In January 2020, legal leaders in 57 global companies told us that strategic thinking would be the skill demanded most by their bosses in the coming year. How right they were!  Since then, General Counsel not only contribute more on business strategy, but are involved in diverse operational issues, interact with far more stakeholders and lead constantly busy legal functions.  Legal leaders’ contributions have been valued in new ways since the pandemic began, and the demand won’t likely wane.

The big question and concern is:  how long into 2022 can global general counsel can sustain this gruelling pace?  Our just released 2021 benchmark gives us a better sense of the challenges, and we share here six changes in roles and perspectives that we find most significant.  What’s surprising is that the changes are remarkably similar for in-house leaders across many countries and industries.