If business leaders want their general counsel to be a strategic partner to the corporation, they need to be invited into the boardroom and have access to the CEO, several in-house leaders said Monday in a discussion about the expanding GC role.

General counsel are no longer just expected to be a trusted adviser, a panel of in-house attorneys said Monday during ALM’s virtual Women, Influence & Power in Law conference. They are increasingly tasked with departmental responsibilities, such as human resources and crisis communications, and with providing strategic business advice to leadership.