Your Role as General Counsel

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

An impactful, courteous observation on the role of General Counsel. It felt to me like the sensible person in a debate, speaking with integrity and clarity, but neither partisan nor dismissive of a range of opinions. It is well written, accessible, reflective and valuable.