Photo: David Handschuh/ALM.

Jose Ramon Gonzalez, general counsel, QBE NA

Q: How is the role of general counsel evolving, and how have you adapted?

A: It is no secret that the role of the General Counsel has expanded greatly over the years. No longer do we simply stay behind the scenes passively providing advice when asked. Today's General Counsel actively integrates the legal function in all aspects of a company's affairs not only to mitigate legal risk, but to empower the business in its efforts to meet organizational goals in a manner that always protects enterprise value.

I think there are three primary ways that the General Counsel role has evolved.

First, General Counsels have had to become experts in their businesses. Understanding the company's business environment and industry ensures that General Counsels develop the appropriate level of credibility with other executive peers, and enables General Counsels to provide strategic advice tailored to the company's needs. Without this, General Counsels could not foresee how legal and regulatory changes will impact their companies.

Second, General Counsels are now responsible for overseeing their organizations' entire legal function, including managing their department and outside counsel budgets, assuming responsibility for leading large teams, demonstrating enterprise value and driving efficiencies within their teams.

In today's world, companies often turn to data to drive their decision-making. In our department, we've developed metrics that enable us to measure departmental performance and the value our department adds to the company in concrete—as opposed to esoteric—terms.

One area where we use metrics is to measure the performance of the attorneys who provide legal advice to claims professionals on insurance coverage issues against our company's prior practice of retaining outside law firms to perform that same function. Based upon that comparison, we saw that our in-house coverage group performs work more efficiently and economically than their external counterparts do. That, in turn, led to our department to realize millions of dollars' worth of savings in 2017 alone.

Finally, technological change and market demands require real-time legal support. Legal departments consequently have had to reorient their activities to be much more proactive in nature. One way that I've adapted to this new reality is to deploy members of our department within our company's business units to provide legal, regulatory, and compliance advice and analysis on the ground, as needed. Our business unit support attorneys sit with their internal clients as opposed to sitting away from them, ensuring our attorneys' availability to answer questions and spot issue as they arise.

Q: How do you find it most effective to develop leadership skills, and to foster them in others? 

 A; Like with anything else, the most effective way to develop and hone leadership skills is to practice them. As for what to practice, I focus on the three things I believe it takes to be an effective leader: identifying the right people for the right roles, setting those people up for success, and standing behind your people.

Choosing the right people for the right roles sounds easy, but it can be difficult to execute. After all, a great coordinator may not make a good head coach. Setting those people up for success is important because you need to make sure that the right people are communicating with one another, and that your team members are aware of any “unwritten rules” that potentially could impact how their message is received by stakeholders. Standing behind your team is critical because it builds greater alignment to the overall mission, and it fosters loyalty among the team. If I were to point to one thing that best helps accomplish all these things, it would be to ensure open lines of communication where team members know what's expected of them and what they should expect from you.

As for fostering leadership skills in others, you have to lead by example. If you don't, you'll never have credibility as a leader.

Q: What is your best advice for in-house lawyers trying to make an impact, with their corporate clients and beyond?

A: It's a given that attorneys need to have strong organizational, writing and communication skills. What differentiates good lawyers from great ones, both in-house and elsewhere, is being strategic about how the lawyer delivers his or her services. Good lawyers answer the question asked. Great lawyers do that and have the answer for the next question ready before the client even asks.