What It Takes to Excel as a Chief Legal Officer: Key Responsibilities and Core Skills for Success

?? The role of a Chief Legal Officer (CLO) or General Counsel is multifaceted, requiring a balance of legal expertise, management skills, and leadership.

As businesses grow more complex, CLOs are expected to go beyond traditional legal advisory roles to become strategic partners in decision-making, risk management, and corporate governance.

?? This article aims to provide a structured overview of the key responsibilities, hard skills, and soft skills that define a successful CLO.

Whether you’re aspiring to this role or refining your approach as a seasoned leader, these insights are designed to empower you in navigating the challenges and opportunities of the position. ??

? Additionally, this article serves as a valuable resource for HR professionals drafting role profiles and job descriptions for CLOs.

?? 1. Responsibilities

The responsibilities of a CLO can vary significantly depending on the jurisdiction and the company's specific needs. However, there are fundamental duties that are essential for most businesses to ensure legal compliance, strategic alignment, and operational success.

?? Drawing on my experience, I’ve compiled a list of responsibilities that I believe will resonate with and be applicable to a wide range of organizations.

1.1. Drafting and owning the corporate legal strategy (strategic planning).

1.2. Arranging legal risk management.

1.3. Acting as a strategic partner in business decision-making.

1.4. Ensuring that the business obtains the legal services it needs.

1.5. Setting goals and KPIs for legal team members.

1.6. Motivating and inspiring teammates, as well as understanding team members' personal goals, career aspirations, strengths, and weaknesses.

1.7. Developing the legal team members (mentoring, coaching, training them, and arranging peer and external training, etc.).

1.8. Delegation (assignment of tasks), follow-up control, and providing feedback.

1.9. Executive planning, gap analysis, allocation of resources, and performance management; enhancing performance of the legal team.

1.10. Coordinating external legal consultants and controlling the results of their work.

1.11. Arranging internal legal team accountability and reporting, as well as making progress reports for senior management.

1.12. Creating legal workflows and developing and implementing legal procedures/policies; legal operations management.

1.13. Structuring business (company groups) across different jurisdictions.

1.14. Providing legal advice to C-suite and the founder(s).

1.15. Arranging intellectual property (IP) management (including organising trade-marks registration) and protection of commercial secrets.

1.16. Arranging drafting and reviewing contracts and other documents.

1.17. Law-making activities (ensuring the company participates in reviewing draft legislation placed for public consultation and approaches regulators with industry-specific law-making initiatives).

1.18. Arranging legislation monitoring (to ensure the company is aware of recent and upcoming changes in the law).

1.19. Legal knowledge management (maintaining a database of internal and external legal opinions, contract templates, etc.).

1.20. Ensuring compliance with company law requirements and corporate governance.

1.21. Ensuring compliance with industry-specific (e.g., crypto or financial), sanctions and personal data protection regulations (including regulatory mapping and compliance program creation).

1.22. Managing dispute resolution and litigation.

1.23. Representing the company’s interests (including in court) and conducting negotiations with clients and partners on legal issues.

1.24. Resolving issues with regulators and other public authorities.

1.25. Arranging drafting and responding to queries (including handling customers' complaints).

1.26. Arranging drafting internal legal opinions, as well as legal research and analysis.

1.27. Making decisions within capacity (intra vires).

1.28. Building and managing relationships with key stakeholders (including investors and board members), as well as arranging cross-functional collaboration.

1.29. Participating in handling crisis situations.

1.30. Addressing the most complex and/or important tasks within the legal team’s area of responsibility.

?? 2. Hard Skills

The modern CLO must possess a versatile set of hard skills that go far beyond traditional legal expertise. These skills range from strategic planning and risk management to the ability to structure complex business operations and leverage legal tech tools.

?? Hard skills are "technical" skills required for a specific job.

?? In this section, I outline the essential hard skills that enable CLOs to lead with confidence and precision in a rapidly evolving business landscape.

2.1. Building high-performing legal teams (including global legal teams - acting across multiple jurisdictions).

2.2. Drafting a corporate legal strategy/strategic planning.

2.3. Proactively managing legal risks.

2.4. Delegation.

2.5. Setting goals and KPIs for teammates.

2.6. Legal operations management.

2.7. Decision-making.

2.8. Time management and executive planning.

2.9. Project management.

2.10. Conducting negotiations.

2.11. Managing global entity compliance.

2.12. Quality management (quality standards for legal services).

2.13. Proficiency in legal tech tools (e.g., contract management and compliance automation systems).

2.14. Structuring company groups (with due regard to assets protection, tax aspects, etc.).

2.15. Public speaking.

2.16. Foreign languages (e.g., English at the C1/C2 level).

2.17. Crisis management.

2.18. Knowledge of legislation and proficiency in legal work techniques:

2.18.1. Knowledge of legislation regulating the company’s business (financial and other industry-specific regulations), civil and commercial law (including contract law, company law, IP law, etc.), private international law, tax law, employment law, data protection regulations, AML/CFT and sanctions regulations, dispute resolution, and other relevant areas of law.

2.18.2. Proficiency in drafting and reviewing contracts (knowing the relevant methodology).

2.18.3. Knowledge of claims-related work, litigation, and dispute resolution procedures (including international commercial arbitration).

2.18.4. Understanding of corporate governance principles and knowledge of company law requirements.

2.18.5. Knowledge of legislative drafting methodology (i.e. how to prepare draft acts of legislation).

2.18.6. Experience in handling and making queries.

2.18.7. Expertise in conducting legal research and analysis.

2.18.8. Competence in legal consulting techniques.

2.18.9. Proficiency in legal writing techniques.

2.18.10. Experience in obtaining licenses and other permissions for regulated businesses

2.18.11. Cross-border expertise (navigating legal systems and cultural nuances across jurisdictions).

???3. Soft Skills

Leadership in the legal domain is as much about interpersonal aptitude as it is about technical expertise. Soft skills such as strategic vision, emotional intelligence, and collaborative communication are critical for inspiring teams, fostering trust, and aligning diverse stakeholders.

?? In general, soft skills (also referred to as "people skills") are character traits and interpersonal skills that determines a person's ability to interact effectively with others.

?? This section explores the soft skills that empower CLOs to lead effectively and build high-performing legal teams.

3.1. Strategic vision (visionary thinking and the ability to inspire alignment with long-term goals).

3.2. Implementation of a personal leadership style.

3.3. Motivating team members.

3.4. Providing feedback.

3.5. Conflict resolution and problem-solving. Navigating rivalry and competition within the team.

3.6. Reflective listening (mirroring and paraphrasing) and active listening (being present, etc.).

3.7. Assertive communication (communicating directly and honestly while respecting others’ opinions).

3.8. Collaborative, open-ended, authentic, respectful, and non-violent communication.

3.9. Empathy and being interested in others.

3.10. Encouraging teammates and other colleagues to share ideas.

3.11. Forming own (original) opinions; the ability to explain complex concepts in simple words.

3.12. Inner confidence.

3.13. Conforming to consensus.

3.14. Putting the company and team’s interests above personal interests.

3.15. Managing people with different performance levels. Handling employees with poor attitudes and underperforming team members.

3.16. Working under pressure and overcoming stress; resilience.

3.17. Flexibility and adaptability.

3.18. Supporting and promoting corporate culture and fostering team culture.

3.19. Taking responsibility for actions and ownership of projects.

3.20. Mentoring, coaching, and training team members.

3.21. Acting as a liaison between the legal team, other departments, external service providers, and regulators.

3.22. Being a positive role model (leading by example).

3.23. Influencing people (including without direct authority).

3.24. Emotional intelligence (EQ), intuitive intelligence and cultural intelligence (cultural sensitivity and adaptability in diverse team settings).

3.25. Diplomacy (navigating sensitive or contentious issues diplomatically).

3.26. Integrity (being honest and having strong moral principles) and ethics.

3.27. Leading change.

3.28. Ability to use humor.