General Counsel in the Age of Disruption: Grow Professionally While Expanding Internationally

A major trend impacting the role and responsibilities of general counsel is the increasing number of manufacturing companies revamping their international footprints. One in five companies expect substantial or major shifts in markets — 15% in location of operations and 22% in the workforce.

These changes fuel the need for business-savvy general counsel with exceptional international and geopolitical acumen. International expansion brings not only an increasing level of regulations, but sometimes contradicting regulations from different jurisdictions. Ensuring compliance with these disparate regulations requires in-depth knowledge of international legislation, as well as real-time information on data collection, storage, and systems management. This kind of expertise has traditionally been beyond the scope of general counsel and signals a change from being reactively involved in these issues to actively managing them.

For the benefit of its manufacturing clients, K&L Gates partnered with Forbes Insights to create one of the most in-depth studies conducted thus far on the pressures and challenges facing general counsel operating within the manufacturing sector. Based upon research collected from a detailed survey of 200 general counsel and senior executives across Europe, the report covers a myriad of issues, including regulation and emerging technologies, forces of disruption and risk, and future outlooks on the sector. We encourage you to download this valuable resource for free here.