Prepare a board risk report translating legal exposure into business-relevant terms and recommended actions.
Law & Contract Management
Stepping Up from Senior Lawyer to General Counsel
Prepare experienced lawyers for the general counsel role: board reporting, risk appetite setting, executive influence and running a legal department as a business function.
🗓️Duration5 training days
📚Content4 modules · 8 sessions
🎓On completionAccredited attendance certificate
About the programme
Course Overview
Being the best lawyer in a department does not prepare anyone for the different job of leading one: owning a budget, setting risk appetite for a board, and being judged on business outcomes rather than technical accuracy. This course is built for senior lawyers named as a successor or newly appointed to a general counsel or chief legal officer role, and it treats the transition as a distinct set of skills to be learned rather than a natural extension of legal expertise. Sessions work through the mechanics of the seat: preparing a board risk report that a non-lawyer director can act on, defending a legal department budget in a finance review, and building the credibility with the chief executive and audit committee that lets legal shape decisions before they are made rather than review them afterwards. The course also covers the people side of the move, including managing former peers who now report to the new general counsel, delegating matters previously handled personally, and building a leadership team from a department of individual specialists. Case discussions are drawn from real governance scenarios such as a whistleblowing escalation, an activist investor letter and a regulatory investigation reaching the board.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Set a documented risk appetite framework that guides delegated decision-making across the legal function.
Defend a legal department budget and headcount request using cost and risk-based justifications.
Build executive credibility by shaping business decisions earlier rather than reviewing them after the fact.
Lead former peers through a reporting line change without damaging working relationships or morale.
Delegate matter ownership to direct reports while retaining appropriate personal oversight of high-risk issues.
Coordinate with the audit committee and internal audit on the legal function's role in enterprise risk governance.
Who Should Attend
Senior in-house lawyers identified as general counsel succession candidates.
Newly appointed general counsel and chief legal officers in their first year.
Deputy general counsel taking on wider departmental leadership responsibilities.
Heads of legal in growing companies preparing for board-level accountability.
Private practice partners moving in-house into a top legal leadership role.
Company secretaries working closely alongside an incoming general counsel.
Course Modules
Select any module to see its sessions and points.
01Governance Accountability and Board-Level Communication
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Preparing Board and Committee Risk Reporting
- Structure a board risk report that opens with business impact before technical legal analysis.
- Translate litigation, regulatory and contractual exposure into a common risk rating usable across the board pack.
- Prepare talking points anticipating the questions non-lawyer directors are likely to raise on a legal update.
- Coordinate legal reporting content with the company secretary to fit the board's overall governance calendar.
Session 2Setting Risk Appetite and Escalation Thresholds
- Draft a risk appetite statement defining which decisions the legal function may approve without board reference.
- Set escalation thresholds for contract value, regulatory exposure and reputational risk requiring executive sign-off.
- Reconcile legal risk appetite with the enterprise risk management framework used elsewhere in the business.
- Review and recalibrate risk appetite thresholds annually against actual matter outcomes and near misses.
02Running Legal as a Budgeted Business Function
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Owning the Legal Department Budget
- Build a legal department budget linking headcount and spend to matter volume and business growth plans.
- Defend a budget request in a finance review using cost avoidance and risk reduction evidence.
- Decide when to build capability in-house versus buy through outside counsel or legal process outsourcing.
- Report budget performance to the chief financial officer using metrics finance leaders already track elsewhere.
Session 2Positioning Legal as a Strategic Business Partner
- Identify decision points where legal input earlier in the process would have prevented a costly rework.
- Build relationships with commercial leaders that create an invitation to strategy discussions before decisions close.
- Balance a business partner posture with the independence a general counsel must retain on compliance matters.
- Present the legal function's contribution to business outcomes in language the executive committee values.
03Leading the Legal Team Through the Transition
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Managing Former Peers and Building a Leadership Team
- Reset working relationships with former peers who now report into the new general counsel role.
- Identify which senior lawyers to develop into a leadership team versus retain as individual specialists.
- Address underperformance or resistance from a team member who expected to be appointed general counsel instead.
- Establish regular one-to-one and team forums that replace informal peer-level communication habits.
Session 2Delegation, Succession Planning and Personal Capacity Management
- Delegate matter ownership to direct reports while defining clear thresholds for personal involvement.
- Build a succession plan identifying and developing the next generation of departmental leaders.
- Protect personal capacity for board and executive commitments by reducing day-to-day matter handling.
- Design a departmental structure that scales as the business grows without requiring constant reorganisation.
04Handling High-Stakes Governance Scenarios
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Whistleblowing Escalations and Regulatory Investigations Reaching the Board
- Design an escalation path for a whistleblowing report that implicates a senior executive or board member.
- Coordinate a regulatory investigation response between legal, the board and external counsel under privilege.
- Advise the board on when to self-report a suspected breach to a regulator ahead of external disclosure.
- Prepare a post-investigation report to the board covering root cause, remediation and lessons learned.
Session 2Activist Investors, Crisis Response and Reputational Risk
- Advise a board responding to an activist investor letter raising legal or governance concerns.
- Coordinate legal input into a crisis communications response without compromising litigation privilege.
- Assess reputational risk trade-offs between settling a dispute quietly and defending it publicly.
- Debrief the board after a crisis event with recommendations for governance or policy changes.
What the participant receives
4 course modules
A structured syllabus
8 training sessions
across 5 days
32 detailed points
Applied, detailed content
Accredited attendance certificate
On completing the programme
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