The legal world is constantly changing, and in the current COVID-19 pandemic environment, changes are amplified. One noteworthy legal change that has occurred during this unprecedented time is the role of general counsel’s growing influence on business activities.
As the pandemic brings up new legal issues for businesses, the role of general counsel is evolving. The heightened need to proactively assess potential vulnerabilities in corporate processes that can result in reputational harm, fines and disruption to the business’s bottom line has expanded the general counsel’s business influence exponentially. Furthermore, new data privacy regulations that did not exist a mere decade ago have now also caused the general counsel to act as a company’s quarterback for the increasingly complex compliance efforts between departments.
According to Exterro’s 2020 Corporate Legal Leaders Survey, the increased business influence of the general counsel’s role has resulted in 4 out of 5 general counsels and chief legal officers now reporting directly to the company’s CEO. Exterro’s survey also concluded that general counsels’ scope of influence will likely continue to expand for the foreseeable future as growing risks surrounding data breaches, data privacy, increasing litigation and the pandemic continue.
If you have any questions about general counsel’s growing role, please do not hesitate to contact Busch Mills. Our unique Outside General Counsel program attorneys have a breadth of legal knowledge and expertise and rich business experience that make us an ideal provider of general counsel services.
