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Visionary leaders stand out by staying ahead of the curve, identifying opportunities that remain invisible to others, and maintaining clarity in the face of uncertainty.

Environmental, Social, and Governance strategies – known as ESG – have recently become key talking points in corporate conversations. On March 4, 2021, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that they would be evaluating organizations on their environmental, social, and governance issues in a bid to identify public companies and investment funds that mislead the public about their climate risks and false ESG claims. A Deloitte article states that the SEC derives their information from anonymous tips and referrals through their whistleblower hotline. It is crucial that legal departments work with their compliance and ESG departments to mitigate any risks and to provide value to their companies. In many cases, compliance and ESG teams may work as silos, while some may be one department. 

Complying with growing global regulatory complexity represents the biggest legal threat to businesses with more than a quarter (28%) of global law departments citing frequency and complexity of regulatory changes as their biggest anticipated risk to the business.

2023 has the legal industry on its toes, by starting the year with a recession and global instability. If that wasn’t bad enough, now bank failures have been making headline news. JD Supra notes that bank failures are a regulatory and compliance nightmare, with millions of client dollars at stake, not to mention lives in the balance.