Ms. Veta T. Richardson

It’s a great honor for us at The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) to collaborate and share content with Lex Witness. ACC is a global association that promotes the professional interests of in-house lawyers, with 45,000 members in 85 countries, including throughout India. We support the global corporate counsel community by providing research, educational programming, advocacy, and networking opportunities.

This is the “age of the general counsel.” The digital revolution has transformed the corporate landscape, from international regulations to data privacy laws. Successful companies are realizing that the general counsel (GC) or chief legal officer (CLO) is indispensable at every level of business operations. And more and more companies are realizing that critical blunders can be prevented when the CLO has a seat at the executive table.

Indian lawyers, who have been following the drafting of a new data privacy framework, will be especially attuned to this change. But no matter where GCs work, and no matter their industry or company size, their challenges are more alike than different.

Legal department budgets, changing regulatory regimes, and the impact of global events on business operations are worldwide challenges. A strong peer network of colleagues, near and far, is the best resource for facing these challenges.

To that end, Lex Witness readers can look forward to regular contributions from ACC with a special focus on India. This will include articles ahead of the upcoming Grand Masters 2019 Summit Series, the most prestigious in-house summit in India, hosted by Lex Witness. But the content will be varied: interviews, analysis, and op-eds. We are proud to support Indian in-house counsel in every way we can, and we look forward to a fruitful partnership.

Veta T. Richardson
President & CEO, ACC