Being a young aspirant, your dream to be a successful general counsel attorney is so obvious. Before stepping into this pious profession, it is the matter of utmost importance to understand the work demand and their role in the market.
General counsel attorneys are also known as GC, chief counsel or chief legal or chief legal officer. They usually work in the legal department of a company or a government organization. They handle the legal and administrative tasks of the organization, they are employed with or provide in-house legal services . A general counsel is one of the primary sources of legal advice in a company.
In this competitive and complex market, GC’s role is to touch almost all the areas of the company such as merger and acquisition, compliance issues, public advocacy, tax work, in-house legal services. A general counsel attorney can be charged for non-compliance with all legal areas of the company. Due to the change in regulations and a rise in litigation threats, the importance of general counsel lawyer has highly increased. Along with the high positions offered, there is immense responsibility on the counsel’s shoulders.
So, here are a few aspects that will definitely help you in being one of the best general counsel attorneys in town.
Out of the box thinking:
An outstanding General Counsel Attorney will make the business flourish by making an effective judgment and will understand the company in and out. He has to be possessed with extreme intelligence to deal with all legal matters whether it is a regulatory requirement or a dispute. Decisions made by GC are always in accordance with the attainment of objectives of the enterprise. They play a significant role in day – to – day matters of the business and also high-level matters such as acquisition and merger, the redemption of equity, etc.
A business leader:
A general counsel lawyer should act as a business leader and not legal experts. He should out his concerns and suggestions in front of the management in the easiest manner so as to avoid any confusion later. It is better to act as a business leader than a corporate legal advisor. This makes the management content as they don’t require to handle the matters individually. General counsel lawyer helps the business leaders by not dragging them to the matters and handle the stuff themselves thus evading the wastage of time and sources. They actually understand how to reign the fast-moving business leaders as they tend to miss the compliance of the legal matters including the business matters.
Leadership qualities:
A general counsel attorney is a leader. Along with being a leader, a GC should be humble enough to bring along all the executives together to aim towards the vision and mission of the organization. No doubt a GC helps to sail the boat smoothly, but a leader understands that the mission is accomplished by bringing everyone together. It’s because of your reasoned head and understanding that an enterprise makes the best decisions. You definitely need to create opportunities in spite of waiting for the same. A general counsel lawyer is someone who motivates others, leads effectively, is a mentor, teacher, influencer. In nutshell, a GC makes leadership the centerpiece of his profession.
Good communication skills:
Practicing public speaking both debating and muting. Debating is also an effective way to enhance the skill of hearing as well as the skills to develop the argument power while debating on a legal matter. Apart from debating and muting, listening is what enhances the knowledge of a general counsel lawyer to a great extent. One who has excellent communication skills, he or she is capable to catch even the non-verbal issues of his clients.
Integrity :
A general counsel lawyer is smart enough to manage his own work along with his team. He needs to develop an environment of integrity in the organization so that the entire team works for the vision and mission and not for the attainment of individual goals.
Legal matter expertise:
The only formula for success for a GC is increasing and widening your legislative knowledge. General counsel attorneys should read widely both legal legislature and wider legislative also. An effective and efficient general counsel lawyer is the one who oversees all the areas of the legal matters. Problem-solving or having expertise in any particular field isn’t sufficient at all. They need expertise in all commercial matters such as real tax, litigation, executive compensation, risk management. Gap analyzing helps the general counsel lawyer in determining what is remaining in the mix. This will definitely enhance your ability to provide judgment in the matters and will add a bonus point to your motive to become a bigger fish in the market.
Author Bio
Amy Jones is a certified legal expert by profession and she is associated with Ahlawat & Associates- best law firms in India . She loves sharing useful information about the business, finance, and law with needy people.