CEO’s say they want a “strategic” General Counsel.
What does strategic counsel even mean?
Strategy means planning a course of action to achieve an overall aim. CEO’s who are the strategists of their companies ought to look for a legal leader who can not only identify but execute the steps needed for the legal function to get the company where it is going.
Some examples:
Lawyer: gets a contract from a vendor, spots and negotiates issues that will improve commercial terms and lower legal risks.
Strategic GC: Plans how the company will handle the 100+ vendors contracts the company will sign in the coming growth phase, Builds a vendor management process, intake channel, approval process, negotiation playbook, and vendor/contractor templates.
Lawyer: Is asked about regulatory compliance obligations of the product, researches and writes a memo with recommendations, and handles regulatory filings and key agreements.
Strategic GC: Builds the compliance function, sources specialist counsel, compliance staff, consultants, and tools and onboards them to the company. Oversees the process to ensure it is operating correctly.
Lawyer: Is asked to prepare agreements for a fundraising round, reaches out to the COO for all the due diligence responses and disclose schedule information from the company. The COO works on little else for two months while the company scrambles to close the round.
Strategic GC: Talks to the CEO and gleans that a fundraise round might kick off in the next 9 months, starts building a data room and consolidates the information the company will need to provide from 8 department heads, works with each of them to close gaps, and reaches the round with most of heavy lifting already done.
What else sets a strategic GC apart?