Successful General Counsel Candidates Think Bigger and Broader

If you are aiming for a General Counsel role and one of your "Top 3" skills on LinkedIn is something like Contracts, Document Review or Legal Research, it's time for a different approach.

(Let's be honest, you probably haven't updated those since you were a first-year associate...)

It's time to start thinking both bigger and broader.??

Basic Lawyering Skills ?

Junior lawyers must show expertise in certain key skills to show competence. On your way to that coveted GC title, it's appropriate to focus on nuts and bolts lawyering skills in your resume and on LinkedIn.?

That's why if you pull out keywords from job descriptions for junior Corporate Counsel, you'll find certain skills repeated again and again:

Legal Research and Analysis, Contract Drafting, Legal Writing, Customer Service Mindset, Negotiation, Time Management, Public Speaking, Problem-Solving, Issue-Spotting, Project Management, Attention to Detail, Teamwork and Professionalism?

These are important skills to develop if you'd like to be seen as a competent in-house counsel. The game changes somewhere around Deputy/Associate/Assistant GC.

And they are taken as a given by the time you reach GC.?

Bigger

To move into an Executive role, try featuring higher-level skills that show an ability to make a big impact outside of the legal department. In particular, consider the audience making the hiring decision -- usually some combination of the current GC, the Board and the Executive Team, such as the CEO.

Here are some keywords I've used recently in GC resumes:

Collaboration, Adaptability, Crisis Management, Ethical Decision-Making, Board Reporting, Senior Leadership Advisement, Executive Compensation, Leadership, Talent Development, Executive Buy-In, Trust Building, Risk & Dispute Management, Budgeting, Cultural Change, Business Strategy Development, Restructuring, Legal Operations Management, Process Optimization, Investigations, Rapid Scaling, Policy Development, Stakeholder Engagement, Global Expansion and Public Company Expertise

These higher-level strategic skills often involve issues that initially pass through the legal department as a compliance matter or for "legal review." Successful GC candidates, however, are able to show how their individual impact transformed the legal issue into one that had real impact on the business.?

Broader

At the same time, successful GC candidates demonstrate a broader substantive view across the silos of a company. GCs I've worked with have expertise across:

Cross-Border M&A and Financing, Global Compliance, HR and Employment Law, Real Estate, IP Strategy, Privacy & Data Security, Litigation Management, Government Affairs, Securities, Corporate Governance, Licensing and ESG

Two themes emerge here. Growth to the executive level requires you to demonstrate that you have upskilled from an individual contributor role and broadened out from "just" the legal department.?

Once you get close to landing that GC role, it may be time to deemphasize skills on your resume and on LinkedIn that are table stakes at that level. Instead, focus on aspects of your background, skills and experience that show you can make a bigger impact on a broader set of issues.

?