The role of a General Counsel (GC) or Chief Legal Officer (CLO) is pivotal in the corporate governance of an enterprise. Their traditional roles to render legal advice to the management, draft legal documents, arrange compliances and regulatory interface with external agencies are becoming increasingly overarching. With corporates becoming more complex, and with new data-based technology, globalisation, mergers and acquisitions, layered financing, and increasing litigation, mitigation of legal risks has assumed critical importance. During the past few years, there have been changes in the regulatory architecture and compliance needs and any lapses may impact the whole corporation, its image, and shareholders’ value. Globally, delinquencies and scandals led to reputational and fiduciary issues. Thus, the role of the GC has become more intricate. The GC should be intrinsically familiar with the corporation’s relevant activities for integrated legal overview, complex corporate transactions, reviewing contracts, and providing legal inputs. The compliance landscape is becoming increasingly complicated and time-sensitive, thus, the GC needs to stay up to date with all relevant regulations.

According to Professor David Wilkins of Harvard Law School, “the General counsel’s role is becoming more important as India’s economy is becoming globally integrated, as is legal awareness of the new generation of entrepreneurs.” Benjamin Heineman Jr, also from Harvard Law School, writes in The Inside Counsel Revolution, “there has been an inside counsel revolution of increasing scope and power. General counsel and corporate law departments in top global companies have become far more sophisticated, capable, and influential, transforming both business and law….ethics, risk, governance, and citizenship…. participating in decisions and actions about not just risks but also opportunities, not just law but also business, not just public policy but also geopolitics…. public affairs, taxes, and environment…health of the corporation requires that it navigate complex and fast-changing law, regulation, litigation, public policy, politics, media, and interest-group pressures across the globe….. the expertise, quality, breadth, power, and compensation of the GC and inside counsel have increased dramatically.”

In several major corporations, GCs got elevated to senior positions. In Microsoft, CEO Satya Nadella announced Brad Smith (ex-GC) as the new president and CLO, “I’ll look to Brad to play a bigger role in strengthening our external relationships and representing the company publicly. I’ll also look to him internally to partner with others on the (Senior Leadership Team) to lead the work needed to accelerate initiatives that are important to our mission and reputation such as privacy, security, accessibility, environmental sustainability and digital inclusion, to start.” Similarly, Ken Walker from Google was appointed as senior VP of global affairs and CLO to “oversee its policy, legal, trust and safety, and corporate philanthropy teams…In this more public-facing position, his role will be similar to how former CEO Eric Schmidt often represented Google’s interests to governments.”