Page 125 - MASTER COPY LEADERS BOOK 9editedJKK (24)_Neat
P. 125
Leaders in Legal Business

that they add value through this activity (19 percent of GCs with more than 10 years of experience in prior GC
roles).10

According to the ACC CLO 2015 Survey, in-house lawyers must also operate in an increasingly aggressive
regulatory environment with limited resources. This trend underscores the need for GCs to have an excellent
business acumen, including the ability to “see around corners,” evaluate risk, and strategize priorities.
Furthermore, they will need to be adept at managing a global team of lawyers and creatively address resource
constraints by continuously triaging legal resources, staff, and outside counsel.

As the management needs of the legal department increase, ACC predicts splitting of the GC role so that
a legal chief operating officer may be more focused on management of the law department, while the GC/CLO
focuses more on counseling and strategic activities.

Figure 3

Public Company GCs/CLOs More Likely to
Rank Counseling as Top Three
Value-Driver

Private Public
55%

43%

29%

14%

Counseling the CEO Counseling the Board

GCs Provide Value to CEOs and the Board of Directors as Counselor in Chief

According to the ACC Skills for the 21st Century General Counsel Report, the second key area where
GCs provide value to their organizations is through counseling the CEO and the board of directors. Approximately
half of the GCs and directors in the survey cited counseling the CEO as one of the top three value-drivers that
general counsel provide. Although fewer GCs (20 percent) cited counseling the board of directors as a top source
of their value, a relatively much higher percentage of board members (38 percent) view this activity as a significant
source of GC value, suggesting that many GCs do not fully appreciate the positive impact of their contributions
to their organization’s board.11

I want someone who has the capacity to distinguish between individual situations and systematic
issues. So I want someone who can spot trends, who can help the board understand [whether] this

10 Id. at 5.
11 Id. at 6.

118
   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130