SmartSuite for the General Counsel
The General Counsel leads the legal function and is the organisation's chief legal risk officer: contracts, disputes, regulatory matters, corporate governance, privacy and the legal view of compliance. They oversee outside counsel and report legal risk to the board.
What you own
- Lead the legal function and set legal strategy
- Advise the board and executives on legal and regulatory risk
- Oversee contracts, disputes, investigations and regulatory matters
- Own corporate governance and the corporate secretary function
- Manage outside counsel and legal spend
- Approve compliance and privacy policies from a legal standpoint
Where the role sits
Each name opens that role's page.
Reports to
Direct reports
Works closely with
GRC processes
The shared GRC process map, highlighted for this role.
Owns
accountable for the process
Touches
contributes or approves
Depends on
consumes its output
How SmartSuite helps, suite by suite
Each card is the persona record from that suite's Users tab.
How they use SmartSuite
How they use SmartSuite
Contract Oversight
Reviews contract pipelines, approvals, and risk exposure.
Governance Assurance
Ensures legal standards and review processes are followed.
Audit Readiness
Accesses complete contract history and approval trails.
How they use the Legal Operations suite
Matter execution
Manages assigned matters, tasks, and deadlines with full context.
Contract review
Reviews, redlines, and approves agreements within structured workflows.
Legal collaboration
Coordinates with stakeholders through in-record communication and comments.
How they use the Legal Operations suite
Legal performance oversight
Reviews active matters, contracts, and risk trends across the organization.
Risk & compliance connection
Monitors legal exposure tied to contracts, regulations, and disputes.
Executive & board reporting
Produces concise, defensible summaries for leadership and board review.
How they use SmartSuite
Contract review:
Oversees negotiations and legal review stages.
Risk oversight:
Tracks contractual obligations and exposure.
Compliance validation:
Ensures documentation meets legal requirements.
How they use SmartSuite
Legal intake routing
Compliance oversight
Contract review
How they use the Compliance Management suite
Policy governance
Reviews and approves compliance-related policies and updates.
Regulatory insight
Evaluates regulatory impact and compliance exposure across jurisdictions.
Issue tracking
Oversees remediation of compliance findings and legal risks.
How they use SmartSuite
Suites that serve this role
How SmartSuite supports this role
Matters. Tracks matters, disputes and regulatory inquiries with status, counsel and exposure visible in one place.
Contracts. Oversees contract review, approvals and obligations with version history.
Compliance management. Reviews and approves compliance-related policies and evaluates regulatory impact across jurisdictions.
Governance. Manages entities, board calendars and governance records.
Reporting. Reports legal risk, spend and open matters to the board.
Industry reference
The ACC's General Counsel competencies, corporate governance codes and the SEC's attorney conduct rules under SOX Section 307 define the role, with sector regulation such as banking supervision, healthcare fraud-and-abuse law and privacy statutes setting the subject matter.
In their words
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