Today`s General Counsel (CLO) is multidimensional and no longer just an extraordinary legal tactician. A CLO is also a strategic thinker and leader who operates at the highest and most impactful level of the company. To succeed in the role of General Counsel, an OCL must divide its time among “four faces” – strategist, catalyst, custodian and operator. A Juris Doctor (JD) and an applicable government license to practice law are required. Today`s role as general counsel (CLOs) is complex and requires much more than just expertise in legal operations. To be successful, an CLO must master and find the right balance between “four faces”: strategist, catalyst, guard and operator. In January 2020, Thomas F. Huse became chief legal counsel to the agency. As Chief Counsel, he is the chief legal adviser to the Secret Service.
The State Department`s Legal Counsel is a position within the U.S. Department of State. It was created by an act of Congress on February 23, 1931 (P.L. 71-715; 46 Stat. 1214). The legal counsel replaced the lawyer, an employee of the Department of Justice who had served as the State Department`s legal director since 1891. Between 1870 and 1891 the claims auditor had been the department`s chief legal officer. The legal advisor will advise you on all problems (national and international) that arise in the context of the department`s activities.
Lawyers and claims examiners were provided by statutory officials of the Ministry of Justice. The first legal adviser was Green Hackworth, who served until 1946 and then became a judge of the International Court of Justice. General and Administrative Law (G&AL): By leveraging the multidisciplinary legal talents of a team specializing in contract law, ethics, labor law, tax law, government information and data protection law, as well as other areas of administrative law practice, G&AL promotes ICE`s compliance with related legal requirements and defends the agency against a variety of administrative litigation in these areas. Read more about G&AL The role of the OCOL continues to grow in importance as its influence on management levels increases. To succeed in this high-level legal role, you must learn to skillfully navigate the four faces of OCOL and focus most of your time and effort on the roles of catalyst and strategist. In the same way, the priority of “legal talent management” can appear as a simple priority of the operator. However, if the company has recently acquired talent through a merger, or if there is a significant strategic shift for the company or a move to a more technology-driven legal department, talent management could be a strategic priority. It can even be a catalyst priority – for example, if the talent management plan is designed to help influence the global risk profile. All four sides exist simultaneously, and the ability of the CLO to navigate each other should be fluid. The office consists of approximately 200 permanent lawyers and approximately 100 auxiliary staff, including paralegals, contract analysts, secretaries and general administrative staff.
Although all are based in Washington, D.C., the firm`s lawyers also hold the positions of legal counsel and assistant counsel in the U.S. missions in Geneva and The Hague, as well as legal counsel positions in the U.S. representations to the European Union in Brussels and the United Nations in New York. Occasionally, the office provides lawyers for other positions abroad. Strategist: As a strategist, you are able to bring a clear legal strategy to your business partners that supports and activates the business strategy. In this legal role, you will provide the senior management team with legal advice that helps achieve growth objectives. Guardian: In Guardian mode, you need to manage the legal and regulatory affairs of the business, managing complexity while minimizing risk. This is the fundamental responsibility of the role of the General Counsel and the in-house legal team. All substantive decrees and proclamations to be issued by the President are reviewed by the Office of the Legal Counsel for form and legality, as well as various other matters requiring the formal approval of the President.
If there is not already a strong leader for legal operations, the search for such a leader should be a top priority. In fact, when we checked a year after an OCOL took over a legal department, the biggest regret was that we didn`t make talent decisions sooner – putting the right people in the right role, realigning the team, or separating people who are difficult or have skills that don`t match the needs of the department. The four faces of the General Counsel have been saved How do CLOs manage their time so they can invest energy in the categories of strategists and catalysts? By focusing on creating a strong legal operations function and/or creating leverage in your legal department to manage the guardianship and operator functions. While it may initially be necessary for new CLOs to spend 60-65% of their time as custodians and operators (to repair or restructure what they have inherited), it is important that new CLOs avoid devoting the majority of their time to these long-term responsibilities, as this could signal to the rest of management that OCOL is not becoming strategic, executive level. Priorities often have components that touch more than one face. For example, the priority “align legal priorities and resources with corporate strategy” may include elements of the strategist`s role, understanding (and potentially influencing) corporate strategy, and its relationship to legal strategy. It can also affect the role of the operator and implement processes and procedures for the legal team to help them align. It is rare for an OCOL to have difficulty functioning in the roles of catalyst and strategist because the role of Chief Legal Counsel does not receive the appropriate platform or authority. In the rare cases where this happens, it may be advisable to think of an exit plan.
Operator: As an operator, you spend much of your time focusing on how to create a strong legal operations function and optimize the skills, talents, service levels, costs, and legal structure needed to best serve your business partners. While it is useful to reflect on your role in this context, the delineation of tasks in the daily life of CLOs is not always so clearly segmented. Often, the main priorities of an OCOL involve two or more faces. Here are the five most frequently cited priorities that legal leaders identify for themselves: The Office of the Legal Counsel does not have the authority to provide legal advice to individuals. Law Enforcement and Litigation (E&L): Through close client relationships and specialized legal advice and advice, E&L advances ICE`s homeland security and public safety mission by enforcing our nation`s immigration, customs, and criminal laws and policies, defending operational agencies, and the decisions of ICE agents and agents in federal courts, and defending ICE lawyers before immigration courts and the board of directors. Immigration appeals lead and support. with a particular focus on cases involving criminal foreigners, human rights violators and foreigners who threaten our national security. Learn more about E&L The Office of Senior Legal Counsel (OPLA) is DHS`s largest legal program with more than 1,300 lawyers and nearly 300 support staff from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. Under the law, OPLA acts as the exclusive representative of DHS in immigration proceedings before the Executive Board for Immigration Review and handles all deportation cases, including those against criminal non-citizens, terrorists, and human rights violators. Lawyers negotiate, draft and interpret international agreements that touch on a wide range of issues, such as peace initiatives, arms control discussions, trade liberalization agreements, international commodity agreements, consular conventions and private law agreements on issues such as judicial cooperation and the recognition of foreign judgments. They also work with Ministry officials on legislative initiatives and draft and interpret national laws, departmental regulations, decrees and other legal documents. They represent or help represent the United States at meetings of international organizations and conferences and at many United Nations programs, and represent the United States.
before international tribunals such as the International Court of Justice and Iran-United States. Claims Tribunal, as well as in international arbitration.