How to GC
Whether you are a newly appointed General Counsel stepping into a high-stakes corporate environment, an aspiring GC preparing for the next step in your career, or a seasoned legal leader seeking to elevate your impact, having the right playbooks and frameworks can make all the difference.
Growing as a GC takes more than legal expertise. You need strategic leadership, cross-functional credibility, and the ability to drive business results.
This collection offers proven guides, frameworks, and insights to support legal executives at every stage. You’ll find onboarding plans for the first 90 days, practical strategies to build influence, and forward-looking perspectives on the future of the legal function. These resources, curated by Notes To My (Legal) Self are crafted to help you navigate complexity with confidence and clarity.
For GCS navigating high-stakes corporate environments:
Strategic Onboarding for General Counsel:
A Framework for the first 90 Days
Your proven plan to accelerate impact, build credibility, and secure your role as a strategic business leader.
For GCs guiding board communication:
What, So What, Now What Framework:
Effectively Communicating With your Board About Transformative Technology Such as Artificial Intelligence
A proven communication model for General Counsel and executives to brief boards on artificial intelligence, clearly, concisely, and credibly.
For GCs guiding their organizations through uncertainty:
Framework: EQ practice – When Raising Risks, Always Propose Two Mitigations
This framework teaches legal leaders to pair every identified risk with two clear mitigations, one immediate, one structural—so discussions end with solutions, not anxiety.
For GCs strengthening communication confidence in the age of AI:
EQ Practice Activity: “Explain AI to a 12-Year-Old”
This activity trains legal leaders to explain complex technologies, like artificial intelligence, with clarity, empathy, and confidence.
For GCs building data confidence in the age of AI:
The Legal Data Integrity Formula: A GC’s Audit Checklist for the AI Era
This guide helps legal leaders turn legal data from a storage burden into a foundation of trust for confident, AI-ready decision-making.