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It seems 36% of general counsel in Britain want to have a permanent place on their company's board of directors in the next five years, according to a report published on Thursday by U.K. law firm Shoosmiths.

The report is based on a survey sent out earlier this year by Shoosmiths and The Lawyer. The survey was sent to 224 general counsel in the U.K., with in-house teams varying from one to 10 lawyers, to those who have more than 100 lawyers on their staff. The survey was also sent to 24 CEOs and board members of British corporations to get their opinion on general counsel participation on a company's board of directors.

Stuart Little, an equity partner at Shoosmiths, said putting the general counsel on the board of directors will help give the finance people on the board an insight they perhaps have not had before.

"I think, as lawyers, we bring an interesting skillset and an interesting perspective of where we're coming from," Little said.

Despite the value of that outside of the numbers perspective, only 22% of respondents said they have a permanent spot on the board of directors. Little attributes that to the in-house role being relatively new in the U.K. and therefore the full value of a general counsel has not been realised.

"In the last 10 years, the in-house function has really grown. Before, not every organisation had an in-house function. This is a fairly new development," Little said.

The report indicates that 53% of CEOs and board members would prefer the general counsel not to have a place on the board. Little attributed that to the fact the many CEOs and board members believe the role of a general counsel is operational and view legal as just another cost. Little explained that if general counsels want a seat at the table, they are going to have to prove they deserve to be there.

"It's important for the GC to be in the room when relevant things are discussed, but to have a permanent seat – you need to justify it," Steven Colsell, a non-executive director at Starling Bank, states in the report.

Part of the hesitation on the part of board members is a lawyer's knowledge of the company's financials. More than 90% of general counsel who responded indicated that better knowledge of their organisations' financials and strategies would help their reputation with the board.

"Lawyers will state brazenly, 'I don't do numbers, I only do words', and in doing so they exclude themselves from the most important decisions their organisations face; not a move that gets you on the board," notes Edward Smith, general counsel of Telefonica, in the report.

The number of British general counsel on boards of directors will likely change in the coming years as corporations evolve and recognise the value of the in-house legal department, and legal leaders continue to want a spot on the board. Little said one thing that comes out of the report is that many lawyers are comfortable being just lawyers.

"Lawyers are comfortable in that legal risk area and may not want to step outside of that," Little said.

Ultimately, if corporate legal leaders want a spot on the board, they will have to go after it.

"General counsel need to drive that speed of change if they want to [have permanent board membership]," Little said.