A general counsel (directeur juridique) is no longer simply the company’s best lawyer. In most groups, they sit on the executive committee or report directly to it, they manage a team and a budget, they weigh legal risks against commercial objectives, and they choose the firms that will defend the company. Senior management therefore recruits for this position a manager as much as a technician.
The paths that lead there are varied: a former business lawyer who moved in-house, a career in-house lawyer who rose through a legal department, the sole in-house lawyer of an SME who grew with it. This article describes the role, these typical paths, the skills that make the difference, the managerial side of the job, then the expected CV.
The role of a general counsel
Titles vary (directeur juridique, head of legal, general counsel, director of legal affairs), but the role is organised around four missions.
Advising senior management. The general counsel is the legal adviser to the chief executive and governance bodies. They step in upstream of major decisions: acquisitions, strategic partnerships, setting up abroad, reorganisations.
Managing legal risk. They identify, rank and address risks: litigation, compliance, directors’ liability, data protection, intellectual property. In groups subject to anti-corruption or duty-of-vigilance obligations, they work with the compliance function, when they do not head it.
Running litigation and outside counsel. They choose firms, negotiate their fees, follow their work and report on matters to management.
Leading a team. Recruiting, organising, training and appraising in-house lawyers, paralegals and sometimes assistants, within a budget.
The Onisep in-house lawyer job profile 🔗 describes the foundations of the job; the general counsel position adds a strategic and managerial dimension.
Typical career paths
The former business lawyer
This is a common path: a few years in a law firm, often in corporate, commercial litigation or employment law, then a move in-house as senior lawyer or head of legal, before becoming general counsel. These profiles bring law firm technical rigour and good knowledge of the outside counsel market. The article becoming a partner in a law firm describes the other route open to them.
The career in-house lawyer
Others spend their whole career in companies: junior lawyer, senior lawyer, head of a practice area (contracts, litigation, company law), then general counsel, in the same group or by changing companies. They know internal workings and the expectations of operational teams intimately.
The sole in-house lawyer of a growing company
A lawyer hired alone in an SME can become general counsel as the company grows and a team forms around them. The article sole in-house lawyer of an SME describes this starting position.
Paths through compliance
Compliance has become a springboard to the general counsel role, especially in regulated sectors. In banking and insurance, career paths often take other routes, such as the move from in-house lawyer to compliance officer in finance 🔗. The pre-filled compliance lawyer CV shows a profile of this kind.
In all cases, the position is rarely reached before about ten years of experience for a group legal department, earlier in a mid-sized company or an SME.
The skills that make the difference
At this level, legal technique is a prerequisite, not an argument. What sets candidates apart lies elsewhere.
Understanding the business. A general counsel must understand the company’s business model, margins, markets and customers. This is what enables them to propose solutions that operational teams can accept.
Risk management. Knowing how to prioritise: not all risks are equal, and senior management expects a clear recommendation, not an inventory.
Communicating with management. Explaining a legal issue in a few minutes to an executive committee, writing a two-page note for a board of directors, defending a position in front of a busy chief executive.
A cross-cutting view. A general counsel covers all areas of law, even if they come from just one. They must know what they do not know and to whom to entrust it.
Ethics and independence. They are sometimes the one who must say no to a risky decision, or alert the governance bodies. This ability is expected, even if it is rarely written in the job description.
English, essential in international groups.
Management, budget and the relationship with senior management
Managing the team
Recruiting the right profiles, allocating matters, developing lawyers, organising the relationship with operational teams (who asks for what, by when): many new general counsel discover that this is the most demanding part of the job. Management experience, even of a small team, is a decisive asset in an application.
The outside counsel budget
Lawyers’ fees often account for a large share of the legal department’s budget. The general counsel must know how to choose firms, run competitive tenders, negotiate fixed fees, track spending and justify choices. Professional associations of in-house lawyers, such as the AFJE or the Cercle Montesquieu, which brings together general counsel, regularly publish work on these practices and are useful places for exchange.
The relationship with senior management
Reporting lines vary: to the chair or chief executive in many groups, to the finance director or company secretary in others. The reporting line says a lot about the function’s standing. A general counsel reporting to the chief executive and present on the executive committee carries more weight in decisions.
Steering tools
Litigation dashboards, risk tracking, contract management, tools for handling internal requests: the modern legal department is steered with indicators. Legal operations roles, which are developing in large legal departments, are an expression of this.
The CV of a general counsel candidate
The CV of a candidate for this position is read by a chief executive, an HR director or an executive search firm. It must show a career path, responsibilities and results.
The profile line
It positions the candidate in one sentence: “Head of legal of an international industrial mid-sized company, twelve years of experience in a law firm then in-house, managing a team of four lawyers, reporting to the chief executive.”
Experience
For each position: the size and sector of the company, the reporting line, the size of the team, the scope (countries, subsidiaries, areas of law), then concrete achievements.
- Before: “Management of the legal department and litigation.”
- After: “Structuring of the legal department (recruitment of two lawyers, creation of an internal request management tool); management of a portfolio of commercial disputes and reduction of the outside counsel budget by putting firms in competition; legal support for three acquisitions abroad.”
Achievements are described without revealing confidential information: no counterparty names, no amounts that would identify a non-public deal.
Skills and affiliations
One line on the areas of law covered, one line on tools, one line on languages, and possibly membership of a professional association or speaking engagements.
The pre-filled in-house lawyer CV provides a base for the first stages of this path. If you come from a law firm, the article counsel in a law firm helps you present an intermediate title, and the article in-house lawyer or avocat recalls the bridges between the two worlds. For formatting, the AvocatCV builder produces a sober document suited to a senior position, whose PDF remains readable by the screening tools of recruitment firms.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need the CAPA to become a general counsel?
No. The position does not require the CAPA, even though many general counsel hold it, because they started in a law firm or wanted to keep that option open.
Can a general counsel become an avocat?
Yes, in particular through the bridge provided for in-house lawyers who can show at least eight years of practice in a legal department, subject to an ethics exam.
Do you need an MBA to become a general counsel?
It is not a requirement. Management training can help acquire the financial and managerial culture expected, but management experience and understanding of the business count for more.
Is a general counsel bound by professional secrecy?
They are not bound by the avocat’s professional secrecy. They are bound by their duty of loyalty, by confidentiality and by trade secret rules, and the question of protecting their advice regularly comes back in public debate.