Overview

Nabarro has surveyed senior GCs and CEOs about the in-house lawyer role and status, the commercial value that in-house legal teams contribute to a company, and how that value can be measured and expressed. Their report also includes a GC strategy map - a checklist for GCs aiming to create and measure value.

Key findings:

• Lawyers and CEOs differ in assessing the contribution that the in-house legal team makes to a company • Nearly 40 per cent of lawyers felt the in-house team made a very strong contribution last year. Only 14 per cent of CEOs felt the same.

• Nearly one GC in seven felt it was not particularly important that the in-house legal team should add commercial value to the business. None of the CEOs we talked to agreed.

• Most lawyers and CEOs, 86 per cent and 85 per cent respectively, thought it was quite easy or very easy for in house lawyers to contribute commercially.

• Only one-third of in-house legal teams currently operate in the top half of the “value pyramid” (see page 10). But nearly half of the GCs we talked to want to be in the top half by 2015, with over a quarter aiming for the top quarter of the pyramid.

• CEOs tend to be sceptical about whether GCs can reach the top of the pyramid.

• We believe performance and value measurement will be crucial for GCs seeking to move up the value pyramid, and will be increasingly important for others as well.

• Only one-third of GCs currently have a formal performance measurement system.

• Nearly all the in-house lawyers who do measure performance find their metrics either quite effective or very effective.

• Many GCs who are interested in the idea of performance measurement struggle to define the commercial value added by their teams, and find it difficult to create a measurement system suitable for an in-house legal function.

To read this survey and discussion paper click ‘View Briefing’