GC Roundtable: future GC role
In association with MLegal, GC gathered a number of leading in-house counsel in Houston to consider where the role of the general counsel is heading, along with that of their legal team.
We started our discussion, which was held in association with recruiters Mlegal, by considering the big picture – how the roles of the general counsel and the legal team have changed, and what are the most compelling pressures currently.
For all of our participants, it was non-legal issues which were the most pressing. Project management was agreed to be fundamentally important for both the head of legal and their team and, increasingly, for outside counsel. Project management was felt to be one of the skills that in-house counsel need to excel in, particularly in an environment where lawyers can no longer sit in a legal department silo, either through their own choice or someone else’s. A number of those around the table shared the view that companies now need ‘lawyers who are not afraid to view legal itself as a business’.
