Life was much simpler for in-house counsel just a few years ago.
GCs knew where employees were because they knew where the company’s offices were. They haggled over contractual issues, warded off legal threats, and maybe lost some sleep over mounting regulatory obligations. Those days weren’t without stress, but the fires—while usually unexpected—were familiar.
What a difference a few years makes. Over the last four years, the office of the general counsel has been handed hugely complex, first-time-ever, undeniably urgent problems to solve—one right after the other.
We all know the list well: a global pandemic, multiple war and conflict zones, disrupted supply chains, remote work, vulnerable networks, artificial intelligence. It’s a list that emphasizes how interconnected we are globally and how risk—reputational, economic, and physical—extends into geography and situations far and wide. It’s also a list of unforeseen risks that companies worldwide are relying on their in-house counsel to wrangle.
In this special edition, Bloomberg Law brings you a variety of perspectives on the swift rise of geopolitical risk and the ways in-house counsel is adapting to meet the challenge.
Throughout the week, we’ll publish pieces from people leading the discussion in boardrooms, law firms, consultancies, and academia. They propose ways to design risk policies that acknowledge geopolitics and build in safeguards. They highlight growing risk areas and the enforcement outlook for multinationals. And they drill down into the opportunity and responsibility that the office of the general counsel has in the new normal.
Today, Bloomberg Law columnist Rob Chesnut kicks off the series with some blunt advice. “Look to your left and right,” he writes. “If no one in the company is outlining a strategy for addressing geopolitical risks in 2024, the job is probably falling to you as the in-house legal leader. Congratulations.” But, he says, you don’t have to do it alone. Read More
Deloitte’s Beniamino Irdi picks up where Chesnut leaves off, sharing a framework for “resilience against multi-faceted and connected risks” and “a scenario plan for a potential ‘polycrisis’ in the mid-term. He says legal departments now need to “incorporate geopolitical factors into all levels of corporate risk planning and strategy.” Read More
Then Hogan Lovells’ Stephanie Yonekura and Matthew Sullivan pivot to their high-level assessment of global regulatory and enforcement challenges that could bedevil multinationals’ compliance efforts this coming year. Read More
Check back here tomorrow for a deep dive into the burden in-house counsel bear with financial crime networks, plus a pitch for embedding a human rights policy into your ESG strategy. And Wednesday, read how to locate and confront hidden labor risks in supply chains. Thursday’s lineup features one leader who can take on these risks—the chief resilience officer. This role is appearing in more boardrooms in response to growing global conflicts.
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