THE ROLE OF LEGAL COUNSEL IN AN EVER-CHANGING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

The role of a legal counsel is no longer limited to managing the pure legal issues of the business that they work within.

Faced with the dilemma of doing a lot more with a lot less

Whilst legal counsel are doing more than ever before, in-house, largely due to the specific skills and business acumen which they have acquired whilst working in a business environment, are also forced to handle a lot more in-house which traditionally were outsourced to law firms and other service providers, year by year, as a result of cost pressures and the pressure placed on them by their organizations to do more with less.

Managing legal risk

Business units continually transfer risk to their in-house legal teams, encouraging and placing pressure on the team to make commercial decisions. The role of in-house legal counsel now includes understanding the pressure points, strategy and objectives of the business which allows them to effectively communicate the risks and legal issues involved in any decision to management. This enables management to make informed strategic choices within an acceptable legal risk profile.

Managing efficiency when the bottom line is what matters

Responding to increased pressure on legal costs whilst managing risk requires a deep understanding of what drives the cost base and influences the profit line of the business. In-house legal counsel need to proactively initiate proposals for cost reduction and identify appropriate benchmarks to measure efficiency. To in-house counsel, the challenge is to ensure there is an optimum balance between cost efficiency and effectiveness and to educate the business about the balance.

Strong relationships with external advisors are crucial

Effective legal counsels not only need to partner with the business in order to understand its issues – they must accept that at times, they do need to partner up with external legal counsel, in order to provide viable and tangible legal and business solutions.

In order to rise up and meet the above demands and related challenges, in-house counsel and law firms need to accept that their respective roles are transitional, ever-changing, and roles in flux, which will continue as business needs and requirements become more complicated and organizations are faced with the ever-increasing pressure of doing more with less and in a more sustainable manner.

No matter how different the roles are, it is trite – in-house counsel are reliant on the services and sage advice of their external legal counsel and these relationships must be sustained and built upon.

Relationships between external legal counsel and in-house legal counsel are more important than ever before.

The CCASA Legal Forum aims to unite the legal profession, recognising that we all have a role to play in ensuring that sound business and legal solutions are brought to the table. During the Forum we will debate and share insights across the table, gleaning and obtaining opinions and advices from in-house counsel and external legal counsel, aiming to work on solutions on how we all can work and engage in the best possible way, maximising the end results by providing deliverables which are not only cost effective, but which are reliable, sustainable and go beyond our organization’s and leaders’ expectations and which, importantly, make us all very much part of the C-suite.

So let’s unite and work together, let’s make legal magic in giving the business the wow factor, or, said less sensationally, let’s make sure that we, the legal profession, deliver sound legal and business solutions to our organizations.

This event took place on 19 October 2023 in Sandton. Thank you to all involved in making it a very successful Forum. The CCASA Legal Forum will be a staple event on the CCASA Calendar going forward.

All queries about future CCASA Legal Forum’s to be directed to Ronel Lindeque via email admin@ccasa.co.za

 View photos of 2023 event

Organising a Legal Forum 101 and the relation to a legal team 101

Session 1: Legal Risk Management – A heightened focus for the legal counsel

Session 2: The legal tech revolution: the future of legal work

Session 3: Optimizing your organization’s in-house legal operating model – Is your model fit for the future?

Session 4: ESG – The role of legal counsel today and in the future

Closing remarks

Venue sponsor

Silver Sponsors

Bronze sponsors

Registration session sponsor

Legal Quiz sponsor

Exhibitors

Conference bag sponsors

Other sponsors

Thank you to the following organisations for their generosity:

• Heineken Beverages South Africa (Pty) Ltd
• Unilever South Africa
• Bradlows, Russells, Sleepmasters and Rochester
• LA Brand Holdings (Pty) Ltd
• The Legal Team
• HKA
• Fasken