General counsel foresee six-month shock to their businesses, survey finds

According to research carried out by Morrison & Foerster (MoFo), general counsel in global business are expecting the impact of Covid-19 to be severe for the next six months. Around the globe, 110 GCs  from 20-24 March, with company revenue ranging from less than $250m up to more than $20bn, took part in the poll rating an average of 7.2 today and 7.1 in six months’ time the impact of the pandemic on a scale of 1 to 10. These levels fall to 5.7 in 12 months and 4 in two years’ time.

A majority (63%) reported an increase in their workload as a result of the crisis, with a further 20% reporting that their workload has remained the same but changed. It’s in particular employment, human resources, contracts and supply chain disruption that have been hit by the crisis. Interesting to notice that other risks such including data security and privacy are receiving less priority.

The top challenge of the GCs surveyed was ‘providing advice in unprecedented circumstances (64.5%) followed by ‘making decisions in an uncertain environment’ (55.5%). Among popular strategies they have deployed to tackle the challenging situation there are: transparent and frequent senior management communications to employees, placing employee well-being first and foremost and using online technology to stay in touch and on top of issues.