How modern general counsel are helping companies with revenue growth and business strategy.
In many companies, it is common for the legal department not to become involved with business deals until toward the end of negotiations. Lawyers don’t help make the deals happen. Their job is to identify any problems in the deal and reduce risk. This can make the sales process slow down and delay signing the contract. It can also result in agreements with other customers not being consistent.
“Risk and revenue are always connected. The best general counsel understands where the risk is, where the revenue is, and how to be revenue intelligent so you minimize the risks and position the organization to maximize revenue,” says Chuki Obiyo, Chief Business Development Officer at Vedder.
This mindset, Obiyo says, is the difference between legal executives who protect the company’s best interests and those who help grow it.
From Business Expense to Strategic Partner
Obiyo’s viewpoint comes from a career that includes legal training and business development leadership. He understands how to manage potential problems and generate income for a company.
He spent years working with senior executives in sales, strategy, and legal functions and saw firsthand how deals are won or lost, based on what each group contributed. The pattern he identified comes from the various departments having different goals. The sales team wants to find opportunities, and lawyers are looking for problems. By the time the two meet to talk about the deal, it’s too late. The result can have a negative impact on the business.
“When legal is brought in only at the end, you slow growth. Early interaction with legal means faster, more sustainable deals,” says Obiyo.
Obiyo suggests having the lawyers as advisors early in the process. Organizations will have to rethink when the legal departments sit in on the process and how to measure what they contribute.
Having the lawyers involved at the end costs more than just being inconvenient. The results can be deal terms that aren’t consistent and stalling out negotiations. If this happens, companies often end up offering discounts. Companies might give up important terms and protections just to sign the deal, and this may weaken negotiations on future deals when renewing contracts. All of this adds up and can eat into the margins, reducing the value of the deal.
The stakes are higher for private equity-backed companies. A company with stable and predictable income, well-organized contracts, and consistent deal structures is more valuable to buyers. Buyers will analyze risks like customer loss (churn), possible liability exposure, and whether pricing is consistent and reliable. The way the legal team sets up and manages contracts isn’t just about making sure they are compliant with rules. What they do also has an impact on how much the company is worth when it is sold.
Lawyers should understand how to make their legal work fit with business goals. How contracts are structured, how fast deals happen, and how to protect profit margins all influence the company’s revenue and add to how valuable the company will be in the future.
Designing the Path to Yes
Obiyo believes that the legal team for businesses should be problem-solvers and not automatically say “no.” Lawyers should help deals move forward.
“The legal department should not just be in the business of saying no. They should be in the business of building up to yes,” says Obiyo.
Instead of reviewing deals to approve or reject part of them, the legal team should work on making deals happen in a better way. The lawyers should keep things moving while protecting the company by making sure the deal supports the goals of the business.
The legal team can track contracts as they move through the system, monitoring progress through the various stages so they can measure how long approvals take. This way, the legal team can witness how their work affects business results, specifically revenue.
“This is how the business gets revenue in the door,” Obiyo says.
Making this change can have a significant impact. In one case, a mid-sized software company had the legal teams join the sales pipeline meetings with customers early in the process. The legal team became advisors from the very beginning, and the result was that in six months, the timelines for large deals were reduced by 25%. Also, fewer deals had to be renegotiated at the last minute, and the company was able to more accurately predict future sales.
Embedding Legal into the Commercial Rhythm
When the general counsel stays in communication with the sales and finance teams and regularly sits in with the sales meetings, they can spot potential problems before a deal is derailed. Having the legal team involved so early can change their role from just finding problems after they happen to preventing them and helping the sales team.
This approach helps create shared responsibility between the legal and sales teams. The lawyers get a clear view of how pricing, customer retention, and deal structures work, and the sales teams get a better understanding of the risks involved. The legal team stops being an obstacle and can offer alternative solutions.
“It’s not, we can’t have that clause. It’s, we can’t have that clause, but here are a couple of ways to achieve the same objective safely,” Obiyo says.
Technology, Data, and the Next Evolution of Counsel
Obiyo believes that as artificial intelligence and contract automation tools become more advanced, the general counsel will naturally shift to being a part of the business process at the beginning. As automated technology reviews contracts and handles routine legal tasks, the legal team will be free to focus on strategy and participate in decision-making.
“Future general counsel will be valued less for spotting issues and more for shaping go-to-market and growth strategies,” Obiyo says.
