Over the past decade, the role of the associate general counsel, or other midlevel in-house attorneys, has grown with the general counsel to include more business responsibilities.

In years past, the midlevel attorney played more of a technical role in the business and would advise on what the business can or cannot do. Now, since more general counsel are being called on to act as partners to the board of directors, midlevel associate general counsel are expected to interface with a variety of business functions and communicate to all levels of the organization.

"They're [general counsel] going to need to staff their departments with individuals who can assist them in those endeavors," Susanna McDonald, chief legal officer of the Association of Corporate Counsel in Washington, D.C., said.

McDonald said she recently hired a data privacy expert to do more than just look at the myriad data privacy laws that are coming up.

"I hired this person so that I could help my organization make better strategic decisions about how we move forward with our business decisions," McDonald explained.

The midlevel in-house attorney must also be able to identify which laws may have an impact on business initiatives, such as data collection for marketing and sales, and find ways for the business to achieve those goals despite the legal obstacles.

Dimitri Mastrocola, a partner at the in-house practice of legal recruiter Major, Lindsey & Africa in New York, said now midlevel in-house counsel are more likely to be speaking directly to different business units without immediate supervision. He said that part of the job is not surprising to candidates who are seeking in-house opportunities. Candidates are attracted to having a close relationship to business, he said.

"What is surprising to some candidates is how in-your-face the internal clients can be," Mastrocola said.

Because of the demands of business, communication is critical. McDonald said she expects in-house attorneys to be able to speak to different business units, the board of directors, and for compliance reasons, entry-level employees. Soft skills and emotional intelligence are now largely required to work as an associate general counsel position.

"With communication comes really good listening skills. I think that is where the emotional intelligence comes up the most; listening and understanding what an individual is telling you," McDonald said.

John Gilmore, co-founder and managing partner of BarkerGilmore in Rochester, New York, said he can tell when he is interviewing someone whether he or she is going to be a good fit based on communication skills.

"If you get on an interview where the candidate is doing more than 50% of the talking, they talk too much," Gilmore said.