Your Role as General Counsel
How to Survive and Thrive in your Role as GC
Published: 2021
Pages: 123
eBook: 9781787424043
By guiding you through the first 100 days in a significant role, this Special Report seeks to address some of the challenges of the demanding role of General Counsel. It is a must-read for any current or aspiring GC, in-house legal teams, HR directors, CEOs and private practice lawyers who wish to know what to expect from the in-house teams.
This Special Report, by Ian White and Simon McCall, seeks to help address some of these challenges. By guiding you through the first 100 days in a significant role, it will show you how to navigate between acting as wise counsel to management while leading your team successfully.
It also covers:
+ working with the board;
+ coaching;
+ developing a legal strategy;
+ taking on the company secretarial role; and
+ developing your career within legal and beyond.
This Special Report is a must-read for any current or aspiring GC, in-house legal teams, HR directors, CEOs and private practice lawyers who wish to know what to expect from the in-house teams.
Table of Contents
| Cover | Cover | |
|---|---|---|
| Title Page | 1 | |
| Copyright Page | 2 | |
| Table of Contents | 3 | |
| Acknowledgements | 7 | |
| I. Introduction – why you need this Special Report | 9 | |
| 1. Who has this Special Report been written for? | 9 | |
| 2. How this Special Report is set out | 10 | |
| II. Legal consigliere or functional manager? | 13 | |
| 1. Introduction | 13 | |
| 2. Functional managers | 14 | |
| 3. Legal consiglieri | 14 | |
| III. The first 100 days | 19 | |
| 1. Creating a sense of success | 19 | |
| 2. Ways to generate ideas about a successful first 100 days | 21 | |
| 3. Credibility, rapport and trust | 22 | |
| 4. Listening | 25 | |
| IV. Developing a legal strategy | 29 | |
| 1. A preliminary comment about strategy | 29 | |
| 2. Legal strategy | 29 | |
| V. Managing the legal team | 37 | |
| 1. Finance | 37 | |
| 2. Marketing/business development | 38 | |
| 3. HR | 40 | |
| 4. Operations | 46 | |
| 5. Reflections on the legal team | 48 | |
| VI. Building your department | 49 | |
| 1. The importance of teams | 49 | |
| 2. Be clear on the strategy | 49 | |
| 3. Devise a plan | 50 | |
| 4. And finally... | 59 | |
| VII. Coaching and mentoring | 61 | |
| 1. Coaching | 61 | |
| 2. Mentoring | 72 | |
| VIII. The GC and the board | 75 | |
| 1. Background to your board relationship | 75 | |
| 2. Build your relationship with the board with care | 77 | |
| IX. Taking on the role of company secretary | 83 | |
| 1. A bit of background | 83 | |
| 2. Understand the nature of the role | 84 | |
| 3. Get an understanding of boards if you don’t already have one | 87 | |
| X. What next? Reinventing yourself | 91 | |
| 1. The importance of thinking ahead | 91 | |
| 2. Re-evaluating your career | 92 | |
| 3. Staying in a legal role | 93 | |
| 4. Moving away from the GC role | 94 | |
| 5. Moving to a new career | 95 | |
| Endnotes | 99 | |
| About the authors | 101 | |
| About Globe Law and Business | 103 | |
| Notes and ideas | 104 |
An impactful, courteous observation on the role of General Counsel. It felt to me like the sensible person in a debate, speaking with integrity and clarity, but neither partisan nor dismissive of a range of opinions. It is well written, accessible, reflective and valuable.
Paul Gilbert
director, LBC Wise Counsel
I wish this had been out years ago! A practical, pragmatic manual for all stages of an in-house legal career. Full of useful hints and tips, written in an easy, conversational style. Ian and Simon have created a companion guide which provides a great overview of the main duties of the role, useful also for those working with in-house lawyers. The well-thought out sections mean it can also be dipped into for helpful advice on tricky challenges.
Nicola Raj
Global General Counsel
Thoughtful, practical and strategic. This book cannot be recommended too highly, particularly for those new to a GC role.
Edward Persse
Partner, Osborne Clarke LLP
At last! GCs and the in-house community have waited too long for this book. This is a handy and highly practical guide on building and managing an in-house career. It is content rich, intelligently sequenced, well written and full of practical tips and suggestions. GCs “don’t know what they don’t know”, but with this book by their side, GCs will be equipped to address many of the unknowns they face and resolve challenges they are confronting for the first time. Heading a legal function can be lonely and it is not always obvious were to turn for advice and guidance. Fortunately that need will, from now, be partially answered by Your Role as General Counsel as the real world emphasis of the book should help provide the necessary roadmap. In my view, this should be mandatory reading on Day 1 for all new GCs.
David Brimacombe
Executive Director Subsidiary Affairs, NEOM, former Group Head of Legal, Standard Chartered Bank and Consultant with Financial Institutions Group, Baker McKenzie
Ian White
Consultant, Sherwood PSF Consulting
[email protected]
Ian White is a former chief legal officer and company secretary for both listed and private companies. While he has spent most of his career as a lawyer, he also has an MBA and has spent some time working as a strategy consultant.
Ian now works as a consultant, coach, trainer and facilitator. His previous in-house experience has led him to develop expertise in corporate governance, working with boards, leaders and lawyers on effectiveness, enhancement and performance. He spends much of his time reviewing and advising boards and management teams on structure, dynamics and how they can excel in leading their organisations. While his main focus is on FTSE 100/250 and major private companies, he also works with professional services firms, public sector bodies and a number of charities and other not-for-profit organisations.
Ian also helps lawyers, both in-house and in private practice, to work more closely and effectively with their clients, encouraging them to think of themselves as business people first and lawyers second.
Simon McCall
Director, Sherwood PSF Consulting Limited
[email protected]
Simon McCall is a management consultant and business coach. He works mainly with lawyers, in private practice and in-house. Over 30 years, his consulting assignments have included helping in-house departments to develop a compelling strategy and law firm management teams to work more effectively together. Simon has designed and led management development programmes for lawyers at associate and partner level. As a coach, Simon has enabled lawyers to explore and plan changes to how they work and how they build successful relationships with colleagues.
Simon has a law degree from the University of Cambridge and qualified as a solicitor in 1980 with Lawrence Graham. He then worked in-house with Houlder Offshore (an oil drilling business) and American Express. He has an MBA from the Cranfield School of Management. Simon was a principal tutor on the Nottingham Law School MBA in legal practice and did his coaching training with The School of Coaching.