As Global Head of Research & Leadership Advisory at JRG Partners, I built this General Counsel job description template from the specifications that actually close searches. Copy the template below, then, more importantly, customize it with the guidance that follows: a job description is a positioning document read by candidates with options, and generic specs recruit generic slates.
Key Takeaways: Writing a General Counsel Job Description That Works
- The General Counsel owns the company’s legal affairs, counsel, transactions, litigation, compliance, and governance, protecting the enterprise while enabling its commercial ambitions.
- The specification is a sales document and a filter simultaneously; it should attract precisely and repel usefully.
- Every requirement should survive the question ‘would we reject a great candidate lacking this?’, most lists cannot.
- Committee alignment on the KPIs before posting prevents the classic failure of interviewing for one job and hiring for another.
- Quantify the deal and dispute profile, transactions per year, litigation load, regulator interactions, so candidates can self-select accurately.
About the General Counsel Role
In market-standard structures, the role reports to the Chief Executive Officer and leads legal (commercial, employment, IP as relevant), compliance, and frequently corporate secretary function. Scope varies by company, which is exactly why the customization guidance below matters, but the template reflects the specification most strong candidates will recognize.
General Counsel Job Description Template
Position Summary
[Company] is seeking a General Counsel. The General Counsel owns the company’s legal affairs, counsel, transactions, litigation, compliance, and governance, protecting the enterprise while enabling its commercial ambitions. The position reports to the Chief Executive Officer.Key Responsibilities
- Provide decision-grade counsel to CEO, executives, and board
- Lead transactions: M&A, financings, and material agreements
- Own litigation strategy and outside-counsel management
- Run compliance programs proportionate to regulatory exposure
- Own corporate governance and board-secretary duties
- Manage IP strategy and protection where material
- Control legal spend with disciplined outside-counsel economics
- Build legal function scaled to the company’s trajectory
Requirements & Qualifications
- 12+ years including senior in-house or partner-level firm experience
- Transaction depth relevant to the company’s deal profile
- Industry regulatory fluency where the sector demands it
- Litigation-management judgment with cost discipline
- Governance and board-facing experience
- Commercial pragmatism verifiable through client references
- Bar admission in good standing
Key Performance Indicators
- Transaction execution quality and speed
- Litigation outcomes and reserve accuracy
- Compliance program maturity and audit results
- Legal spend versus budget and benchmarks
- Contract-cycle turnaround times
- Board and executive satisfaction
- Regulatory-relationship health
Compensation
Mid-market base salaries for this role typically run $300,000-$400,000, scaling substantially with company size and mandate; see our General Counsel Salary Guide 2026 for full benchmarks by revenue tier, ownership structure, and industry.
How to Customize This Template
A template earns nothing until it is tuned. Quantify the deal and dispute profile, transactions per year, litigation load, regulator interactions, so candidates can self-select accurately. Then prune the requirements to the honest minimum, rank the responsibilities so the first three carry the mandate’s weight, and confirm the KPI list matches how the executive will actually be reviewed, because candidates will hold you to it.
Common Mistakes in General Counsel Job Descriptions
Audit any specification against five classic errors before posting: unicorn requirement lists, unprioritized responsibility dumps, absent success metrics, insider jargon, and missing compensation context. Strong candidates read these as organizational tells, and they are usually right to.
From Job Description to Hire
A locked spec sets up the two decisions that follow: pricing the role against the real market, and building an interview process that tests the requirements rather than admiring them. For the interview stage, our General Counsel interview questions guide pairs directly with this template.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: What does a General Counsel do?
- A: The General Counsel owns the company’s legal affairs, counsel, transactions, litigation, compliance, and governance, protecting the enterprise while enabling its commercial ambitions. Day to day, the role centers on provide decision-grade counsel to CEO, executives, and board and lead transactions: M&A, financings, and material agreements.
- Q: Who does the General Counsel report to?
- A: Most commonly the Chief Executive Officer, with the role leading legal (commercial, employment, IP as relevant), compliance, and frequently corporate secretary function. Reporting-line choices signal the seat’s real weight, and candidates read them that way.
- Q: How many years of experience should a General Counsel have?
- A: Market-standard specifications ask for 12+ years of relevant progressive leadership, but treat tenure as a proxy: the requirement that matters is demonstrated ownership of the outcomes in the KPI list at comparable scale.
- Q: What is the difference between general counsel and chief legal officer compensation?
- A: The titles increasingly describe the same seat, and where both exist the chief legal officer designation typically signals broader scope, government affairs, compliance, ESG, priced 10-20% above a narrowly scoped GC at equivalent scale.
- Q: How long should a General Counsel job description be?
- A: One page for posting, two for the internal version. Candidates decide in ninety seconds; committees need the full success profile. Maintain both from the same source document.
- Q: What requirements should we include for a General Counsel?
- A: Only requirements that would genuinely disqualify an otherwise excellent candidate. Everything else is a preference, and labeling preferences as requirements shrinks slates without improving them.
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Tanya Gallardo
Managing Director, Executive Search & AI Talent Strategy
Tanya Gallardo is the Managing Director of Executive Search & AI Talent Strategy at JRG Partners, leading C-suite and Board engagements across key growth sectors including Technology, Financial Services, and Manufacturing.
With over 18 years of experience specializing in disruptive technology leadership, Tanya is recognized as a leading authority on talent architecture for future-focused executive roles, such as the Chief AI Officer (CAIO) and Chief Digital Officer (CDO). Her expertise lies in accurately assessing the cultural fit and technical depth required to ensure a high return on investment (ROI) for critical leadership appointments.
Prior to her role at JRG Partners, Tanya held senior roles directing global talent acquisition strategies at a major publicly-traded technology firm, advising on organizational design and succession planning for emerging executive functions. She is a recognized speaker and contributor to industry events, sharing data-driven insights on executive compensation, leadership development, and the measurable business impact of C-suite talent.
