General counsel: What’s on the horizon?

Another year is coming to a close and the Christmas countdown will be upon us sooner than we think. With the turn of each calendar year, new challenges arise, and professionals in the role of general counsel (GC) experience these in abundance.

One really important and often overlooked aspect of the GC role is making sure that the legal strategy and objectives continue to be aligned with the business’s objectives. Does the new year present a good opportunity to review this? What could be improved in 2017, compared to how things went in 2016? Can the year ahead be one that more strongly embraces process improvement and the use of technology?

At this upcoming roundtable, we look ahead to the kind of challenges facing GCs as we move towards 2017 and how this year, given all that’s come before in 2016, might be different from the past when it comes to planning.

Will the UK’s decision to leave the EU influence the forward thinking that a GC might typically do at the turn of the year, particularly in the financial services sector? What has been learnt over the past few turbulent months that can be carried through into 2017? Or has the lesson of recent times been that GCs should just expect the unexpected and ignore the planning?

These are just some of the areas that will be discussed on 22 November in the latest round­table, which will look to delve into other aspects of looking ahead when it comes to the role of GC.

For example, how do GCs use that turn-of-the-year moment when it comes to horizon-scanning – such as will the GDPR legal framework become an even hotter topic as it moves closer to coming into force?

Is this the time to change and review processes and amend certain things? Will horizon-scanning for 2017 actually be necessary, given the current uncertainty in the market, meaning changes are near-on impossible to predict? And what role can a private practice law firm have in supporting the GC at this particular moment in time?

Taking stock

From a wider business level through to the more personal aspects of the role, is the turn of the year a good opportunity for the GC to sit down with individual team members and remind them how their actions, as part of the wider legal function, need to help the business achieve its objectives over the next 12 months? Is it the right time to challenge yourself in the GC role, and your team regarding developmental opportunities?

Whether there are personal challenges to overcome or objectives that need shifting and repositioning for the legal team, the start of a new calendar year marks another point in the sand for the GC to reassert the momentum of his/her career and the direction of the wider team.

Facilitated and chaired by The Lawyer’s editor Catrin Griffiths and BLP’s managing partner, Lisa Mayhew, this discussion will be written up as a feature in The Lawyer. We want to hear from experienced GCs who are interested in passing on their knowledge to the next generation of in-house lawyers, as well as those newer to the role and keen to learn from some of the best.