In-House Lawyers and Non-Executive Directors: A Discussion About Best Practice

Abstract

Non-executive directors (NEDs) perform a central role in corporate governance, in providing effective challenge to executives. In-house lawyers (IHLs) are central to an organisation’s ability to function effectively and within the law. The relationships between the two constituencies is sometimes not as strong as it might be. In this paper we set out a tentative framework to enable businesses to ensure that NEDs and IHLs have a stronger understanding of each other’s roles and how they can support each other in those roles.

Keywords: in-house lawyers, non-executive directors, corporate governance, ethics