Dive Brief:

• Most identified successors to legal chiefs are currently serving as deputy general counsel (58%) compared to 42% of possible successors serving as managing counsel, according to a survey of hundreds of in-house counsel. 
• Nearly one in four potential GC successors identify as a race/ethnicity other than white amid efforts companies are making to diversify their executive ranks. Additionally, women are slightly more likely than men to be named a potential successor (53% to 47%).
• Most aspiring general counsel have been in their roles for two years or less and have notified management of their desire to become a legal chief, said the Aspiring General Counsel Report from executive search firm BarkerGilmore.

Dive Insight:

Being identified as a potential successor is more likely to keep senior counsel (60%) from pursuing other opportunities than it is for managing counsel (42%), the report found.

Senior counsel are less likely to be named as potential successors in the first place, with just 11% reporting that they have received that designation.

Meanwhile, managing counsel report letting management know of their interest in becoming a general counsel at higher rates than senior counsel (72% to 61%).

Roughly 37% of managing counsel have worked with an executive coach in their current position compared to 20% of senior counsel, BarkerGilmore found. More than seven in ten of both managing counsel and senior counsel found the coaching to be valuable.

In-house counsel who have received executive coaching are more likely to be identified as a successor than their counterparts without executive coaching (35% to 26%), the report said. 

In-house lawyers identified as successors report receiving professional development at higher rates than their peers. 

“The top four types of professional development for all groups were expanded scope of responsibility, increased board exposure, leadership training, and stretch assignments,” the report said. 

Senior counsel said they were most likely to find their current role via a job posting (38%). On the other hand, managing counsel reported being recruited directly (22%), contacted by a friend or colleague (21%) or contacted by an executive recruiter (20%).

The BarkerGilmore report’s findings were based on an online survey the firm conducted in September 2023. The survey was completed by 300 GCs or legal chiefs and 307 aspiring general counsel.