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The expanding scope of the General Counsel: from legal advisor to enterprise risk leader
The survey reveals a dramatic broadening of the General Counsel remit beyond traditional legal work.
Q: What non-legal responsibilities have become central to the role of the General Counsel/Chief Legal Officer?
This shift reflects the General Counsel evolution into a guardian of organisational integrity, responsible for navigating complex, interconnected risks, many of which are amplified by AI. The modern General Counsel is no longer simply interpreting the law; they are shaping the organisation’s response to technological disruption, regulatory complexity, and ethical ambiguity.
Skills for the next generation General Counsel: influence, strategy, and tech fluency
When asked which skills will define the General Counsel of the future, respondents signalled a decisive shift: the General Counsel is becoming a strategic operator, not just a legal technician. AI accelerates this trend by automating routine legal tasks and elevating the importance of judgment, leadership, and cross-functional influence.
The General Counsel of the future must be able to:
Shape enterprise strategy
Influence the board
Lead transformation
Navigate ambiguity
Q: Which skills, legal and non-legal, do you believe are most essential for the next generation of General Counsel/Chief Legal Officer?
AI adoption in the legal function: momentum with room to grow
AI is already embedded in many legal teams, with almost all respondents indicating active use of AI tools. Those not yet using AI are exploring options.
Q: Are you currently using AI tools in your legal function?
Q: Which legal tasks do you believe are most suitable for AI automation?
When asked which tasks are most suitable for automation, responses aligned with current market trends: AI delivers the greatest productivity gains where work is high volume, rules based, and document heavy.
The impact of AI on the General Counsel role: transformation, not replacement
Q: To what extent do you believe AI will transform the role of the General Counsel/Chief Legal Officer over the next five years?
The consensus is clear: AI will reshape how legal work is performed, but not the core purpose of the General Counsel role.
Two-thirds of respondents believe AI will meaningfully boost productivity by streamlining workflows and automating routine tasks such as contract review, legal research, and document drafting, freeing lawyers to focus on strategic work.
Impact on legal team size
Results suggest a future where legal teams are leaner, more specialised, and more strategically focused. This reinforces the narrative that AI is a catalyst for elevating the strategic influence of the General Counsel. A majority of respondents believe AI will reduce legal team headcount over time, yet they also expect it to elevate the nature of the work that remains - shifting lawyers toward advisory, strategic, and cross-functional roles.
This is not a story of replacement; it is a story of recomposition.
Q: Do you anticipate that AI will reduce the size of in-house legal teams?
Q: AI will underpin shift to higher-value legal work and enable focus on strategic elements of the role?
Governance, ethics, and the General Counsel role in AI oversight
Respondents confirm that legal teams regularly advise on AI related regulatory and ethical issues. However, when it comes to AI governance, the results indicate a preference for a collaborative model, with legal as a central, but not exclusive, owner. This reflects the reality of AI risk: it is multidisciplinary, interconnected, and fastmoving. No single function can manage it alone.
Yet the General Counsel is uniquely positioned to ensure that AI is deployed responsibly, transparently, and in alignment with organisational values. Even if legal does not “own” AI governance outright, AI risk cannot be separated from legal risk. As AI amplifies ethical complexity, the General Counsel role as steward of organisational integrity becomes increasingly central.
Q: How involved are you in advising your organisation on AI-related regulatory or ethical issues?
Legal teams, however, do not appear fully prepared for AI related regulatory change, with only one third of respondents indicating they feel “very prepared.” Given the pace of global AI regulation, this is a warning signal: capability building must accelerate. Addressing gaps will require investment in training, hiring, partnerships, and technology.
Preparedness is no longer optional. It is a competitive advantage.
Q: Should the legal function own AI-related regulatory or ethical issues?
Q: How prepared is your legal team to respond to AI-related regulatory changes (e.g. EU AI Act)?
The top concern for AI in legal decision making
An overwhelming 76.7% of respondents cite the loss of human judgment and ethical oversight as their top concern. This is the defining tension of AI adoption in legal: how to embrace automation without eroding the human values at the heart of legal practice.
This is where the General Counsel role becomes indispensable. Human judgment becomes the differentiator. As AI handles more of the “what,” the General Counsel value lies increasingly in the “why” and the “should we.”
Conclusion: the reimagined General Counsel
AI is not diminishing the importance of the General Counsel, it is elevating it.
The General Counsel of the next decade will be:
A strategist
A technologist
A risk executive
A governance
architect
A cultural
leader
A guardian of judgment
in an automated world
This survey confirms that legal leaders understand the scale of the shift ahead. The challenge now is execution: building the skills, structures, and governance models that will allow the legal function to thrive in an AI driven world.
As the General Counsel/Chief Legal Officer role continues to evolve at pace, organisations will need legal leaders who can navigate complexity, steward responsible AI adoption, and shape enterprise strategy. Identifying and attracting this calibre of talent requires deep market insight and a nuanced understanding of the modern legal leadership profile.
If you would like to discuss the findings of this white paper, explore how AI is reshaping senior legal roles, or are considering a hire within your legal leadership team, we would welcome a conversation; whether you are planning ahead, benchmarking your current structure, or actively searching for senior legal talent, we support organisations across industries in building high‑performing, future‑ready legal teams.
About Leathwaite
At Leathwaite, we specialize in placing enterprise leaders who think business first, function second - leaders who don’t just manage their domain but actively push forward progressive functional agendas. While our searches align with business areas, what truly defines our work is the leadership expectations, navigating transformation, accelerating change, and operating at pace.
We don’t just match candidates to job titles; we identify leaders with the agility, foresight, and growth mindset to thrive in evolving environments. By understanding both the business context and the leadership capabilities required, we take a creative, strategic approach to executive search - finding enterprise leaders who move businesses forward.
With deep market insight, a broad industry perspective, and a commitment to excellence, we don’t just fill roles - we build leadership teams that shape the future.