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The GC Academy

An accelerated learning programme for GCs

Join the next cohort The GC Academy in action

About the GC Academy

Are you preparing to step into a General Counsel (GC) role soon, just started your first GC appointment, or already working as a GC and hoping to feel more confident in your position?

The GC Academy is a hands-on development program created to provide you with essential tools, practical skills, and connections to lead a legal department and advance your leadership abilities. It’s ideal for anyone eager to build expertise crucial for progressing their career and managing a legal team effectively. By joining the Academy, you will join a community of over 50 GCs in a valuable network of peers who can help solve challenges through organised group coaching.

The programme draws on knowledge from the Mishcon de Reya legal faculty, executive coaches, experienced GCs, and experts from the Mishcon Academy. The GC Academy delivers a thorough and engaging educational journey across four connected modules.

Financial literacy and the key metrics to measure success

This module enhances your financial literacy and ensures that you can demonstrate how the legal team adds value to the company.

Course details

You will learn to:

Understand the P&L and Balance Sheet of your business
Become familiar with the financial language surrounding financial statements
Gain insights from a CEO/CFO about how they measure legal performance and which metrics they prioritise
Understand and review your own Company’s financial statements

Module lead: Christian Papworth, Academy Leader

The role of the legal ops to improve the delivery of legal services

This module explores how to implement and develop your legal ops strategy to enhance the delivery of legal services.

Course details

You will learn to:

Understand how legal ops can improve the delivery of legal services and where to focus your efforts
Design a legal ops strategy appropriate for your organisation, considering current resources and success metrics
Optimise allocation of legal spend and manage external law firm relationships to maximize the legal team’s effectiveness
Develop an agile legal ops strategy that scales with the planned growth of the business

Module lead: Ashley Williams, Partner

LegalTech for strategic impact

This module helps you identify where technology can drive strategic impact and the confidence to select and implement new tech-enabled ways of working in your organisation.

Course details

You will learn to:

Deepen your understanding of the LegalTech landscape, including the increasing use of AI in legal, and the different ways that these technologies are being used.
Prioritise challenges worth solving and assess the real need for technology solutions, through an enhanced appreciation for its capabilities and limitations.
Lead your organisation through adoption and change, engaging the right vendors for the right challenges, driving new ways of working and measuring success.

Module lead: Dan Sinclair, Partner (non-lawyer), Lewis Quinn, Manager, Innovation Economy

Becoming a leader

This module supports you in shaping your leadership style as you transition into a senior leadership role.

Course details

You will learn to:

Explore your individual leadership preferences and reflect on how to interact with others.
Manage time effectively to prioritise and action your leadership style.
Link board strategy to day-to-day operations, acting as the axis and translator of legal strategy.
Prepare a Personal Progress Plan outlining why, what, and how to implement your own leadership approach.

Module lead: Christian Papworth, Academy Leader

Joining this programme is about sharpening my approach, carving out time to explore areas where my experience is limited (or non-existent), learning from others who are at different stages of the journey, and building a network of like-minded colleagues who are dealing with similar issues and uncertainties for practical and moral support.
Heather Panton, Labrys

Being a GC, particularly as a sole lawyer or a small team, can be a lonely gig. It is truly invaluable and a privilege to be able to share experiences and tips with, and learn from, amazing lawyers in exciting companies doing a similar role and facing the same challenges on a daily basis.
Imran Bhatia, Westmont Hospitality

It's really rare to be able to get this level of practical guidance I the inhouse legal world and it’s a really great time to set aside and really think about what you are going to do without the day-to-day role with the legal ops and leadership, and really spend that time thinking about how else you can develop
Samantha Kingshott, JOE & THE JUICE

When: Enquire to find out when the next available spaces are.
Where: Mishcon de Reya, London Office (In person only)

Format: Each module is delivered across four half-day sessions, with no more than one a month. Each day, you will receive lunch ahead of the session commencing.

Cost: The price is £5,000 plus VAT. The price for the programme is structured to build a lasting partnership as you and your team develop. This fee will act as credit for legal services with Mishcon de Reya or Flex Legal.

Register your interest

To register your interest, complete the below form to receive the GC Academy brochure with all of the details and a member of our team will be in contact to discuss next steps and answer any questions.

Delivered in partnership

The programme is delivered in partnership with Flex Legal. Flex Legal started with a simple question: what if busy legal teams could instantly connect with the lawyers and paralegals they need? Fast forward seven years, Flex is doing exactly that, and is now one of the UK’s fastest growing companies.

Visit Flex Legal