Reacting to increasing regulatory burdens, the role of General Counsel is starting to evolve from being viewed as a “necessary evil” to an integral part of the business.

That's according to a new study by audit, tax and advisory firm KPMG that solicited the views of 320 in-house General Counsel in 32 countries.

The report, “Beyond the Law: KPMG's Global Study of How General Counsel are Turning Risk to Advantage,” found that 67 percent of respondents say they have become more involved in business decisions than they were five years ago. Most (79 percent) agreed that companies can excel when they leverage their legal teams early in the commercial decision-making process, especially in a business landscape requiring more adept risk management amid increasingly complex regulatory challenges; in North America, 96 percent of respondents felt that way.

It was acknowledged, however, that many still view the legal department as a traditional, last-stop approval function, or worse, as a “necessary evil,” a phrase used by nearly a third of those interviewed.

More than 90 percent of respondents said regulatory volume and complexity pose the greatest risk to their organizations; early 70 percent said their companies now include training for GCs on legislative developments in order to help them anticipate issues before they arise.

The top regulatory concerns over the next five years were identified in the report as competition and anti-trust (39 percent), consumer protection (34 percent) and anti-bribery/corruption (32 percent). Fifty-eight percent of respondents cited resource constrictions, noting that they have sought outside advice for their organization's regulatory and compliance issues.

Most General Counsel (83 percent) operating in the technology sector expect more disputes to evolve, with regulations and intellectual property being the area of biggest concern for most respondents (78 percent) in the next five years.

Several recommendations are offered for GCs looking to expand their role within a company. Among them:

Take the time to really understand the business and its risk appetite and work closely together with those dealing with the risk and governance agenda

Engage directly with the organization's senior decision-makers

Spend time embedded in the other parts of the business

Put “dispute avoidance” before “dispute resolution”  and be flexible in dispute-resolution strategies

Stay up to date with the ways the business uses new technologies

Analyze past incidents to anticipate future risks

Be adaptable in responding to different regulatory environments

“It is [often] the role of the Internal Audit and Compliance functions to confirm that the policy put in place at the behest of the General Counsel has actually been implemented,” says Richard Girgenti, an attorney and forensic leader for KPMG. “It is important that these functions speak a common language on corporate compliance.”