Legal officers are expanding their influence, offering both strategic and legal advice while guiding organizations through complex regulatory, geopolitical, technological, moral, and workforce challenges. They address issues like AI privacy, GDPR compliance, and ESG standards, all while competing with alternative legal service providers. This shift requires legal leadership to be more strategic, combining legal expertise, business acumen, executive presence, and soft skills. However, the talent pool of experienced leaders is limited, especially with emerging technology issues. Businesses must make informed decisions in this high-stakes environment.
With over 70 years of experience, we specialize in identifying and placing diverse leaders across sectors, from Fortune 10 companies and VC-backed startups to nonprofits and law firms. Our global team taps into extensive networks to find the right candidates for top legal roles or specialized areas like M&A and intellectual property. We also offer comprehensive support, including assessment, development, consulting, and on-demand services, ensuring clients find and cultivate the best legal leaders.
How legal leaders are using AI today
Our second annual survey of leaders in the legal function shows that while almost all organizations are using AI in some capacity, legal leaders are slightly more cautious about it than their peers in other functions across the C-suite, and are more comfortable with a measured pace of development and the board’s level of involvement.
Insights on Legal Leadership
How chief legal officers are supporting boards on today’s challenging issues
Developing executive legal talent and GC succession planning
- The Heidrick & Struggles team, with a cross-section of relevant expertise, developed a General Counsel Success Profile to clarify the specific experience, expertise, and leadership capabilities required for the role.
- We assessed the client’s team members against the GC success profile, conducting deep-dive interviews with our trained experts and online psychometrics including LAQ360, Hogan, and others.
- We benchmarked select peer companies to gain insight into the competitive landscape across other legal teams.
- We presented the findings and recommendations to the GC and senior stakeholders, including a comprehensive view of individual and collective strengths, opportunities, and aspirations, with development recommendations.
- We recommended succession paths for team members and the implications.
- Our client partnership grew to involve 30+ legal leaders. We organized law function leaders into cohorts, conducted cascading assessments for development throughout the organization, and added coaching to support individual performance.