What does it take to lead legal from the boardroom?

In the past, in-house legal teams were seen as the ‘firefighters’, ‘the department of no’, ‘compliance gatekeepers’, or simply a cost centre. Whilst some decisions still need a no, today’s GCs have worked hard to redefine the role of legal. Much has been said about in-house leaders becoming strategic business partners - but what does that actually mean? And how do you get there?

We recently had the opportunity to speak with two industry leaders. Yvonne Vivers is the Head of Legal for Equans Sustainable FM and also serves on their Executive and Risk Committee. Maree Myerscough is COO & General Counsel of Aquila Clean Energy, Asia Pacific. They have both stepped beyond the traditional legal counsel role and positioned themselves as a key strategic partner in shaping their company’s direction.

So, what does it take to lead legal from the boardroom?

Shifting perceptions and building relationships

As in-house legal leaders are becoming increasingly integrated into business strategy, they’re viewed as critical to long-term success. Yvonne talks about what this has meant for her, “Being part of the Ex Co, both as a lawyer and leader, means I get to be a voice at the table that’s got legal and ethical issues in mind. It means I know what’s going on, and to be a point of contact and a face for the wider operational business.”

Regular face time across different business functions helps to build trust by integrating legal into strategic discussions. It challenges the view of how legal are perceived – no longer a barrier, but instead a partner that is aligned with business goals. It also helps make connections and allows legal’s broader business insights to be clearly demonstrated. Yvonne shares how leading from the boardroom has helped her build relationships, “My position allows me to make connections with people in the wider business. So, when someone comes to me with a legal (or non-legal) question I can point people in the right direction.”

Maree agrees on the importance of face time and strong relationships, “On office days, our transactional lawyers sit alongside the commercial deal team they’re supporting. This allows for a better flow of information and makes it easier for teams to develop interpersonal relationships.”

Spotting trends and challenges

Taking a position at the pinnacle of the business gives a unique viewpoint for horizon scanning for emerging trends, potential risks, and regulatory, market, and competitive shifts. Yvonne talks of her experience, “I sit on the risk committee, which reviews all different risks across the business, not just legal risks. It enables me to have a better understanding of the bigger picture of things that are coming up.”

Anticipating regulatory and market changes means legal can help their business move from a reactive, process-driven approach to a more proactive strategy. This helps turn potential challenges into opportunities, gives rise to new creative ideas, and even boosts revenue - moving legal past just being a cost centre.

Maree shares how her she helps her team keep ahead: “We stay close to the business and our commercial colleagues. Applying such a cross-functional approach to our legal practice helps ensure that we help our business navigate the regulatory regimes in each of our markets and structure our transactions in an efficient and commercial manner.”

Carving time for strategy

Once horizon scanning has uncovered emerging risks and opportunities, it is key to carve out time for strategy and forward-looking planning. Finding the time can be difficult as whilst board-level involvement helps mitigate constant reactivity, putting out fires will always be part of legal’s role. However, Yvonne and Maree share their practical tips for juggling proactive planning with firefighting and business-as-usual work.

Yvonne says, “Most urgencies are escalated to me, but sometimes I’m not necessarily always the best person to be doing it when I’ve got other priorities. So, delegation is important, making sure the right people are doing the right tasks.”

Maree gives her take on how she leads her team to find time for strategy: “It is important to leverage new tech solutions to improve our efficiency, so we can spend more time focusing on high value tasks.”

Considering team structure

Having an agile team structure is key for delivering strategic guidance to the business whilst it grows and evolves. Consider your team structure – are roles defined clearly? Are processes between hierarchical layers streamlined? Are you set up to deal with urgent challenges and unpredictable peaks in workload?

Maree highlights how she’s defined her team to achieve optimal business support, “We’ve structured our legal team into two distinct teams to best support our business needs – a corporate legal team and a transactional legal team. The latter team have significant specialist experience, which we can leverage to support our business as demands grow and change. Having such a strong in-house team operating as international counsel drives timely and cost-effective execution.

We work closely with external local counsel to ensure the advice received is targeted and can be appropriately implemented for the transaction. Our team are providing strategic and tailored advice to our business, which is constantly changing as we work through the challenges involved in the energy transition.”

Maree’s leadership enables her team to provide strategic and tailored advice whilst adapting to the business’s evolving needs, especially whilst they navigate complex challenges in the industry. Maree shares how they handle workload peaks, “We also engage additional support by leveraging lawyers on a secondment basis. This has proven to be an efficient allocation of our resources and allows for cost-savings for our business.”

Maintaining a business-first mindset

Leading legal from the boardroom means maintaining a business-first mindset so you can be the strategic partner the business expects and needs. It’ll enable you to balance legal risk with business opportunity, align legal strategy with business goals, and enable more dynamic, effective decision making.

Yvonne says, “Consistently delivering quality and timely work, and maintaining open communication helps build trust over time.”

To find out more about how flexible talent can help you build an agile, business-focused team, get in touch today.