According to the Association of Corporate Counsel’s “2022 Chief Legal Officers Survey,” in addition to multiple other roles and responsibilities, more than half of respondents (all of whom identified as the highest-ranking lawyer in their organization) also serve as the Corporate Secretary. Fifty-four percent said they hold the title or assume the Corporate Secretary role; of the 42% that don’t, 5% said the Corporate Secretary reports to them directly.
Among other additional noteworthy findings:
- 80% of respondents report directly to the CEO. Of those that don’t, the plurality report to the CFO.
- More than half of respondents indicated they have a reporting line to the board of directors.
Generally on par with the past two years, 77% of CLOs “almost always” attend the board meetings, and 44% meet with the board in executive session.
- Of 21 corporate functions identified, the Compliance function most commonly reports to the CLO (80% of respondents). Notably, 24% of CLOs are now responsible for ESG compared to just 15% in 2020. Compared to 2020, CLOs are also more frequently responsible for Public/Corporate Affairs, Compliance, Risk, and Communications.
- 17% of respondents not currently responsible for Risk, 16% of respondents not currently responsible for ESG, and 16% of respondents not currently responsible for Government Affairs (from a reporting standpoint), indicated that those functions should report to them.
A total of 861 CLOs (67% US) across industries and company types (59% private / 25% public) participated in the survey, which was conducted in September - October 2021.
See “More Legal Chiefs Are Leading ESG; Many Others Want to Have Oversight” (Corporate Counsel) and additional resources on our Corporate Secretary's Office page.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!