How To Become An Assistant General Counsel: What It Is and Career Path

What is an assistant general counsel and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Charity Rohlfs J.D.

The assistant general counsel is responsible for ensuring a company's compliance with relevant laws and regulations. You are to develop practices, guidelines, and policies with your business team concerning federal, state, and international compliance with laws and regulations. You will be in charge of supporting the general counsel. This is possible by helping in the management counsel of college contracts by reviewing requests for a legal form, drafting, and negotiating proposals.

You are also allowed to provide support in full arrays of areas such as student affairs, academic, international programs, and many more. As an assistant general counsel, your responsibility is to oversee and serve as a liaison with outside counsel, prepare and provide documentation when necessary to implement program initiatives, and conducting legal research, drafting, and legal memoranda. In the absence of the Associate General Counsel, you are to oversee the legal functions of an OGC.

The basic skills required for an assistant general counsel include the ability to communicate well, research and analytical skills, the ability to work under high pressure, and multi-tasking skills. The average salary of an assistant general counsel is $114,000 annually. A bachelor's degree in Law, Political Science, or other related disciplines is required.

What general advice would you give to an assistant general counsel?

Charity Rohlfs J.D.

Associate Professor of Paralegal Studies, Website

Find a mentor and be involved with your local legal associations. Porter Gale said, “your network is your net worth.” And, I couldn’t agree more! As a new paralegal, legal operations specialist, or attorney, growing your network helps in all aspects of your career. You will gain new skills, increase your business development ability, engage in meaningful volunteering opportunities, and truly find an area of law you want to specialize in.

ScoreAssistant General CounselUS Average

Salary

8.7

Avg. Salary $141,227

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 6.27%

Black or African American 5.44%

Hispanic or Latino 7.66%

Unknown 4.36%

White 75.96%

Gender

female 40.52%

male 59.48%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an assistant general counsel

Explore assistant general counsel education requirements

Most common assistant general counsel degrees

Doctorate

51.1 %

Bachelor's

40.3 %

Master's

6.7 %

Start to develop specific assistant general counsel skills

Skills	Percentages
Legal Advice	10.16%
Litigation	9.74%
Legal Issues	6.57%
Legal Support	4.86%
Legal Research	4.52%

Complete relevant assistant general counsel training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New assistants general counsel learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an assistant general counsel based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real assistant general counsel resumes.

Research assistant general counsel duties and responsibilities

Manage debt and equity offerings and relate disclosure under applicable state and federal securities laws.
Manage the litigation referral process; work with examiners and investigators preparing subpoenas, taking witness testimony and reviewing documentary evidence.
Assist in liaising with insurance authorities, responding to regulatory inquiries and managing relationship with region from legal and business perspective.
Draft and assist in the implementation of data use authorizations with all clinical trial sites to ensure compliance with HIPAA regulations.

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When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your assistant general counsel resume.

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