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Leaders in Legal Business
Corporate Counsel Associations Veta T.
Richardson1
ACC
President & CEO
Successful In-House Counsel Drive Value as Guardians and Strategists
Today, and in the future, a general counsel must offer much more than legal acumen.
Everyone at the top wears multiple hats. You need to deeply understand the business and
where it is headed, so your general counsel hat does not go out the window, but you simply
put on more hats. Many of the business people do as well. You want them to wear a
compliance hat and a risk hat, for example, in addition to a business hat. So you become
much more integrated into that world, but it definitely requires more training and more
understanding of the business.
– Former general counsel
The role of in-house counsel has evolved over the years to
that of both legal strategist and business advisor, as in-house
lawyers are increasingly tasked with managing the legal and ethical
complexities related to growing their businesses.
The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) is at the
forefront of this constantly evolving business arena, staying on top
of the latest trends, regulations, and corporate risk. As a global bar
association representing more than 38,000 in-house counsel
employed by more than 10,500 organizations in 90 countries, ACC
aims to ensure that lawyers who work in corporate law
departments, associations, and other private-sector organizations around the world are fully armed to address these
issues.
In fact, more than a quarter (27 percent) of chief legal officers (CLOs) and general counsel (GCs) work
at organizations that have experienced a data breach in the past two years, according to a recent ACC survey.2
This number increased to 41 percent among CLOs and GCs in Canada (the region reporting the highest rate of
incidences) and dropped to 14 percent among CLOs and GCs in Asia Pacific (the region reporting the lowest rate
of incidences).3 In the United States, 26 percent of CLOs and GCs reported data breaches over the past two years.4
1 Veta T. Richardson is president and CEO of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), the largest global bar association serving in-house counsel.
Veta’s priority as CEO involves increasing ACC’s global footprint and charting the organization through a strategic plan geared to address the unique needs
and challenges of corporate lawyers. As a result, general counsel and governance professionals look to ACC for strategy, global legal trend analysis and
research related to corporate best practices, governance policies, advocacy and boardroom trends. Veta was previously executive director of the Minority
Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA). She started her legal career as in-house counsel at Sunoco, Inc., and received a B.S. and J.D. from the University
of Maryland.
2 ACC Chief Legal Officers 2015 Survey, ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATE COUNSEL, 7 (2015)
http://www.acc.com/vl/public/Surveys/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=1389460&page=/legalresources/surveys/index.cfm&qstring=&title
=ACC%20Chief%20Legal%20Officer%20%28CLO%29%202015%20Survey%20-%20Executive%20Summary.
3 Id.
4 Id.
115
Corporate Counsel Associations Veta T.
Richardson1
ACC
President & CEO
Successful In-House Counsel Drive Value as Guardians and Strategists
Today, and in the future, a general counsel must offer much more than legal acumen.
Everyone at the top wears multiple hats. You need to deeply understand the business and
where it is headed, so your general counsel hat does not go out the window, but you simply
put on more hats. Many of the business people do as well. You want them to wear a
compliance hat and a risk hat, for example, in addition to a business hat. So you become
much more integrated into that world, but it definitely requires more training and more
understanding of the business.
– Former general counsel
The role of in-house counsel has evolved over the years to
that of both legal strategist and business advisor, as in-house
lawyers are increasingly tasked with managing the legal and ethical
complexities related to growing their businesses.
The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) is at the
forefront of this constantly evolving business arena, staying on top
of the latest trends, regulations, and corporate risk. As a global bar
association representing more than 38,000 in-house counsel
employed by more than 10,500 organizations in 90 countries, ACC
aims to ensure that lawyers who work in corporate law
departments, associations, and other private-sector organizations around the world are fully armed to address these
issues.
In fact, more than a quarter (27 percent) of chief legal officers (CLOs) and general counsel (GCs) work
at organizations that have experienced a data breach in the past two years, according to a recent ACC survey.2
This number increased to 41 percent among CLOs and GCs in Canada (the region reporting the highest rate of
incidences) and dropped to 14 percent among CLOs and GCs in Asia Pacific (the region reporting the lowest rate
of incidences).3 In the United States, 26 percent of CLOs and GCs reported data breaches over the past two years.4
1 Veta T. Richardson is president and CEO of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), the largest global bar association serving in-house counsel.
Veta’s priority as CEO involves increasing ACC’s global footprint and charting the organization through a strategic plan geared to address the unique needs
and challenges of corporate lawyers. As a result, general counsel and governance professionals look to ACC for strategy, global legal trend analysis and
research related to corporate best practices, governance policies, advocacy and boardroom trends. Veta was previously executive director of the Minority
Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA). She started her legal career as in-house counsel at Sunoco, Inc., and received a B.S. and J.D. from the University
of Maryland.
2 ACC Chief Legal Officers 2015 Survey, ASSOCIATION OF CORPORATE COUNSEL, 7 (2015)
http://www.acc.com/vl/public/Surveys/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=1389460&page=/legalresources/surveys/index.cfm&qstring=&title
=ACC%20Chief%20Legal%20Officer%20%28CLO%29%202015%20Survey%20-%20Executive%20Summary.
3 Id.
4 Id.
115
