What You Need to Know
Attorneys who advance through their careers by mastering legal analysis may discover that those same skills are no longer enough when they become general counsel. The position requires a shift from providing legal answers to helping lead the business, often without the authority, relationships or resources that make those responsibilities easier.
Jessica Nguyen, President, Chief Strategy & Legal Officer at Sandstone, Ron Bell, Chief Legal Officer at Collective Health, and Paloma Ahmadi, General Counsel at Athena, discussed that transition during an October 22 In-House Connect webinar sponsored by Paragon Legal. Jenn Attard, Director of Recruiting at Paragon Legal, moderated the discussion.
The discussion drew on themes from Paragon Legal’s New GC Toolkit: A Practical Guide to Thriving in the General Counsel Role, an eBook offering practical guidance for attorneys navigating the responsibilities of legal leadership.
For Ahmadi, one of the most valuable lessons came before she became general counsel. Earlier in her career, a manager challenged her tendency to explain the legal reasoning behind every conclusion rather than offering a recommendation.
The feedback forced her to reconsider what business leaders actually need from their attorneys.
“Stop talking about the law, make your recommendation.”
said Paloma Ahmadi, recalling advice from an earlier manager.
Ahmadi said that adjustment helped prepare her to become an executive whose particular expertise is risk management, rather than simply the person in the room with the most detailed knowledge of the law.
Bell described a similar realization after spending more than 17 years at Yahoo, where he held positions involving licensing, legal operations and patents before becoming general counsel.
His experience across different functions gave him a broad understanding of the company and relationships throughout the organization. Those connections became especially valuable when he moved into the top legal role.
But his subsequent transition to a smaller company presented a different challenge. Instead of leading a large global legal department with extensive resources, he found himself responsible for handling whatever needed to be done.
The experience reinforced that the responsibilities of a general counsel can vary significantly depending on the organization’s size and stage of development.
Nguyen, who has spent nearly a decade in general counsel roles, said another surprise was how much effort it took to demonstrate the value of the legal function to business executives.
She had initially assumed that an organization hiring a general counsel already understood why it needed legal leadership. Instead, she found that building relationships, educating colleagues and establishing influence were substantial parts of the job.
That challenge extends to the relationship between the general counsel and the CEO.
Bell emphasized that earning trust requires consistent follow-through and a demonstrated ability to solve problems. Rather than assuming that the title itself establishes credibility, he recommended regularly asking executives what they need, what they are not receiving and how legal can contribute more effectively.
Ahmadi approached the issue from the perspective of a newer general counsel. She recommended asking thoughtful questions, listening carefully and learning how individual executives prefer to communicate.
Those early conversations can reveal both business priorities and the relationship-building approaches most likely to establish credibility.
Once that trust exists, Nguyen argued, general counsel should use their position to contribute more than legal risk assessments.
Because legal departments work across nearly every business function, their leaders often have a perspective that other executives do not. They can identify problems developing across departments, help inform and assist disparate teams in connecting the dots on related issues, recognize patterns from previous roles and offer recommendations grounded in the company’s broader objectives.
Nguyen illustrated the point with an employment classification issue involving business development representatives.
The question was whether the employees should be treated as exempt or nonexempt under applicable wage-and-hour requirements. Rather than simply explaining the legal rules, Nguyen gathered information about how comparable technology companies had addressed the issue, the penalties others had faced and the practical consequences of requiring time tracking.
That approach allowed her to recommend a compliance strategy that also considered employee morale and the concerns of sales leadership.
Ahmadi noted that executives often place significant weight on what comparable companies are doing. Understanding market practices can therefore make legal recommendations more persuasive than relying exclusively on legal analysis.
The same business-oriented approach can help legal departments identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency.
Nguyen described a situation in a previous role in which she eliminated a requirement that sales representatives obtain nondisclosure agreements before initial sales calls.
Because the presentation materials contained no confidential information, the requirement was removed, allowing sales calls to happen approximately one week sooner.
“One of my favorite things I did in a prior role was I deleted the NDA requirement for initial sales calls.”
said Jessica Nguyen.
The example demonstrated that managing risk and helping the business move faster are not necessarily competing objectives. Legal teams can create value by determining when a control is necessary and when it introduces avoidable friction.
The panel also addressed how general counsel should approach staffing when legal demands increase but budgets remain constrained.
Ahmadi recommended asking several questions before expanding a legal team: Does the work belong in legal? Could it be automated? Does it require an attorney? And is the need permanent or temporary?
She said she is reluctant to open a full-time position unless she believes the work will support a meaningful role for at least two years.
An unexpected regulatory inquiry, for example, might require specialized legal assistance for a limited period without justifying a permanent addition to the department.
Ahmadi said she regularly uses fractional legal professionals when she needs experienced support for a specific period or a limited number of hours each week. She has also used fractional paralegals to manage fluctuations in contract workloads.
Bell agreed that obtaining approval for temporary or fractional support can be easier than securing a permanent position.
For attorneys entering their first general counsel role, however, the panel cautioned against making staffing or structural decisions too quickly.
Ahmadi recommended revisiting notes from the interview process to identify what executives considered important and where they believed the legal function needed improvement.
She also advised spending the first month listening to employees who may not have participated in the hiring process.
At Athena, she inherited an existing legal department that had been without a leader for approximately a year. That created an opportunity to redefine how employees worked with legal, but she waited until she better understood the organization before explaining when and how business teams should involve her department.
Bell similarly encouraged new general counsel to distinguish between urgent activity and work that will have lasting consequences.
He suggested examining whether legal playbooks reflect the company’s risk tolerance, whether intake processes support the sales organization and whether attorneys are sufficiently involved in product development.
At the same time, he cautioned against immediately restructuring a department before understanding its employees, capabilities and relationships.
Nguyen emphasized the importance of aligning expectations with leadership and delivering measurable results.
In one general counsel role, she discovered that different product lines used separate sets of contract terms, creating unnecessary friction during sales negotiations.
She consolidated those terms, removed problematic provisions and improved the contracting process, then communicated the results to the executive team.
The example demonstrated how a new general counsel can establish credibility by addressing a clearly identified business problem rather than attempting to change everything at once.
The discussion also highlighted the importance of developing employees who can carry the legal department’s priorities forward.
Ahmadi said she tries to make her team members visible throughout the organization and establish them as the recognized owners of their practice areas.
Bell described a similar approach, encouraging colleagues to contribute their expertise directly while maintaining regular conversations about challenges and priorities.
Nguyen recommended conducting stay interviews to understand what motivates valuable employees before they consider leaving. She also described recognizing strong cross-functional partners by sharing their contributions with senior managers.
For attorneys aspiring to become general counsel, Nguyen offered a related career lesson: Make that ambition known.
She encouraged lawyers to tell their networks about their goals and demonstrate the capabilities required for executive leadership through their work, professional relationships and participation in industry discussions.
Ahmadi’s own career illustrated the value of maintaining those relationships. After interning with Major League Baseball during law school, she was told that no permanent position would be available. She nevertheless stayed in contact and received an opportunity to join the organization approximately four years later.
That role helped launch her in-house career.
The broader message for aspiring and newly appointed general counsel was that success depends less on having every legal answer and more on knowing which questions to ask, which problems matter most and how to help the organization act on sound judgment.
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