The evolving role of the modern GC: leadership, legal ops, and AI

Decades ago, ambitious lawyers chased partnership. Today, many aspire to the C-suite. Few people have witnessed that transformation as closely as Anne Kerwin Payne, founder and managing director of Kerwin, the Silicon Valley–based executive search firm specializing in in-house legal leadership. In a recent conversation with David Lancelot on the Legal Leaders Podcast, she reflected on how the General Counsel role has evolved into one of the most strategic seats in the enterprise.

When Kerwin Payne began recruiting in the late 1980s, in-house roles were an afterthought. “No one would even pick up the phone to go in-house,” she recalls. Partnership was the goal; corporate roles were seen as secondary.

That perception has flipped. “People that are in-house are businesspeople with JDs,” she says. The shift from legal technician to enterprise leader has been the defining evolution of the past three decades.

From legal technician to strategic enterprise leader

Early in-house departments resembled internal law firms – transactional, reactive, often removed from commercial strategy. Today’s modern General Counsel sits on the management team, shapes corporate direction, and frequently oversees additional functions such as HR, compliance, privacy, ESG, and facilities.

“These lawyers now are sitting on management teams, helping run companies, owning additional functions, strategic advisors,” Kerwin Payne says. “It’s incredible.”

David Lancelot, CLO and EVP at LawVu, frames the change succinctly: legal leaders are now “business leaders with legal skills”. Substantive excellence is assumed. What differentiates modern legal leadership is judgment, commercial instinct, and the ability to design a legal function that enables growth rather than constrains it.

Boards increasingly recognize that you cannot build a durable company without the right GC in place. Legal has moved from a cost center to a confidence center, providing clarity in moments of uncertainty and structure in moments of scale.

The market reset and the road to 2026

The profession’s rise has not been linear. The post-pandemic hiring surge gave way to a prolonged contraction from 2022 through much of 2025. “I’ve seen four downturns in my career,” Kerwin Payne says. “Usually, they last about 18 months. This one was different.”

Layoffs affected in-house teams across industries. For some leaders, searches stretched far longer than expected. Even the most accomplished legal executives felt the strain.

But as 2025 progressed, the market began to reaccelerate. “In the last six months the in-house market has picked up tremendously,” Kerwin Payne observes. AI innovation, regulatory complexity, geopolitical volatility, and renewed venture funding are driving fresh demand.

Heading into 2026, the signals are clear:

• AI governance and privacy leadership are core board priorities
• Commercial counsel will remain in demand as companies refocus on growth
• Venture-backed businesses are investing earlier in experienced Heads of Legal
• Boards expect leaders who can scale infrastructure, not just solve problems

Resilience has become part of the in-house identity. Markets cycle. Strategic readiness must not.

AI fluency and the operational backbone

Perhaps the most significant inflection point is technological. The rise of AI has accelerated expectations around legal sophistication.

Kerwin Payne describes the growing preference for “tech-native” legal talent – leaders who have scaled product-driven companies and understand AI not as a headline, but as enterprise architecture. “They get it. They talk a certain way. They’ve been deep in that.”

Some seasoned GCs are proactively upskilling. She recounts one who took a year to study AI deeply to remain relevant. That level of intentional learning is increasingly what boards expect.

AI governance in legal is no longer niche. It intersects with product development, data strategy, litigation exposure, compliance, and operational efficiency. CEOs want legal leaders who can articulate risk in commercial terms – and opportunity in responsible ones.

As Lancelot notes, “You can’t drive strategic change without an engine room behind you.” That engine room is increasingly legal operations.

Once considered administrative support, Legal Ops has become strategic infrastructure. Kerwin Payne describes today’s Head of Legal Ops as “the consigliere on the operations side to the GC”. In many organizations, they function as chief of staff, technology strategist, and cost architect.

Yet structural gaps remain. Companies routinely fund Sales Ops and HR Ops as essential engines of performance. Legal, by contrast, has historically been asked to “do more with less”, often without equivalent operational investment.

That mindset is changing. The most forward-thinking boards now understand that scaling legal departments requires systems, metrics, and technology. You cannot ask a GC to modernize risk management while handing them a yellow pad.

The lesson is clear: a modern legal function rests on people, process, and technology. Without that foundation, even the strongest leader will be constrained.

What strategic leadership looks like

If one word dominates senior hiring conversations, it is strategic. “People think they’re strategic, but they’re not,” Kerwin Payne states.

Substantive expertise is table stakes. What differentiates candidates at the GC and Head of Legal Ops level is measurable capability:

• Outstanding judgment under pressure
• High EQ and business fluency
• The ability to scale teams and systems
• A track record of developing talent
• Leaders who “bring a following” – people want to work for them

Strategic leadership is not about having big ideas. It is about solving the pain points in front of you while anticipating the ones that are coming. It is the ability to articulate a 12- to 24-month roadmap for legal infrastructure, align it with enterprise objectives, and execute it.

The best legal leaders do not simply answer the question presented to them. They redesign the system that produced the question in the first place.

That is what boards mean, often without fully articulating it, when they say they want someone “strategic”.

Staying visible in an intense role

As in-house roles expand, so too does their intensity. Many senior leaders find themselves operating in what Kerwin Payne calls a “black box”– deeply immersed in their organizations but disconnected from the broader market.

Even the most accomplished legal executives can feel isolated at the top; responsible for everything, visible to few. That invisibility carries risk.

Her advice is disciplined rather than dramatic:

• Schedule quarterly “career time”
• Refresh LinkedIn thoughtfully
• Maintain one or two trusted external conversations per month
• Raise your hand for panels or discussions
• Document strategic initiatives, when appropriate, to demonstrate impact

This is not self-promotion. It is professional resilience. Lawyers are trained to execute. Modern legal leaders must also articulate their value: in interviews, in boardrooms, and in the market.

The leaders who navigate cycles most successfully are those who treat career development as deliberately as business strategy.

A profession built for influence

The arc of the in-house profession is unmistakable. From an alternative path in the 1990s to a central leadership function in 2026, the trajectory has been toward greater influence, complexity, and opportunity.

Yes, expectations are higher. AI has accelerated change. Boards demand operational rigor. The bar for leadership continues to rise. But rising bars signal rising relevance.

The in-house profession has never been more demanding. It has also never been more influential. For legal leaders prepared to evolve – to deepen judgment, embrace technology, build operational backbone, and invest consistently in their own development – the next decade will not simply be about keeping up. It will be about leading.

This article is adapted from a recent discussion between Anne Kerwin Payne and David Lancelot on the Legal Leaders Podcast. To watch the podcast, click the link here.