A General Counsel, or Corporate Counsel, provides legal advice and strategies to an organization’s executive team. Their main duties include reviewing and writing various internal legal contracts, negotiating and managing client and vendor contracts and ensuring legal compliance regarding employee safety and mergers and acquisitions.
A General Counsel should be able to fulfill various duties and responsibilities. The following are some duties and responsibilities a General Counsel should be able to execute:
- Advising executive members on new laws, existing laws and legal rights that would impact functionality of the business
- Overseeing the legal matters of the business as a whole, including acting as the business’ legal representative
- Maintaining knowledge of the company’s legal documents and operations
- Crafting and reviewing legal strategy in response to any litigation
- Keeping a record of all legal documents and proceedings for the company
- Facilitating filings of licensing forms and other statutory requirements
A competitive General Counsel will have certain skills and qualifications, including:
- A General Counsel needs leadership to manage several legal experts and to direct them and executives at the company to achieve the best legal outcomes.
- Laws are constantly changing, and a General Counsel needs to remain informed of all the latest changes on the federal, state, city and county measures that could impact the operation of the business.
- When an entity files litigation against the business, the General Counsel needs negotiation skills to charge of the response, from formulating a strategy to going to the courthouse to argue a case.
- A General Counsel needs expert communication skills to ensure all litigation information and instruction to staff are clear and effectively ensure the desired outcome.
