General counsel and chief legal officers who have the added role of corporate secretary should familiarize themselves with corporate governance and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings and regulations. However, those legal leaders who do not come from a corporate law background are likely to appoint an assistant corporate secretary to do a lot of the legwork, experts said.

“The general counsel does need to be up to speed on securities law and SEC rules,” Mike Evers, founder of Chicago-based in-house recruiting firm Evers Legal, told Corporate Counsel on Friday. “However, they will often bring a subject-matter expert to the board meeting.”