By Deborah Asantewaah SARFO
Businesses across all sectors have been advised to set up legal departments in their respective working environments to mitigate risks that impede business growth.
According to a partner at ENS, Cletus Banseh, having a legal department headed by a competent General Council Practitioner (GCP) will allow CEOs or business owners to understand legal matters in their sector of operation and carry out the company’s activities in a way that does not conflict with the law to reduce risk.
“I would advise that businesses should try to have offices, legal departments headed by very competent general counsels to help reduce risk and help the business to move on without falling foul of the law,” he said.
He explained that some businesses want to avoid the cost of paying a general counsel – however, he urged business owners to hire their services instead, because when the problem arises they will notice that the cost incurred in getting a general counsel is much smaller than the cost incurred solving the problem.
Mr. Banseh advised employers when speaking on the sidelines of the inaugural Legal 500 GC Powerlist, an event organised by ENS in partnership with The Legal 500 to celebrate the country’s most influential in-house legal minds.
He noted that since the work of general counsels is done behind the scenes, their efforts and contributions are not appreciated and recognised; meanwhile, they are the ‘movers’ in corporate institutions and business – ensuring that “everything is done following the law and companies’ risk in carrying out these operations are minimised”.
At the event, over 50 GCPs in sectors such as banking, mining, media, telecommunications, real estate, insurance and others were celebrated for their tremendous role in providing legal advice for their respective companies.
Awardees for the night were GCPs from the following companies: Absa bank, Ghana Stock Exchange, Access bank, Enterprise Group, Zenith Bank, MTN, Media General and Vivo Energy among others.
Compared to other countries, Mr. Banseh stressed that, largely, the country’s legal counsels are doing well and contributing significantly to the success of businesses and other corporate institutions.
An executive of ENS, Joseph Kwadwo Konadu, mentioned that such events will motivate other persons in the sector to strictly adhere to ethics of the job; knowing that when the right thing is done, their hard work will be recognised in due time.
Focusing on some challenges GCPs face, he highlighted creating synergy between the company, the law and external people such as regulators.
He explained that usually when companies are going about their operations, they don’t want to hear all the restrictions from a legal perspective – hence GCPs have to “ensure that the business is meeting requirements of the law and is also able to get business objectives done”.
ENS is Africa’s largest law firm with over 600 specialist practitioners and the capacity to deliver business requirements across all major industries and the African continent. Over many years, it has developed a large knowledge base of resources and a deep understanding of local nuances and ways of doing business.
For 33 years, The Legal 500 has been analysing capabilities of law firms across the world, with a comprehensive research programme revised and updated every year to bring the most up-to-date vision of the global legal market. It assesses the strengths of law firms in over 150 jurisdictions.
