Industry commentators have long spoken about the emergence of the “commercial GC”. Yet in many respects, that conversation has already moved on; most organisations view commercial awareness as a baseline expectation for senior legal leaders today, rather than a desirable extra. The more interesting question today is not whether general counsel need to be commercially minded, but how broad their remit has become and whether businesses are successfully developing the legal leaders they increasingly require.
Recent findings from KPMG’s 2026 Global General Counsel Outlook illustrate the scale of the shift. Three-quarters of GCs surveyed said they are regularly involved in non-legal matters, while 92% reported frequent interaction with their boards. Legal leaders are increasingly contributing to discussions around technology, transformation, governance, growth and enterprise risk, often long before any specifically legal question arises.
That evolution reflects the reality facing many businesses. Regulatory complexity has increased significantly, at the same time as the environment has become more uncertain, with geopolitical tensions, supply-chain disruption and reputational risk creating challenges that rarely fit neatly within a single department. Legal teams find themselves at the centre of many of these conversations, because they are often one of the few functions with visibility across the organisation as a whole.
For in-house lawyers, this is perhaps the most significant change in the role over the past decade. Rather than being brought into discussions once a commercial direction has already been established, they are increasingly involved at the point where strategic decisions are being formed.
Technical legal expertise of course remains essential to businesses appointing a GC today, but hiring teams are increasingly also focused on leadership capability, stakeholder management, judgement and influence. How effectively can this candidate operate with the board? Have they demonstrated an ability to lead through organisational change? Can they communicate complex issues to non-lawyers in a way that facilitates decision-making rather than slowing it down?
In recent research, 48% of FTSE 350 GCs oversee compliance and 55% are Company Secretary, amongst others managing risk, HR or sustainability. As legal leaders accumulate responsibilities, their roles start to look less like traditional functional leadership positions and more like executive roles with legal expertise at their core.
This is influencing the way organisations think about talent, as traditional career paths may not provide sufficient exposure to organisational change, technology projects or broader governance responsibilities to develop future legal leaders. Out of just 12 FTSE 350 companies appointing a new GC in 2025, a notable drop on the prior four years, only one appointment was an internal promotion.
As a result, succession planning is becoming a more significant concern. If businesses increasingly want GCs who can operate as enterprise leaders, they need to think carefully about how those capabilities are developed internally and create opportunities for future leaders to gain the experience that modern GC roles demand.
It was once a question whether GCs should have a seat at the executive table – in many organisations, that debate has already been settled. The challenge now is ensuring that the next generation of legal leaders are equipped to not only occupy that seat, but contribute effectively once they get there.
