Ian White & Simon McCall 
Your Role as General Counsel [EPUB ebook] 
How to Survive and Thrive in your Role as GC

The role of General Counsel has never been more demanding: cuts on spending and doing more for less; a demanding board and Executive Committee; and a plethora of law and regulation.

This Special Report, by Ian White and Simon Mc Call, seeks to help address some of these challenges. By guiding you through the first 100 days in a significant role, it will show you how to navigate between acting as wise counsel to management while leading your team successfully.

It also covers:

working with the board;
coaching;
developing a legal strategy;
taking on the company secretarial role; and
developing your career within legal and beyond.
This Special Report is a must-read for any current or aspiring GC, in-house legal teams, HR directors, CEOs and private practice lawyers who wish to know what to expect from the in-house teams.

Tabella dei contenuti

Acknowledgements 7

I. Introduction – why you need this Special Report 9

1. Who has this Special Report been written for? 9

2. How this Special Report is set out 10

II. Legal consigliere or functional manager? 13

1. Introduction 3

2. Functional managers 14

3. Legal consiglieri 14

III. The first 100 days 19

1. Creating a sense of success 19

2. Ways to generate ideas about a successful first 100 days 21

3. Credibility, rapport and trust 22

4. Listening 25

IV. Developing a legal strategy 29

1. A preliminary comment about strategy 29

2. Legal strategy 29

V. Managing the legal team 37

1. Finance 37

2. Marketing/business development 38

3. HR 40

4. Operations 46

5. Reflections on the legal team 48

VI. Building your department 49

1. The importance of teams 49

2. Be clear on the strategy 49

3. Devise a plan 50

4. And finally… 59

VII. Coaching and mentoring 61

1. Coaching 61

2. Mentoring 72

VIII. The GC and the board 75

1. Background to your board relationship 75

2. Build your relationship with the board with care 77

IX. Taking on the role of company secretary 83

1. A bit of background 83

2. Understand the nature of the role 84

3. Get an understanding of boards if you don’t already have one 87

X. What next? Reinventing yourself 91

1. The importance of thinking ahead 91

2. Re-evaluating your career 92

3. Staying in a legal role 93

4. Moving away from the GC role 94

5. Moving to a new career 95

Endnotes 99

About the authors 101

About Globe Law and Business 103

Notes and ideas 104