Senior in-house lawyers aspiring to top corporate jobs need to work in business areas outside of legal, according to United Biscuits chief executive Martin Glenn (pictured).

The former head of PepsiCo in UK and Ireland made the comments at Legal Week's Corporate Counsel Forum last month.

"The challenge is that the lack of cross-functional experience counts against GCs in getting to the CEO level," he said. "I would never make someone a CEO with only experience of one function."