What Lawyers Actually Bring, Beyond the Law.
When lawyers do make it into the boardroom, they consistently add value far beyond technical expertise.
One FTSE100 NED summarised it perfectly “feedback from our board effectiveness reviews have highlighted how valuable my background actually is; analysing complex information and distilling it, breadth of training and experience of broad business scenarios, excellent on risk, strong on asking the right questions and good at challenging people pulling the wool over the board’s eyes. Good at negotiating, eliciting information from executives and getting to a compromise. These are general business skills not technicals…they are also a collection of valuable experiences”.
Judgement under pressure
Almost every lawyer interviewed had been through crises: cyber breaches, fatalities, major litigation, government investigations, hostile regulators, public scandals, operational failures. As one put it “In a crisis, the GC is already in the war room, managing regulators, the board, customers, media.” Another recalled steering a complex competition‑law process under intense scrutiny: “The whole City was watching on a major transaction which needed CMA approval. Having previously led that work as a GC translated directly to my NED role.”
Another mentioned the recent examples of M&S and JLR and the constant threat of cyber-attack being scenarios where senior lawyers have proved themselves core occupants of the board-level crisis war room “This experience transfers directly to non‑executive oversight in moments when companies need calm heads. Cyber could become a real differentiator for GCs. In regulated businesses, the GC’s name is the one the regulator writes to after a cyber incident. You’re managing customers, regulators, the board, the media; it’s crisis management, regardless of subject matter. My boards value my experience of handling corporate crises.”
Another gave an example from a landmark corporate deal: “I was able to participate in that boardroom with confidence and value, I think far beyond many around the board table. And I really enjoyed the all-nighters in the depths of the deal under serious pressure, it reminded me of corporate law days!”
Another gave an example of a particular crisis scenario whereby “I’d joined the board of an energy company not long before the Ukraine war began. I asked the CEO “What if Russia wins?” The CEO found it unthinkable and there was little crisis management for that scenario. I’m happy to be the person who asks the uncomfortable question, though you do have to get past the easy criticism that you are just being overly negative.”
Private practice lawyers often run pressurised large, flat, autonomy‑driven teams, “low‑hierarchy, high‑ego businesses,” as one ex‑managing partner described. That makes them adept at stakeholder management, conflict resolution, and consensus building. One NED recounted being phoned by the chair whenever serious misconduct issues arose: “Lawyers make great SIDs,” she said. “We’re a safe harbour. You never appoint a lawyer for their legal skills. You appoint them for experience, judgement, and pattern recognition. SID is often a great fit, lawyers are naturally strong stakeholder managers and have great judgement in challenging circumstances.”
The ability to see around corners and ask difficult questions
Lawyers often spot risks disguised as operational issues or opportunities hidden within complexity. One described the NED’s job as “telling you what’s about to happen to you.” Another said her legal training helped her “map out decisions, summarise complexity, and see the implications others miss.”
“Yes. My legal training and mindset is useful, not the law itself. I break problems down differently. Everyone else around the table was trained commercially or financially; I wasn’t. That difference disrupts groupthink. The generalists often outperform expectations on a board. If everyone is “in the industry,” I’m scared witless, the groupthink risk is high.”
One NED had discussed this dilemma with their CEO and this particularly enlightened CEO mentioned that “I actually see GCs as perfect non-executives. It’s the closest executive role to the NED role; challenging colleagues without being too close to the operational detail.”
Another FTSE100 NED noted “When I joined my first board, I went in as a rookie. I asked all the 'naïve' questions no one else dared to ask and my board colleagues often thanked me afterwards. Those questions revealed assumptions they didn’t even realise they were making. Those weren’t specific legal skills, but they are the skills you develop as a lawyer along the way.”
Lawyers bring an independence of mind, comfortable being the only dissenting voice in a room and being unafraid to be so. The ethical lens is often ingrained. Surprisingly, several lawyers-turned NEDs also raised people skills as having been important to their appointments and subsequent board evaluations. Said one NED “I have strong instincts on the people side, which many CFOs and sometimes CEOs do not. Boards have told me that’s why they selected me. This extends to having strong instincts about advisors. As a GC, you’ve commissioned huge amounts of external advice. You can spot when an advisor is technically brilliant but commercially useless. I’ve used my people instincts on countless occasions around the board table.”
And of course, sometimes detail is important. “Sometimes it suits a chair to have a lawyer on their board. I’ve been asked several times “would you have a look at this”. Some chairs like having someone around the table who enjoys the detail and can be trusted to deep dive on something. I’ve been trained to read public documents, most other board members haven’t.”
Breadth: the great under‑appreciated asset
Modern GCs routinely take on different variations of ESG, corporate affairs, HR, safety, compliance, cyber, data privacy, internal audit, investor relations, transformation and major transactions. One reflected: “Governance, risk, people, brand, reputation, I’ve come across everything.”
Another noted that senior lawyers often understand the entire business better than most executives outside of the CEO and CFO. Several NEDs specifically mentioned the important of understanding regulatory engagement. One gave a particular example:
“We were constantly under attack at one point from NGOs, government departments, judicial reviews, etc. Our advisors were telling us “Don’t engage.” I said the opposite. Many critics are well‑meaning, and you can defuse issues through engagement. Advisors can be more risk-averse than you actually need to be. So the lawyer NED is actually in a good position to push back against risk-averse lawyers!!”
As regulatory regimes multiply, understanding its context isn’t operational, it’s strategic. Another NED noted “if you’ve been in a regulated business, that’s hugely helpful. Understanding how regulators think and work is valuable, and it doesn’t necessarily matter which regulator because there are many commonalities.”
Across all of those interviewed from an in-house counsel background, each was able to pitch a broad range of corporate leadership experiences outside of the law, some even using it to gently mask their earlier functional background.
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