The demands on today’s general counsel are many, complex, and unfortunately often in conflict with the wider business. Corporate counsels are their company’s traditional guardians, expected to protect the business against unnecessary risk from poorly thought out plans, regulators, unscrupulous partners, class-action lawyers, bad business processes and more. But with this traditional approach, business silos are as prevalent today as they were 20 years ago. As CEOs and business directors look to destroy them, the general counsel becomes the fall guy, often getting the bad rap for inhibiting progress in areas of business development-an area criticized for not being taught in law schools today.

But in the modern age, general counsels and their legal departments are increasingly expected to be business partners, collaborating with executives and functional experts in finance, HR and marketing to drive bottom-line results. Legal is being elevated into the C-suite alongside other functional leaders like the chief financial officer, chief human resource officer, chief strategy officers, and others to help CEOs break apart silos that prevent rapid-business decisions. In this regard, general counsels are also expected to become innovators—or at a minimum not preventing innovation—by helping their colleagues and IT test new ideas and technology at a rapid pace.

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