NEWLY CREATED GENERAL COUNSEL OATH FOSTERS POSITIVE CHANGE WITHIN THE LEGAL PROFESSION, IN ORGANIZATIONS, AND ACROSS SOCIETY

LONDON – 1 September 2020 - Simon Zinger, a lawyer working as a General Counsel, announced a global initiative today entitled the “General Counsel Oath” to accelerate the efforts of legal and compliance leaders in creating meaningful and positive change across the legal profession, their organizations and society. The Oath is available at

https://generalcounseloath.com/

A consistent approach based on personal commitment and collective action

Inspired by the Hippocratic Oath, the General Counsel Oath (the “Oath”) reflects a commitment made to help others by those in a position of power and influence. The Oath asks General Counsel to follow a consistent approach to personal behaviour and action across certain critical areas.

Building on personal and professional behaviours

Lawyers are typically guided by professional and ethical rules, but the Oath goes further by also focusing on personal behaviours that drive social justice and change. The Oath requires commitments under the headings of: Leadership; Diversity & Inclusion; Social Impact & Pro Bono; Internal Clients; External Parties; and Personal Behaviour. Each area details actions and behaviours that General Counsel should exhibit personally and towards others.

Accelerating change by encompassing diversity, inclusion, community service and other areas

In creating a common global standard, the Oath helps to address many challenges faced by organizations and societies today. It contains, for example, a strong focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, pro bono, and fostering action and education relating to antiracism. General Counsel are encouraged to go beyond offering legal and compliance expertise, and to become leaders and role-models for exhibiting, influencing and driving efforts in these and other areas.

Reflecting on next steps, Zinger said, “My goal is to raise awareness about the Oath so that General Counsel and other legal and compliance leaders, no matter where they are in the world, commit to the Oath and translate that commitment into action. Their commitment would naturally be followed by a shift in awareness and behaviour - which should then lead to the broader intended consequence of positively impacting organizations and society.”

All leaders in the in-house legal and compliance profession are invited to support the Oath. Once General Counsel take the Oath, they are encouraged to celebrate and communicate that fact across their teams, work colleagues, organizations and professional networks. The website for the Oath contains logos that can be used for this purpose on, for example, LinkedIn profiles or email signatures.

Please visit https://generalcounseloath.com/

About Simon Zinger

Simon Zinger is a leader, executive advisor and active supporter of pro bono and social justice initiatives, with global legal and compliance experience across the media, telecom, and industrial services industries. With expertise across a range of specialisms such as M&A, corporate governance, commercial transactions, intellectual property, compliance, data protection, and litigation, Simon has advised US, French, UK and Japanese publicly-listed companies. He is qualified to practice law in the UK and the USA.