in-house lawyers – the more senior they become, the more empathy trumps legal skills...."
Michelle Banks
Senior Advisor, BarkerGilmore, and former Global General Counsel, Gap Inc.

This remarkable book provides pragmatic insight into how the role of a general counsel has been transformed from a traditional technical legal model to a new era of evolved lawyering - adding the dimensions of creativity, purpose and commercial perspective to the in-house toolkit.

If you wish to become a great general counsel, or develop a more nuanced understanding of the general counsel as your client, this is a must read.
Lesley Wan
General Counsel, FBN Bank (UK) Limited

Catherine McGregor runs her own company focused on thought leadership, strategic consultancy, content creation, events and training for businesses and professional services companies. She specialises in the intersection between law and business, particularly in the role of the general counsel, the future of the legal profession and diversity and inclusion.

Dr McGregor frequently curates content focused on and about inside counsel. She is an experienced keynote speaker and moderator covering topics such as

+ the future of the legal department;
+ the changing role of in-house counsel;
+ innovation and disruption in legal services;
+ inclusion and diversity in the law; and
+ social mobility.

Dr McGregor was previously the founding editor of GC Magazine and director of in-house counsel initiatives at Legalease, a London-based legal publishing company. Before she moved into legal publishing, she completed a PhD in English and drama and taught drama and performance at UK and US universities.