Blog Post

In 2022, General Counsel Focus In On People and Culture

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In our recent joint survey of general counsel with Relativity and Ari Kaplan, a unanimous theme of endurance emerged. Overwhelmingly, the GC is now on the front lines of increasing risk, growing demands and corporate strategy development and implementation. Among the widening assortment of responsibilities falling on GC is their new role as official leaders of company culture and employee matters (regardless of whether HR sits within the department).

Part Two of The General Counsel Report: Leading with Endurance Through Risk, Culture and Technology Challenges discusses this new aspect of the GC’s job and the current state of GC involvement in supporting people and culture, driving engagement and contributing to progress in hiring and retaining more diverse talent. Key findings discussed in the report include:

  • People development and engagement have become more of a priority than in years past, particularly in the wake of the great resignation, with 56% of in-house legal leaders naming these as top focus areas for the coming year.
  • 100% of GC surveyed have some role, oversight or priority focused on DIB initiatives for their company and/or legal department.
  • GC focus on DIB is up roughly 30% from the previous year, yet few programs are making the level of progress leaders would like to see.
  • People development and engagement have become more of a priority than in years past, particularly in the wake of the great resignation, with 56% of in-house legal leaders naming these as top focus areas for the coming year.
  • 20% report their organization is embracing a fully remote workplace moving forward.

Part 1 of the General Counsel Report 2022 discussed the widening risk landscape confronting in-house counsel. Read more here—and stay tuned for Part 3, which examines the GC’s current take on technology trends, launching in February.

The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and not necessarily the views of FTI Consulting, its management, its subsidiaries, its affiliates, or its other professionals.