In the nonprofit sector, the general counsel has traditionally played a one-dimensional role — that of the eagle-eyed advisor who helps the organization ensure compliance, mitigate risk and steer clear of legal pitfalls. Their duties have been largely limited to negotiating and reviewing contracts, overseeing litigation, coordinating with outside counsel and providing legal guidance on employment, governance, ethics and other matters.
But times are changing. Given ever-evolving regulations, social and geopolitical pressures, stakeholder demands and the digitization of operations, among other challenges, nonprofit organizations face legal demands they didn’t before. As a result, we’re seeing more nonprofits looking for GCs whose expertise goes beyond the legal.
That creates an opportunity for nonprofit GCs to grow professionally. It also creates an opportunity for attorneys hoping to join a nonprofit as a legal leader to hone their skills so they can position themselves as a top candidate.
What are these skills? Nonprofits will be looking to GCs to have robust commercial acumen and strategic insight. They’ll need them to step out from traditional advisory shadows to work closely with the board, CEO and CFO, becoming an essential part of the executive team. This role requires the ability to be agile and responsive in a dynamic business environment and to be resourceful, intuitive, and adept at problem-solving. These GCs will introduce innovative ideas and creative solutions, and be fully aligned with their organization’s mission and goals. They’ll expertly balance protective measures with the bold risks necessary for organizational growth and advancement.
Here’s how nonprofit leaders will be assessing their organization’s legal needs against the backdrop of upcoming challenges and opportunities, and how they’ll be thinking about whether their legal leadership is equipped to navigate these future demands effectively.
Here are examples of recent placements we’ve handled that show what sophisticated nonprofits are looking for in their GCs.
Organizational savvy. A nonprofit client we worked with in the education sector was undergoing a transformative period as they navigated shifting demand around their core product offering. They sought guidance in managing market pressures, international growth and a complex organizational structure that includes both nonprofit and for-profit components. Their new GC needed substantial M&A experience, deep corporate governance expertise and an ability to advise on the unique for-profit/nonprofit organizational structure. This GC would also have to help them manage and upskill a large global team — namely by managing career development for the attorneys in this group and ensuring retention of key staffers. This, of course, is a much wider mandate than only legal and regulatory expertise.
Transformation agility. Another client we worked with, a public charity, had the aim of crafting a response to sweeping changes happening in college athletics. Those changes included conference realignment, a new legal approach to athletes’ name, image, likeness rules and a new college football playoff model that competed with traditional bowl games for viewers. As these changes were going on, the organization was shifting away from a historical reliance on large partnerships and sponsorship deals that resulted in a concentration of substantial revenue in the hands of a few key partners. The charity needed someone who could help them respond to and adapt to these industry shifts and oversee a strategic revamping of legal function that had become reliant on the use of outside expertise. That person would be tasked with providing a strategic snapshot of their contractual obligations so the organization could identify new partners and funding sources.
Business sophistication. A public university client needed a versatile, business-savvy lawyer who could help them manage risk strategically within the scope of large-scale partnerships with Fortune 500 companies and a large-scale real estate development project. Since the client’s industry partners required negotiations to follow a certain pace, the university needed a GC who could mirror the commercial acumen displayed by the attorneys at its for-profit counterparts. This individual had to have a refined risk barometer and possess a solid understanding of the trade-offs inherent in specific transactions, as well as the impact those transactions may have on the university in the long term. The general counsel also needed to be able to quickly map out the potential outcomes of the university president’s various ideas and initiatives, identify the pitfalls, and help the president effectively communicate his vision to the board.
It’s clear the profile of the ideal GC candidate has evolved. Modern GCs are more than a legal watchdog; they must manage a much broader and more complex range of responsibilities than their predecessors, advising on matters ranging from business development and strategic growth to organizational culture.
