In-house lawyers have the talent, knowledge and aptitude to become CEOs, writes Kapil Chaudhary
As our businesses become more complex and regulated, there’s a compelling case to be made for lawyer CEOs. There are several examples of successful CEOs with law degrees: Kenneth Chenault (American Express), Richard Parsons (Time Warner), Charles Prince III (Citigroup), Sumner Redstone (Viacom) and Franklin Raines (Fannie Mae) are all examples.
Of the 498 CEOs listed on the 2012 Fortune 500 list, 46 hold law degrees. These included reputable names such as Lloyd Blankfien of Goldman Sachs and John Chambers at Cisco.
Why can a lawyer make a good CEO? As lawyers, and especially in-house lawyers, we have a 360-degree view of the organizations we serve. In India, one of the first names that comes to mind is Aditya Ghosh – a lawyer who made a great transition from in-house counsel to CEO of Interglobe Aviation, the company that runs IndiGo, one of India’s most successful airlines. Aditya worked with Indian law firm J Sagar Associates before joining Interglobe. He was heavily involved in all the initial paperwork to get the airline off the ground and founder Rahul Bhatia liked his work so much that he asked Aditya to run IndiGo’s operations.
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Aditya’s case makes me think of the value that we as in-house lawyers create for ourselves and our clients through our unique contributions to the businesses we serve.
As we evolve into our roles each day, be it running complex negotiations in high value, complex deals, or conducting anti-corruption and compliance training within our organizations, each aspect of our work creates opportunities for us to learn the business, engage more deeply with various business divisions and strengthen our relationship with the company’s clients.
Since we also get involved in corporate governance activities, we have the chance to work with the board of directors and CEOs of our companies. These situations can be compelling, career-shaping events if we create opportunities for ourselves such as job-shadowing and seek mentorship from successful leaders within our organizations.
Another trend we are likely to see is lawyers becoming board members in their companies. Kaiyomarz Marfatia, the director of legal and secretarial at Abbott India, is one example. He joined Abbott India as a legal manager in 1996 and was appointed as vice president of legal and secretarial in 2002. He then joined Abbott’s board in 2011. Prior to joining Abbott India, he worked with Siemens for 16 years in various legal and secretarial roles.
If these trends are anything to go by, we will see a radical reshaping of the legal marketplace in the coming years where leading general counsel and lawyers will exercise more influence both within and outside their organizations.
As professor Richard Susskind writes in his book, Tomorrow’s Lawyers: “The genuinely expert and trusted in-house legal adviser who lives and breathes the business should always be an invaluable resource, but unless [general counsel] are also prepared to drive the efficiency and collaboration strategies within their own departments and across law firms as well as other providers that serve them, then their future is far from clear. I advise in-house lawyers not to wait until their platform is burning. Now is the time to prepare for the challenge.”
I’m writing this piece partly in an attempt to urge young, aspiring general counsel to increase their sphere of influence in their organizations. One way to achieve this is to become comfortable with discomfort by stepping outside our comfort zones and looking proactively for “stretch assignments” that give us deeper insights into the businesses we represent.
Another way to add value is to get involved with emerging areas of law such as data security and privacy, compliance, cybersecurity and government relations. Serving short stints in these areas not only enhances our expertise, it also demonstrates to the companies we serve that we are willing to be “future ready” and take full ownership of our careers.
There are other ways as well: go for that company-sponsored or self-funded executive MBA that you have been resisting for the past several years; acquire a new skill; learn a foreign language; take a deep dive with your CFO to learn the intricacies of business finance; raise your hand for that six-week offshore stint at a remote location. Such experiences will enrich you, enhance your skillset and set you up for business leadership roles.
I would like to conclude by urging my fellow legal colleagues to adopt a growth mindset by examining their roles more strategically. There has never been a better time to be an in-house lawyer. Let us challenge and task ourselves to learn, engage and achieve more to become influencers, high-level decision makers and valued individuals within our companies.
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Kapil Chaudhary is the corporate counsel for India and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation region at Autodesk India. He has previously held in-house roles with IBM, Schlumberger Asia Services and Star News. He can be reached at kapil.chaudhary@autodesk.com.
