Josh Beser went to law school because he was interested in the intersection between business and the law—but working in a law firm after graduation, he wasn't getting that type of experience.

“Being at a firm, we only saw a small part of our clients' life cycles, often at major inflection points typically during financing, merger and acquisitions, or crises,” Beser says. “I knew I wanted to learn more about the other 99 percent of what happened in these companies, and thought going in-house would be the best way to do that.”

Beser, now the general counsel and head of human resources at travel startup Away, says that at his previous in-house job he dabbled in different parts of the business but took a more active role in the business when he started working at Away.

“One of the best things about the role of a GC is that it's extremely cross-functional by definition; having the ability to work with every team gives the GC context to be able to step in to help manage functions when there's a business need, or when it makes sense for the company as a whole,” he says.

Beser's desire to work more closely with the business, and his decision to skip the traditional route of spending years or decades at a firm before ever going to the legal department is characteristic of many of today's GCs.

The general counsel's growing clout and position within the enterprise means that companies' top lawyers have to build a whole new set of skills and they may take less traditional career paths to reach the top of the law department. And once they're there, they might be able to leverage their abilities to climb higher still, taking additional roles of public-facing spokesperson, head of human resources—or maybe even some day, CEO.

How We Got Here

In the past 30 years, the role of the GC has changed in a major way. GCs used to be gatekeepers, siloed in a legal department that felt more like the “Department of No” than a function that facilitated business strategies and vision. Way back when, even the hiring process was different, sources say.

“It used to be, 'Who did the board know?'” says Mike Evers, founder of Evers Legal Search, a recruiting firm that handles in-house attorney placements. “That way of thinking is long gone.” Now, as GCs get a seat at the table next to the CEO or CFO, the search has taken on new dimensions. “They're looking for a business mindset first and a legal mindset second,” he says. “That level of visibility requires a certain way of thinking about the business.”

“The expectation of lawyers today from executives has increased. Executives are looking to their lawyers to provide more than just legal advice,” says Julie Brush, the founding partner of Solutus Legal Search, a legal recruiting and consulting firm, and author of the legal career column The Lawyer Whisperer.

The evolution of the general counsel from someone who stayed in the legal lane to someone more involved in business occurred, according to sources, in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Evers attributes the growth to both an “explosion of regulatory schemes” around the world, and the growth of technology as a legal and business issue, both of which have prompted more in-house legal leaders to venture outside the law department.

The Well-Rounded GC

It may come as little surprise then that business acumen and alignment have proven to be essential for the GC of the present—and likely for the GC of the future.

Take Amit Khanna, the general counsel of Knotel. After spending time in Big Law, Khanna moved in-house working for The Schmidt Family Foundation, where he primarily handled investments. He says he liked the financial work, and didn't plan on moving back to strictly a legal role.

However, when he was approached by Knotel, he found that like more and more companies in the current climate, the office space rental startup was looking for a GC who could do a lot more than just be a lawyer.

“I never saw myself as just a general counsel or even just a counsel,” Khanna says. “With that [at Knotel] there were some business functions; there was a capital raising function and there was a corporate development, M&A focus. My joining the Knotel team was in terms of flexibility of how I was going to build the legal function, how I wanted the M&A role to look, and the fact that it would be a mixed legal role.”

The way a lawyer typically looks at an issue is seeking what the maximum value can be while at the same time minimizing the risk. Khanna says his history working with investments has taught him as a legal chief to look past that paradigm, and he's brought that to his current role.

And Khanna and his Knotel colleagues are certainly looking to the future. He refers to Knotel as a “CEO school.”

“There is an entrepreneurial mindset that all of us have. We tend to cross collaborate a lot. Everyone that I work with is learning from me. We have a really good environment here for folks to learn on the job,” Khanna says. “I'm much more opportunity-focused and opportunity-driven now than I was when I was practicing at my firms.”

Skill Sets

Today, becoming top dog at a corporation's legal department may require more training than it used to, since today's GC has to work well with other execs.

Former general counsel of Gap Inc. and current executive coach at BarkerGilmore, Michelle Banks, is quite well-versed in the capabilities that GCs need to have to achieve success in their evolving roles.

Banks says that one of the biggest hurdles new general counsel have to overcome is that they are generally dealing with a boss (often the CEO) who is not a lawyer and one who is not totally familiar with the legal function. One of the ways she helps those new general counsel is to work with them on their cross-departmental communication skills.

For new general counsel brevity is key, says Banks. She notes lawyers tend to be long-winded while their C-suite colleagues want bullet points and only the most important information. There also tends to be a need to boost listening skills. During her time at Gap, Banks says that better listening was on her development plan for years.

“Lawyers tend to argue and then all of the sudden you're in the board room or you're in the C-suite and you can't talk at people,” Banks says. “You have to be empathetic and you have to listen better.”

Banks encourages clients to develop empathy in working with other executives and to develop their emotional intelligence or “EQ.”

It's not just the softer skills though. For the GC who wants to make a big impression on business colleagues, being oriented toward business solutions can make all the difference. “I think when people pick their GC, they're looking for someone who is a problem solver,” Banks says.

To master that fine art, according to Banks, one of the more important skills a GC can have in today's environment is a strong sense of the business and strong understanding of finance, including understanding financial statements and comprehending drivers of revenue and profit at their company.

“Foundationally you have to be smart to be a strong lawyer. I think taking it to the next level is what distinguishes successful GCs,” Banks says.

The General Counsel Executive Officer

With their newfound business savvy and success, GCs are taking on new high-level roles in the C-suite, whether that's running operations, HR or communications.

It's still relatively rare, Banks says, for a GC to make it to the CEO spot, but it does happen. Sometimes a company needs someone with both a legal and entrepreneurial mind to move the business forward.

Brush says that in the general counsel role, executives are looking for someone with “more gravitas.” This, she says, isn't necessarily trainable in everybody.

“I don't think that's easy to do and I don't think everyone can do it. There are some people that are just hardwired to be a blocker and tackler. There are some people who don't want to manage people,” Brush says. “I don't think it's easy to step into. But being a leader is something that can be taught and honed, but I think that the general counsel also has to possess the quality where they can embrace the teachings and guidance and make it work.”

Adam Gomolin, the co-founder, general counsel and CEO of InkShares, a startup publishing company, is one of the legal leaders who has honed his skills and embraced the CEO title. He says he and the other co-founders of InkShares needed someone to lead the company who would be willing to become involved in just about everything, and he fit that bill.

While Gomolin says that he doesn't necessarily think of himself as “lawyer-CEO” he says that many of his skills as an attorney have helped him succeed in his current dual role. In fact, being a lawyer helped him shape his company's business model, as he found a way to apply legal principles used for financing television to the financing of book rights.

“I don't think I would have it as clearly if I hadn't been a lawyer,” Gomolin says.

Gomolin also cites his law career as one reason he is able to be a versatile business leader. While an associate at KVR Law, where he represented defendants in securities cases, Gomolin says he developed an ability to learn new subject areas quickly.

This speed and flexibility has proved useful at Inkshares. “What you really learn is that you can learn anything. If you have to do a securities fraud case that has to do with whether or not there's been more trichloroethylene than dichloroethylene in something; you realize that with a gun to your head you can learn organic chemistry pretty quickly,” Gomolin says.

Though not all GCs will become CEOs like Gomolin, there's a lot of room to grow for in-house legal leaders to grow outside of their department, especially as the legal and regulatory world grows ever more complex.

“I do think that the role is going to continue to expand to include more business oriented tasks and responsibilities,” Brush says. “I do think that general counsels are going to have a bigger seat at the table with regard to how the business is run.”

But no matter how much they spread their wings, these legal leaders will remember their roots. As Brush says, “At the end of the day the general counsel is the head legal executive.”