Kalpataru Group is basically involved in many business verticals including Real Estate, Power Transmission, Oil & Gas, Railways, National Highways, Civil Construction etc. in India and approx. 30 countries in various parts of the world. Therefore, primarily role is to advise various group companies in tenders risk analysis, claim management besides arbitration and court litigation proactively. As Group advisor, frequent interaction is required with concerned business heads in understanding legal implications of business decisions taken by them.
Since I have the advantage of being a Fellow Chartered Accountant and Cost Accountant besides being law graduate, I had opportunity of analysing business environment very closely with different perspectives for last two and half a decade. Indian business houses particularly in last one decade have very well understood role of General Counsel in addressing issues arising out of globalisation and tremendous business opportunities available. Now General counsel is part of the core team of any business house wherein his role is not only in legal risk management, proper contract documentation but also in timely compliances under various regulatory regimes.
General Counsel is like the Chief Legal Officer of the Company. His role is to take care of the legal issues relating to diversified fields ranging from Litigation, Arbitration, Company Law, Taxation, Contracts, Property Law, Labour Laws, Intellectual Property Rights etc. He is no more just the upport staff or cost center for the business but one of the valuable member of businees decision making and strategising teams. The recent cases of DLF, Vodafone, Reliance, Sahara Subroto Roy, etc have further highlighted that the companies cannot neglect the role of legal input in their decision making.
General Counsel is also like general physician of the Corporate/ Company. He is supposed to be well versed and update himself with all new developments taking place in business environment on day to day basis. He is supposed to ensure that business gets best and timely advise on the challenge in hand. He is supposed to be well connected with various stakeholders for better understanding and solutions of issues in hand. Over the time all stakeholders look at him to protect their respective interest in optimal manner.
Key challenges include updating oneself of dynamic business environment and the ever changing regulatory mechanism and latest developments through various courts. It is a struggle to create and maintain the right legal team; and communicating with business team of complex legal propositions in laymen language while giving a crisp and clear opinion on all legal issues having implication on business.
Role of in house counsels has changed drastically over the time. Now it is expected from General Counsel and his team that they are well aware about the existence and delivery of law firms specialists in their respective fields. General counsel can improve synergy and achieve his goals by applying his knowledge base about various law firms both national and international in terms of their engagements. There are occasions when General Counsels have to engage law firm at very short notice for litigation or contractual purposes in various locations and procure best results by applying their acumen. Law firms always feel more comfortable in working with General Counsels and they fully appreciate issues involved from both business perspective and legal perspective. In-house counsels need to have repo with Solicitors, Senior Counsels, Attorneys in all jurisdictions within India and abroad.
Continued learning education is the hall mark for progress of any professional irrespective of the field. General Counsels can keep themselves update by using technology available today like various websites extending knowledge on numerous issues. It has also been observed that attending various programs, conferences, workshops regularly one can understand dynamic environment around. Besides, General Counsels can create in house interaction mechanism for sharing latest developments through regular meetings, webinars, video conferencing etc.
As said earlier, General Counsel role has evolved very fast in last decade and a half in India. Persons who are looking for career as an inhouse counsel shall ensure that during their academic period, they focus on overall development of personality including communication skills, knowledge about business, management, technology and last but not least developments in Society. Additional academic credentials like CA, CS, MBA etc may also give an edge to the person. Role of General Counsel is very challenging as he is supposed to quick understanding of the challenges and then come around with solutions in shortest span of time.
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