Oct 11, 2026 · 49 min · 14 segments
Transitioning from a traditional legal role to a trusted business leader requires mastering high-stakes decision-making and executive acumen. Surviving the hot seat in the C-suite means moving beyond…
Chaka PattersonGuest
Joseph SchohlHost
Let's, uh, let's talk about, uh, your current company and what you're doing, uh, to help people like you and like me back in the day when, you know, in that first GC role.
So really the, the focus of the company is to help lawyers turn their legal expertise into business impact.
'Cause one of the things that, uh, I realized early on with my team, and then both at Exelon and, um, at, at Talem, and then back in private practice talking to my clients Is people tend to be heads down, legal focused, and that's just, you know, that, as you know, that, that's not the job, right? The, the job is to help the business do whatever it's in business to do, right? Sell more widgets, sell more services-
Um, and, uh, y- you know, oftentimes you see legal departments acting as if they are a, just, just a step removed from outside counsel, right? But they, they kind of sit outside the business and sort of lob advice at the business.
[laughs] You work here, so you're not outside of the business, right? And you, you have to eat the...
So I use the, the kitchen metaphor, like, you know, you, you have to eat the cooking-
so you have an absolute right to go see how the chef is chefing, [laughs] right? What, what, what ingredients is the chef using? Are they fresh? Are they safe? Are they, you know, is all the equipment clean, right? That, you, you, that's what your role is.
Your role is not to sit in the dining room and be like, "Oh, I wonder what the chef's doing now," [laughs] you know? And, and only if somebody gets sick do you, you know, do you get involved.
The approach is to be, uh, omnipresent because you're a really, really smart person, and if you, once you, if you make an effort to really know the business, you can actually really help the business.
Because a lot of times, you know, they get invested in whatever the strategy is, and if you're upstream enough, you have an opportunity to be just a really smart person in the room and say, "Hey, why, why are we doing that again?" You know, does it, does it, and why, and why now? And, you know, you can help them shape the decisions and n- not just from a legal perspective, that's sort of table stakes, but really help them shape these business decisions, uh, that drive revenue, drive profits, and, and most importantly, let's keep all the upside that we've-
I do that through, uh, one-on-one coaching with, uh, principally g- general counsel and deputy general counsel.
Let's, uh, let's talk about, uh, your current company and what you're doing, uh, to help people like you and like me back in the day when, you know, in that first GC role.
So really the, the focus of the company is to help lawyers turn their legal expertise into business impact.
'Cause one of the things that, uh, I realized early on with my team, and then both at Exelon and, um, at, at Talem, and then back in private practice talking to my clients Is people tend to be heads down, legal focused, and that's just, you know, that, as you know, that, that's not the job, right? The, the job is to help the business do whatever it's in business to do, right? Sell more widgets, sell more services-
Um, and, uh, y- you know, oftentimes you see legal departments acting as if they are a, just, just a step removed from outside counsel, right? But they, they kind of sit outside the business and sort of lob advice at the business.
[laughs] You work here, so you're not outside of the business, right? And you, you have to eat the...
So I use the, the kitchen metaphor, like, you know, you, you have to eat the cooking-
so you have an absolute right to go see how the chef is chefing, [laughs] right? What, what, what ingredients is the chef using? Are they fresh? Are they safe? Are they, you know, is all the equipment clean, right? That, you, you, that's what your role is.
Your role is not to sit in the dining room and be like, "Oh, I wonder what the chef's doing now," [laughs] you know? And, and only if somebody gets sick do you, you know, do you get involved.
The approach is to be, uh, omnipresent because you're a really, really smart person, and if you, once you, if you make an effort to really know the business, you can actually really help the business.
Because a lot of times, you know, they get invested in whatever the strategy is, and if you're upstream enough, you have an opportunity to be just a really smart person in the room and say, "Hey, why, why are we doing that again?" You know, does it, does it, and why, and why now? And, you know, you can help them shape the decisions and n- not just from a legal perspective, that's sort of table stakes, but really help them shape these business decisions, uh, that drive revenue, drive profits, and, and most importantly, let's keep all the upside that we've-
I do that through, uh, one-on-one coaching with, uh, principally g- general counsel and deputy general counsel.
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