From legal adviser to strategic partner: how the role of the general counsel is evolving

The role of General Counsel continues to evolve, and the demands placed on today’s GCs are greater than ever.

We have long since left behind the time when in-house counsel were confined to reviewing contracts or managing legal risk in the background. Today’s GC sits at the heart of the business, helping to shape strategy, guide decision-making, and enable risk-based growth.

Regulatory complexity increases apace, laws evolve, technology advances unrelentingly and businesses face a barrage of commercial and legal pressures – from AI to ESG and cross-border operations.

Legal input is required earlier, faster, and with ever-greater commercial focus. The necessary shifts are already well underway in many organisations.

WHY THE ROLE OF THE GC IS CHANGING

Several factors are driving this evolution.

Regulatory complexity

• This is true whether you operate across multiple jurisdictions or in just one or two sophisticated legal markets.
• It is not just a sectoral issue (e.g. financial services, healthcare, etc.).
• Swathes of regulation are sector-agnostic (sometimes unexpectedly). Examples include bribery, corruption and tax evasion, data protection, sanctions and export controls, health and safety at work, employment, ESG (especially modern slavery, worker welfare, environmental), and more recently, AI regulation (e.g. the EU AI Act). The list goes on.
• The NSIA (National Security and Investment Act) is arguably hybrid: sector-agnostic yet focused on particular types of businesses – but organisations can still find themselves unexpectedly within scope.
• GCs must keep abreast of these issues and oversee the delivery, at pace, of accurate but commercially contextualised advice.

Technology

• For some years, in-house legal teams have grappled with technological advances. These have covered contract management systems, process automation, and legal operations.
• AI adoption, and understanding its impact on business operations and legal work, is the latest iteration of the challenge.
• GCs are expected to identify issues before they crystallise and help the business move forward with confidence. How to do that, when there is no obvious consensus on AI but a genuine (and growing) sense of urgency, is especially challenging.

Board-level scrutiny and stakeholder expectations

• Legal risk, reputation, and governance have never been more firmly on the agenda for senior leadership and investors.
• Reactive legal advice is not sufficient. We have often talked about proactivity, the ability to see around corners, or to scan the horizon. These are clichés to an extent, but they contain more than a kernel of truth.
• Businesses need legal input that is forward-looking, commercially grounded, and embedded within decision-making. That is often easier said than done, particularly where internal legal resources are stretched.
• Building trust, establishing credibility, and delivering sensible but also accurate and carefully considered advice is critical to meeting these demands.

WHAT DOES A STRATEGIC GC LOOK LIKE IN PRACTICE?

The most effective GCs share a number of defining characteristics.

A commercial mindset

• Modern GCs understand how the business operates – they genuinely ‘get’ it: why customers or clients buy from you, what drives revenue, gross versus net profit, and the competitor landscape.
• They see risk and opportunity as two sides of the same coin.
• Legal advice is framed in commercial terms, presented in a user-friendly format, and takes a risk-balanced approach.

Embedded within the organisation

• Smart businesses see the GC and wider in-house legal team as partners and facilitators. Not “yes” or “no”, but “how” and “why”.
• Their in-house counsel work closely with teams across the business – both client-/customer-facing and internal functions.

An increasing presence at board level

• For some, a board seat is a pre-requisite for such an important function. Arguably, the CLO title better suits this role.
• For others, the objectivity, independence and emotional distance of being apart from the board (perhaps, however, with a presence through a Co Sec role) is beneficial.
• Regardless, the GC is increasingly involved in key strategic and risk-management decisions. That is as it should be – it makes the business more resilient and helps the GC discharge their responsibilities.

Looking ahead, rather than reacting

• Strategic GCs ensure their in-house teams move beyond reactive advice.
• There will always be an element of responsiveness to the job, but they also focus on scenario planning, forecasting, and are involved in projects at an early-stage.
• This ensures that legal considerations are built into decisions from the outset, rather than addressed after the fact.

HOW ORGANISATIONS BENEFIT FROM LEVERAGING IN-HOUSE COUNSEL

For business, the evolution of the in-house counsel role brings clear and practical benefits. When legal expertise is closely integrated within the business, advice is more responsive and more closely aligned with commercial objectives.

Greater speed and efficiency

• In-house counsel who understand the organisation’s operations in detail (particularly in fast-moving or highly regulated sectors), risk appetite, and strategic priorities can provide timely, practical advice tailored to those circumstances.
• Businesses can move more quickly and with confidence.

Risk management and resilience

• By involving legal advisers early – in planning, innovation, and creation – organisations can identify potential issues before they escalate. This mitigates the risks of disputes, regulatory breaches, and reputational damage.
• Business can also take decisions faster and with more confidence to maximise commercial opportunities and promote sustainable growth.

Governance and compliance

• These are not just legal issues; they go to the heart of business success.
• They help drive resilience, build and maintain competitive advantage, and prevent disruption of normal operations.
• GCs should, and more and more often do, play a key role in helping executive teams and boards achieve their strategic objectives.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• For sophisticated businesses, the GC is firmly embedded as a strategic business partner at the centre of decision-making.
• Businesses benefit the most if they seek legal input at the point of project inception.
• Fully integrating the GC and their team within the business means that they understand the business better and deliver faster, more commercially aligned advice.

To find out more about how we can support your business as a strategic partner, please contact Nick Watson.