The Rise of the 'New' General Counsel to the C-Suite
Across corporate America, we see more and more companies giving their general counsels additional roles and responsibilities that have been traditionally held by others on the executive team.
April 03, 2018 at 12:15 PM
3 minute read
Across corporate America, we see more and more companies giving their general counsels additional roles and responsibilities that have been traditionally held by others on the executive team.
What is driving this change? What does this evolution mean for young lawyers who aspire to the general counsel position? How will law firms and other service providers who traditionally serve GCs have to adapt?
While it is true that general counsels are increasingly concerned with regulation and compliance as well as data security, they are also increasingly taking on core business functions like communications, public and investor relations, government affairs, security, financial services, administration and human resources.
This “new” era of the general counsel has to have a global view of the company and see how each of these functions contributes to the company's overall strategy and bottom line.
At DSM North America, we embrace this model. Having worked for both a major law firm and in-house at plumbing and heating giant American Standard, I had broad experience when I joined DSM North America. Now, as president, general counsel and secretary I have brought that experience to bear working with executives across our business units and at our headquarters in the Netherlands to maximize the value of our company's shared services, including legal, government affairs, financial, communications and human resources (HR). My broad, generalist perspective helps me create professional service strategies and solutions that work across DSM's diverse business units.
Though the general counsel serves as the chief legal officer for a company, the most important aspect of the role—as the name suggests—is to counsel the executive team. This requires a broad understanding of the company's specific business as well as business generally. The general counsel must stay up to date on best practices and be able to offer insights into HR, administration, communications, compliance, accounting, real estate—in short, the functions that serve as the backbone for every corporation, regardless of its specific business line. To do the job well, general counsels can add value outside the legal department, making them natural choices for expanded roles within the C-Suite.
For aspiring general counsels, it is critical to use the early years of their careers to accumulate broad experience across core functions, even if that means shifting between industries. Interactions with different departments allow them to not only gain insight into the legal challenges specific to each function but also how they operate on a granular level.
In today's evolving C-Suite, general counsels are taking on a broader set of roles and responsibilities than ever before, allowing companies to maximize the value of their diverse and unique perspectives and experience. To be ready to seize this opportunity, we general counsels must continue to grow our skill sets and enhance our subject area expertise across all of the professional service functions.
Hugh Welsh is the president and general counsel of DSM North America.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllThree Legal Technology Trends That Can Maximize Legal Team Efficiency and Productivity
Corporate Confidentiality Unlocked: Leveraging Common Interest Privilege for Effective Collaboration
11 minute readA New Approach for Protecting Confidential Information During an Employee Activist Campaign
7 minute readTrending Stories
- 1Infant Formula Judge Sanctions Kirkland's Jim Hurst: 'Overtly Crossed the Lines'
- 2Abbott, Mead Johnson Win Defense Verdict Over Preemie Infant Formula
- 3Guarantees Are Back, Whether Law Firms Want to Talk About Them or Not
- 4Trump Files $10B Suit Against CBS in Amarillo Federal Court
- 5Preparing Your Law Firm for 2025: Smart Ways to Embrace AI & Other Technologies
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250