COLUMN/CLIMBING THE LEGAL DEPARTMENT L ADDER
The General Counsel, the CFO and the Numbers By ANDREA BRICCA
M
ost lawyers recall a day in law school that went something like this: The torts professor is discussing damages for a case, puts a bunch of numbers on the board and someone in the class shouts out, “If I was good at math, I would
10
have gone to medical school, not law school.” If you are a general counsel or aspire to be one, here’s hoping that person was not you. In-house lawyers need to understand the business’s numbers if they want to be true advisors. One place to bolster this understanding
TODAYSGENERALCOUNSEL.COM SEPTEMBER 202 1
is through your relationship with your organization’s CFO. Successful general counsel want to be consiglieres to the CEO, trusted advisors to the board, and business partners with other C-suite executives. No general counsel can be those things BACK TO CONTENTS
