What does a general counsel do?

A general counsel is a company’s chief legal officer who heads a company’s legal department and is the primary attorney and main source of legal advice.

Author: Brad Nakase, Attorney

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A company’s general counsel offers legal advice and related matters and helps shape the discussion around business issues. A company’s general counsel interprets laws, researches legal issues, reviews legal documents, and prepares oral and written opinions on business legal issues.

A general counsel is a business’ primary lawyer and the main source of their legal counsel. At most companies, the general counsel, also called the GC, reports to the company’s CEO since the general counsel’s advice is essential for many business decisions. A GC’s daily responsibilities can involve dealing with legal problems to handling labor law and intellectual property questions.

In this article, our corporate attorney in Los Angeles discusses general counsel as follows:

1. What Are the Responsibilities of a General Counsel?

2. What Skills Does a General Counsel Need?

3. What Makes a General Counsel Successful?

4. What Are a General Counsel’s Daily Tasks?

5. Contact Nakase Wade

What Are the Responsibilities of a General Counsel?

A general counsel, also referred to as a company’s chief legal counsel or corporate counsel, provides a company with a singular source of legal information. General counsels use their legal expertise to help CEOs and COOs make important decisions regarding a wide range of legal matters.

Research tells us that most GCs spend most of their time on corporate transactions, but they also delve into compliance issues, deal with board relations, and other issues.

A general counsel’s job depends on their role at the company, the industry, and their relationship with the head of the business, but typically, GCs handle:

Anti-trust law
Patent law
Merger activity
Acquisition activity
Labor law
Employment law
Trademark protection

At many companies, general counsels are also responsible for the following:

Public policy advocacy
Legal crises
Labor law
Tax work
Compliance problems
Intellectual property questions

As one can see, GCs must be able to consult on various challenging issues, answer various questions, and be knowledgeable of public and corporate policy.

What Skills Does a General Counsel Need?

General counsels must possess various attributes, from intelligence to strategic thinking to excellent judgment. In addition, GCs must be able to deal with a multitude of complex matters at one time and show excellent leadership skills.

GCs also must be visionary, hardworking, and able to inspire others. They should be able to not only deal with the company’s legal issues and decisions but also anticipate upcoming legal threats and challenges. Additionally, the best GCs can skillfully handle a variety of responsibilities at once.

The impressive mix of attributes that most general counsels possess makes successful GCs highly sought after. GCs should also possess the following:

Integrity
The ability to reason intuitively
The ability to learn from experience
Above-average communication skills
Broad legal expertise
Excellent judgment
The ability to judge different options fairly

What Makes a General Counsel Successful?

One of the most important aspects of a general counsel’s duties is to stay abreast of emerging laws that may impact the company and the entire industry.

For example, the general counsel of a software company would make sure to pay attention if Congress passed new laws about privacy and technology. If the GC judged that the new regulations could impact the company, they would conduct research and present their findings to the company’s CEO.

General counsels must attend board meetings, committee meetings, and often human resources meetings. GCs must keep watch over not only the board room and corporate decisions but also the human resources department’s decisions. The HR department often requires legal counsel regarding employee relations, especially when hiring and terminating employees.

In short, general counsels take on myriad company responsibilities, including providing information and guidance on ethics, corporate citizenship, law, public policy, and more. Based on this, an excellent general counsel is one of the most important members of a business.

What Are a General Counsel’s Daily Tasks?

From the moment the day begins, general counsels are hard at work. They meet with colleagues concerning legal matters, respond to many emails, and often engage with international offices.

Predominantly, general counsels offer advice to various company departments on legal matters. To stay informed, GCs research legal policies, news, legislature and politics, industry developments, and more. A GC focuses on legal matters that currently impact the company and legal issues that could impact the company in the future.

Here are some of the duties a GC might work on during a workday:

Fielding legal requests from different departments
Dealing with acquisitions and mergers
Answering questions about legal compliance
Leasing agreements
Status reports on various legal cases
Research into new regulations and provisions
Evaluating new HR policies
Consulting with the head of the company on business decisions
Attending board meetings with shareholders

A company’s general counsel is one of the most valuable members of the business. Therefore, every aspect of a GC’s duties is vital for the health and performance of the business.

Depending on the industry and the company’s nature, not all general counsel’s duties are the same, and their priorities constantly shift as they deal with evolving legal matters.

Contact Nakase Wade

For more information about the role and duties of a general counsel, contact Nakase Wade.

At Nakase Wade, our California business lawyers and corporate attorneys offer our clients expert legal advice and counsel on various legal issues. So contact us today for a free consultation, and let’s solve your legal challenges so you can continue to meet your business goals.

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