Guest blog: Top 7 Priorities for GCs in 2025

By Sarah Irwin, former SaaS GC turned entrepreneur and community builder

As we navigate through 2025, the role of General Counsel has evolved dramatically from where it stood just a few years ago. What was once primarily a legal advisory position has transformed into a multifaceted leadership role that touches nearly every aspect of business operations and strategy.

Today’s GCs are expected to be not just legal experts, but also business strategists, technology adopters, financial stewards, and cultural ambassadors. We’re asked to anticipate risks before they materialize, drive efficiency through innovation, and contribute directly to business growth - all while maintaining our traditional responsibilities of legal guidance and compliance.

This evolution presents both challenges and opportunities. As someone who has walked the path from the first legal hire to GC at a high-growth SaaS company before venturing into entrepreneurship, I’ve experienced first hand how adapting to these changing expectations can position legal leaders as invaluable business partners.

Here are 7 key priorities that will define a successful General Counsel in 2025, along with practical steps you can implement immediately to position yourself and your team for success.
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1. AI Proficiency (Compliance and Confidence)

The AI revolution is no longer coming - it’s here. As GCs, we face a dual challenge: understanding the regulatory landscape surrounding AI while also embracing these tools to transform our own work.

The EU’s AI Act has set the global standard for AI regulation, with implementation timelines that demand our attention now. But compliance is just the starting point. The real opportunity lies in developing proficiency with AI tools that can dramatically enhance legal operations.

Many of us were trained to be cautious and strive for perfection - valuable traits in legal practice. However, when it comes to AI, excessive caution can leave your team and company behind. The most successful legal departments in 2025 are those finding the balance between responsible use and innovative application.

AI-assisted contract review can reduce time spent on routine agreements by up to 80%. Risk assessment tools can identify patterns and potential issues that might escape even the most diligent human review. And AI-powered legal research can surface relevant precedents and regulations in minutes rather than hours.

Practical Tip: Schedule a “Legal AI Day” where your team experiments with 2-3 AI tools on non-sensitive work—summarize a legal update or draft a memo. Document use cases, benefits, and concerns. Many legal tools on the market offer free trials!
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2. Gaining Control Over Contracts

Contract management remains one of the most persistent challenges for legal departments, especially in high-growth environments like I worked in. If you’re the first legal hire or leading a growing team, you’ve likely inherited a contract ecosystem that resembles the Wild West more than a structured repository. But don’t be fooled – even large legal teams working in multinational businesses with 10k+ employees can have this pain point too!

The first step is finding all existing contracts. They may be scattered across email threads, shared drives, Slack messages, or even physical files. Begin with a comprehensive audit to locate key agreements and create a structured inventory.

Once you’ve gathered your contracts, focus on reducing the manual work associated with their management. According to recent studies, legal professionals spend an average of 7 hours per week on routine contract tasks that could be automated. That’s nearly a full workday!

A centralized contract repository ensures all agreements are easily accessible, auditable, and secure. More importantly, it enables you to extract valuable insights: Which contracts are up for renewal? Where are we deviating from standard terms? What obligations require ongoing compliance monitoring?

Contract summarization tools can provide at-a-glance visibility into key terms, risks, and obligations, transforming dense legal documents into actionable business intelligence.

Practical Tip: If contracts are scattered across email threads, shared drives, and local folders, schedule a “contract clean-up” session. Work cross-functionally (especially with Sales, Finance, and Procurement) to track down missing agreements. Then, choose a single source of truth for contract storage and explore automation tools to streamline tracking and reporting.
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3. Owning a Legal Tech Project

The legal technology landscape has exploded with options, but more tools don’t necessarily mean better outcomes. Before investing in specialized legal tech, take stock of what your organization already has. Often, existing tools can be adapted for legal workflows with minimal customization.

Work closely with your IT department to identify how current systems might be leveraged for legal intake, matter management, or document automation. This approach not only saves budget but also promotes integration with company-wide systems.

If you do need specialized solutions, develop a clear roadmap for legal digital transformation. Start small, focus on quick wins, and build momentum through demonstrable success. Remember that technology implementation is as much about change management as it is about the tools themselves.

Most importantly, establish metrics to measure success. Track time saved, response times improved, or risks mitigated. These quantifiable outcomes will help justify further investment and demonstrate the strategic value of your legal operations.

Practical Tip: Map your team’s three most time-consuming processes and schedule a workshop with IT to explore how existing company tools could be adapted to streamline these workflows before investing in specialized solutions.
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4. Building Your Brand (Internally and Externally)

In today’s interconnected business environment, your personal brand as a GC matters more than ever. Internally, how you’re perceived directly impacts your ability to influence decisions and secure resources for your team.

Position yourself as a business enabler rather than the “Department of No.” Proactively communicate legal wins, share insights that help colleagues navigate complex issues, and demonstrate how legal guidance creates business opportunities rather than just mitigating risks.

Externally, thought leadership has become an expectation for senior legal leaders. Whether through speaking engagements, published articles, or social media presence, sharing your expertise builds credibility not just for you, but for your entire organization.

LinkedIn has emerged as a particularly powerful platform for legal professionals. Regular posts showcasing your perspective on industry trends, regulatory developments, or legal operations innovations can establish you as a forward-thinking leader in your field.

The network you build through these activities provides invaluable resources: peer insights, career opportunities, and business connections that benefit both you and your company.

Practical Tip: Commit to one internal and one external visibility action monthly. For instance, volunteer to present at a company all-hands meeting and publish a short LinkedIn post on a trending legal topic or a legal ops success story.
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5. Owning Your Legal Team Budget

Financial fluency is no longer optional for GCs. As businesses face economic pressures, every department - including legal - must demonstrate fiscal responsibility and clear return on investment. Some CEOs are holding every department lead to account on how they are planning to leverage AI to run leaner teams.

Understanding how to build, defend, and manage your budget is crucial for securing the resources your team needs. This means speaking the language of finance: ROI, cost avoidance, efficiency metrics, and resource allocation.

Running a lean team doesn’t mean doing more with less. It means doing the right things with the right resources (“rightsourcing”). Identify high-value activities that deserve investment and low-value tasks that can be automated, outsourced, or eliminated.

Track key financial metrics like cost per matter, outside counsel spend, and preventative value (issues avoided through proactive legal guidance). These data points transform abstract legal work into concrete business value.

Practical Tip: Create a simple “legal value dashboard” tracking metrics like response times, cost savings from negotiated contracts, and risk mitigation value. Share this monthly with leadership to demonstrate ROI.
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6. Developing a Second / Complementary Specialization

The most influential GCs I know have developed expertise beyond traditional legal knowledge. Having deep legal expertise combined with broader business capabilities positions you as a strong, multidimensional leader.

Consider areas that naturally intersect with legal: finance, HR, compliance, ESG initiatives, corporate social responsibility, or legal operations. Which aligns with your interests and your organization’s strategic priorities?

This complementary specialization gives you a USP internally, helps you stand out, and allows you to contribute uniquely to business conversations. This will lead to expanded responsibilities and therefore opportunities. I’ve seen colleagues leverage privacy expertise into data governance leadership roles, or employment law backgrounds into people operations positions.

The key is to approach this additional specialization with intention. Seek formal training, mentorship, and practical experience that builds credibility in your chosen area.

Practical Tip: Identify an area of the business where legal intersects (e.g., HR, ESG), that you feel passionate about owning and driving forward, and set up an informal coffee chat with a leader in that function to learn how legal can add value (or if it’s a new area, even better – corner your CEO to get their take and buy-in!).
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7. Managing a Remote & Global Legal Team

The distributed workforce is here to stay, bringing both opportunities and challenges for legal leadership. Managing remote team members requires intentional communication, clear expectations, and trust-based accountability.

Beyond the logistics of remote work, many legal departments now span multiple jurisdictions, each with its own regulatory framework and cultural context. This complexity can waste time and increase risk, so it demands streamlined processes that can flex to accommodate local requirements and ensure you’re working as fast as possible.

One of the biggest ways you can achieve this is through uniform contracting processes powered by tech that make everyone feel part of the team and happier generally (because you’re not seen as a blocker!).

Technology plays a crucial role in creating consistency across distributed teams. Workflow tools, knowledge management systems, and collaboration platforms ensure that team members follow similar processes regardless of location.

Perhaps most importantly, remote leadership requires deliberate attention to team culture and individual development. Without the organic interactions of office environments, you must create structured opportunities for mentorship, feedback, and professional growth.

Practical Tip: Set up a recurring monthly 1:1 check-in with each team member to focus on personal development, not just work tasks.
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Conclusion: The GC’s 2025 Playbook

As we navigate the evolving landscape of legal leadership, adaptability remains our greatest asset. The GCs who thrive in 2025 will be those who embrace continuous learning, technological innovation, and strategic business partnerships.

The expectations placed on modern GCs may seem daunting, but they also represent unprecedented opportunities to shape organizational strategy and drive meaningful impact. By focusing on these seven priorities, you position yourself and your team not just to respond to change, but to lead it.

Start small: implement one practical tip from this article this week. Share your experiences with peers. Experiment with new approaches and technologies. The future of legal leadership belongs to those willing to step beyond traditional boundaries and reimagine what’s possible.

I’d love to hear which of these priorities resonates most with you and what strategies you’re implementing in your own legal department. Connect with me on LinkedIn to continue the conversation!