As was the case with Julie Spellman taking over the top spot at Accenture North America (see related article), more and more GCs are climbing the corporate ranks to top leadership positions.
In a new report by GC Excellence, GCs are beginning to see themselves as primary stakeholders and real business decision makers. According to the report, which was released May 6, half of the 127 general counsel surveyed said their role was that of an executive and 90 percent said they gave advise that went beyond legal.
According to the online legal publication Law360, other CEOs who started as in-house counsel include Bank of America Corp. Chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan, Pfizer Inc.’s GC-turned-CEO Jeffrey Kindler, who has changed companies but maintained CEO status at Centrexion Corp and Timothy Mayopoulos, Fannie Mae’s CEO since 2012.
The research revealed that legal operations is no longer the central role of general counsel and only 32.2 percent of respondents view this as their primary job.
“So profound has been the recent evolution in the role of general counsel at leading corporations that they are now expected to contribute to a business’ sales pitch,” the survey reported.
The GC Excellence Research Report, in association with law firm network TerraLex, can be obtained from benmartin@globalcitymedia.com.
