What is the Difference Between a Chief Legal Officer vs General Counsel?

May 10, 2022

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Originally Posted On: https://cowenpartners.com/what-is-the-difference-between-a-general-counsel-and-chief-legal-officer/

In-house legal advisors are invaluable to a company. They understand the ins and outs of your business which gives them a better grasp of the potential risks and threats your company faces. High-level positions in charge of your company’s legal matters are even more critical as they oversee the company’s entire legal team. You may be considering hiring a general counsel or chief legal officer to run your company’s legal matters, but maybe you don’t know which position is best for your business. Below are the differences between a general counsel and a chief legal officer.

Role of General Counsel

A general counsel is considered a more traditional executive role within a company. The main focus of a GC is to manage a company’s legal compliance as well as corporate governance.

The general counsel role is also more closely aligned with a high-level lawyer which ensures the company’s legal obligations are all met. A few of a GC’s main job responsibilities are listed below.

General Counsel Job Description

Represent the company in court
Convey legal advice to company executives
Lead and manage the legal team
Communicate and oversee compliance regulations with government agencies

Chief Legal Officer

The role of chief legal officer is a newer position than the general counsel and in some ways is an expansion of the general counsel role. The CLO is a C-Suite position that focuses on the legal department but is also responsible for providing valid business solutions to arising problems. Legal analysis is expected, but the CLO also keeps the company’s business model and goals in mind.

The chief legal officer is a multidimensional role that not only manages legal tact, but also aligns legal and business strategies, suggests innovative business solutions, mitigates risk, and ensures legal efficiency. Ultimately, a CLO stands apart from the GC role in that a CLO is often considered a strategic business partner.

A few of the chief legal officer’s responsibilities are listed below.

Chief Legal Officer Responsibilities

CLOs are generally responsible for duties that include (and are not limited to):

Developing and leading corporate legal strategy to promote and protect the company’s matters
Developing and leading internal audit and corporate compliance programs
Overseeing the delivery of legal services and resources to accomplish corporate goals, strategies, and priorities
Maintaining proper corporate interactions with the relevant local, state and federal governmental bodies, legislatures and the community at large
Advising the CEO and other senior corporate officers on a variety of issues
Participating in the formulation of general management policy as a member of the executive management team
Managing a team of corporate counsel and other members of the legal department

Finding Top In-House Legal Talent

Capable in-house legal talent is a vital part of your company’s team, and finding top legal talent is necessary if you expect to compete in today’s economy. You cannot afford to make mistakes when locating the right candidate for Chief Legal Officer, Corporate Counsel, General Counsel, or other key legal positions.

executive search firms — Cowen Partners Legal Executive Search

Cities include; New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and Phoenix.

As a leading executive search firm, Cowen Partners specializes in finding in-house counsel and legal officers that fit your needs. We know the legal recruiting process from all sides and have a proven track record of success. When you work with us, you can rest assured knowing we will find you exceptional talent with outstanding credentials. We evaluate everything from legal experience, executive leadership, and emotional intelligence to core competencies and culture fit. Our assessment of candidates is top-notch so we can find you the perfect fit for your company.

Legal Executive Search Firm

It can take your company months to fill in-house legal positions and even once the job is filled the candidate might not be a good fit. A general counsel or chief counsel role and other key law department positions need to be filled quickly with the right qualified professionals.

At Cowen Partners, we take a proactive approach and have a private network from which to pull qualified candidates to fill your needs. Our legal recruitment team can find you top talent with not only the right qualifications, but also someone who will connect with the company leadership and culture. We are incredibly timely, too. Our average time to fill is only 38 days compared to a 100-day industry average. By engaging us as your legal executive recruiting agency, you receive top talent for all your essential legal positions. We have experiencing placing executive legal talent in a wide variety of industries and will have no problem finding the right candidate for your company.

Effectively Recruit the General Counsel Your Company Needs

A general counsel or chief counsel role is expected to take on more responsibility than ever. Executive teams often rely on their general counsel to be a lead strategist within the company. The right general counsel for your organization will have a solid understanding of your business needs and stay on top of ever-evolving legal obligations. We understand that each general counsel position and role are different depending on the company’s needs. We will help you find a top candidate that has all of the qualifications and competencies necessary for the role. Our retained executive search consultants know how to recognize top legal talent from years of experience as well as the use of proven hiring strategies.

In today’s complex world, you can’t afford to hire the wrong person for your legal needs. Cowen Partners is an established legal executive search firm which is why companies trust us with their talent recruiting needs. We know how to find talent that will improve your business operations and be a successful fit for your team.

Do you want to explore in-house counsel options such as General Counsel or Chief Counsel? Contact Us

Read more of our C-Suite resources to see why Cowen Partners is a leading legal executive search firm in New York City, Chicago, Seattle, Dallas, Los Angeles, and beyond:

Check Out the Average Chief Legal Officer Salary Here

Legal Recruiting Firm | Legal Executive Recruiters

Should You Hire a Chief Legal Officer or General Counsel?

Both positions will bring value to your company but in different ways. A general counsel provides all of the legal advice and assistance you need. If you’re simply looking for some extra help managing your legal team and ensuring compliance is met in every possible way, then a GC is a great option.

However, if you’re interested in a more involved role for your company that can provide business value in addition to legal advice, then the chief legal officer is a better choice. The CLO role has actually been gaining a lot of momentum lately and has been listed as the sixth fastest-growing C-suite title of 2020 at 23 percent growth, according to Workforce Insights.

The position growth trend is understandable because a CLO provides a lot of value to a business. With a CLO, you have an employee who is dedicated to furthering the business and improving the bottom line while at the same time they ensure compliance is met along the way.

What to Look for in a Chief Legal Officer

Chief Legal Officer Job Description & Responsibilities | What Does a Legal Executive Do?

When hiring a chief legal officer, you want to make sure you’re choosing someone who not only understands the legal aspects of your business but who can also manage the more strategic aspects of running a company. With this in mind, below are a few important characteristics you should look for in a CLO.

1. Strategic Thinker

The CLO balances the legal aspects of the company while monitoring the repercussions and risks associated with new business moves.

A CLO recognizes the legal risk of new ventures but can also place this decision in the bigger context of the business.

Since a CLO understands the overall business goals and mission of the company, a CLO can view legal aspects of a business decision through the lens of running a successful business.

2. Competent Leader

The legal team is usually managed by the CLO so you need a competent leader who will inspire and motivate employees to do their best work. You also want a dynamic leader in this position because they’ll also be interacting with corporate leadership and outside clients on a regular basis. The person in charge of your legal team, therefore, needs to be able to lead people from all different backgrounds.

3. Decisive

A decisive CLO is essential for successfully managing the legal aspects of your business. You don’t want someone in the role who will deliberate over decisions for weeks at a time. You want a confident CLO who can look at a legal query, efficiently analyze the benefits and risks, and then move forward with the process in a timely manner.

Hiring the Right Chief Legal Officer or General Counsel

Recruiting executive-level in-house legal talent is a big move for your company, so make sure you do it right. Hire a team of experienced and knowledgeable executive recruiters to handle your legal recruiting.

The Benefits of a Legal Recruiting Firm

Your company likely takes months to find and hire a new employee. The processes of posting the job opening, sifting through applications, and setting up interviews is time-consuming work but very important for your business. The truth is, however, even after all of this work the person you choose might not be the best fit for your company.

An experienced legal recruiting firm makes the whole hiring process easier. Recruiters take over the task of finding qualified candidates for the general counsel or chief legal officer role you need filled. Recruiters have an extensive network of qualified talent they can access for your needs and also understand how to find the best legal talent to fit your company. Contact Cowen Partners to find out more about legal recruiting today.

Cowen Partners is the nation’s executive search firm, enabling companies to harness the power of human capital to fuel their success. Cowen Partners gives our clients access to the top 1% of human capital to create opportunities that accelerate their growth and market share. With Cowen Partners, clients can grow at scale, create value, and drive results with world-class talent.

Our clients are both small and large, publicly-traded, pre-IPO, private, and non-profit organizations. Clients are typically $50 million to multi-billion dollar revenue Fortune 1000 companies or have assets between $500 million to $15 billion. Successful placements span the entire C-Suite and include VP and Director level leadership roles.

With our proven processes and guaranteed results, we have successfully placed hundreds of candidates in industries including technology, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, financial services, and private equity.

Do you want to explore in-house counsel options such as General Counsel or Chief Legal Officer? Contact Us

Legal Recruiting Firm | Legal Executive Recruiters

Companies Need Business Minded General Counsels

General counsels are currently expected to take on more responsibilities than ever before within their organizations. In the past, their main job was to guard the company against legal and ethical offenses, but the role is so much more than that now. In addition to avoiding legal infractions, general counsels are expected to provide strategic planning advice for the executive team. In fact, many directors believe one of the general counsel’s most valuable functions is to advise the board as well as the executive team on business strategy.

Evolving in-house counsel roles

New corporate realities have evolved over the years to include a diverse scope of enterprise risks which has correspondingly broadened the role of in-house counsel. Executive teams are looking for general counsels who can not only juggle the litigation aspects of the business but who can also contribute to the company goals. Ultimately, a GC needs to be able to fulfill business promises, manage the legal department, and provide significant company value.

When looking for a general counsel, most directors and officers are looking for someone with two main attributes: in-depth legal expertise and sound judgment. The third attribute, however, that many teams highly prize is business acumen. Company leaders believe a general counsel with these three attributes will be successful in the position and will be a valued strategic advisor to the company.

It’s expected that a general counsel will have broad legal knowledge, but legal acumen is no longer enough to succeed as a corporate legal executive. General counsels need to be willing to acquire a better understanding of the business and industry they work in. A well-rounded GC will contribute to the growth and success of a company, not just serve as a legal watchdog.

Sound business understanding makes a better General Counsel

What business leaders are starting to realize is that general counsel can provide better legal advice when they have a thorough understanding of the business and industry. A GC is involved in important contract negotiations and makes impactful company decisions on a regular basis.

A deeper understanding of internal and external company dealings allows the GC to weigh the various business implications and make a decision that will benefit the company. In-house counsel with a strong grasp on enterprise risk management as well as a solid understanding of the business and industry can provide much more value to the business strategy on a regular basis.

Plan for succession

A majority of companies do not have a solid general counsel succession plan in place. Many law departments are running on lean budgets so it can be difficult to single out a candidate for succession. It’s also difficult to determine a general counsel’s successor when the company attorneys all work on the day-to-day business needs and are rarely involved with higher-level risk and governance issues.

In most cases, companies look to an executive recruiting firm to benchmark internal candidates against external talent. While internal candidates may have the business knowledge executive teams seek, the dynamic role and long list of GC expectations make finding the right candidate for the job a high priority. Companies don’t want to be limited to internal applicants, so they open the role up to external candidates to find the very best match for their needs.

Culture fit and the ability to act as a reliable advisor are two key factors directors typically consider when searching for in-house counsel. Emotional intelligence, in particular, is prized amount GC candidates because high emotional intelligence often signals better stress management during high-stress situations. People with high EI are also more likely to build strong relationships and are known for being thoughtful. These two characteristics make it easier for a GC to connect with others and become a well-trusted advisor.

Hiring a General Counsel Conclusion

Corporate directors today are looking for a lot more in a general counsel than legal advice. Expectations for GCs are high, and these expectations aren’t likely to change in the future. When searching for a general counsel, it would be wise to seek a candidate with cross-educational training in business or someone who has extensive on-the-job experience. A great general counsel candidate will have just the right mix of legal acumen, business insight, and strategic know-how. A combination of these three competencies makes a strong candidate who will succeed in the expected role and contribute to the company’s overall growth.

Cowen Partners is a national executive search and consulting firm. Our clients are both small and large, publicly traded, pre-IPO, private, and non-profit organizations. Clients are typically $50 million to multi-billion dollar revenue Fortune 100 companies or have assets between $500 million to $15 billion. Successful placements span the entire C-Suite and include VP and director level leadership roles.

General Counsel

Finding Top In-House Legal Talent

Cities include; New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, and Phoenix.

Legal Executive Search Firm

Effectively Recruit the General Counsel Your Company Needs

Do you want to explore in-house counsel options such as General Counsel or Chief Counsel? Contact Us

Legal Executive Search Consultants | Cowen Partners

Our hands-on executive recruiters have experience working with private, public, pre-IPO, and non-profit organizations. Clients are typically $50 million in revenue to Fortune 1000’s or have assets between $500 million to $15 billion. Successful placements span the entire C-Suite – CEO, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and include vice president, general counsel, and other director-level leadership roles.

Cowen Partners delivers 3X more qualified candidates than the competition. Through our proven retained executive search process, we find, vet, and deliver the top 1% of candidates for positions across the C-suite. Our process works for all industries, including technology, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, real estate, financial service, private equity, and more.

Read more of our C-Suite resources to see why Cowen Partners is a leading retained executive search firm in New York City, Chicago, Seattle, Dallas, Los Angeles, and beyond:

Legal Recruiting Firm | Legal Executive Recruiters

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