Our Activities

Connection to a high-quality professional network of peers, available via the GCN interactive website and social media, including LinkedIn and through various meetings and therfore the direct opportunity to learn about best practices and experiences of other GCs. You are able to keep up with the latest developments which are of importance to your job as a General Counsel. It will save you time and money.

The General Counsel Annual Conference is held in the spring and the ultimate annual meeting point for GCs.  With a strong and focused program content and many facilities to meet each other and share best practices. Participation at the General Counsel NL Annual Conference is free for GCN members but prior registration for the GC conference is necessary.

GCN organises yearly a GC Fall Conference. A GC acts as a host and talks about his /her company and organisation and role.We will discuss a specific topic which is relevant for GCs.

We will also split up in smaller groups to meet with other GCs and to instantly spruce and learn from eachother.

Participation is free for GCN members. GCN members will be invited and upfront registration is necessary.

We facilitate General Counsel NL Peer-to-Peer Groups in different regions in the Netherlands. Each group consists each time the same GCs and each group gets together 3 times a year to spruce on work-related dilemmas. We meet at one of the GC ‘s offices.

There are several peer groups, the composition may depend on many factors, such as location, size or scale of  the companies and the like.

The goal is to share best practices with peers in an informal atmosphere. It is our experience that these meetings create a bond of trust between the participants and that topics are discussed in more depth. The topics chosen and conversation can range from nature and the participants needs to contribute topics to the group.

The meetings are always breakfast sessions, from 8:00 am to 9:30 sharp. Petra van Hilst and Michiel van Straaten of GCN act as moderators. They communicate in a timely manner on the place, date and subject of each meeting.

An important condition for success is that there are always enough GCs present. A meeting is cancelled if more than half of the participants is not able to attend. If a meeting is cancelled twice in a row we will discuss its existence. The participant of a peer group should be committed to attend all but at least two of the three annual sessions.

Participation in a peer-to-peer group is free for GCN participants. You can still register for a General Counsel peer-to-peer group in your area.

Please note that there will never be other (external) participants than GCs at the table.

GCN also has an International Expat GC Group especially for non-native General Counsel located in the Netherlands; this groups meets at least 3 times a year.

Please register here.

The General Counsel Benchmark Survey has been published in October 2014 and in 2016. In 2018 there will be another survey among General Counsel in the Netherlands. More information behind the members-only login.

General Counsel Netherlands organizes the General Counsel Award every other year in order to deliver role models who can assist other General Counsel within our community to further develop themselves and adds public awareness and standing to the profession of General Counsel.

The role and position of General Counsel (GC), leaders of in-house legal teams and managers of their organisation’s legal risk, have experienced a significant change recently – especially during the global crisis. GC are no longer confined to a reactive role that consists of fighting fires on a daily basis for their organisations. They are expected to be proactive members of the corporate decision-making team and act as change agents.

New ways of working are essential; GC have to deliver cost-effective and responsive legal services to their businesses, and the GC’s office should lead the way with technology to drive efficiency and manage change and risk. Now is the time to prepare for these challenges.

The General Counsel Executive Program will teach you how to become a modern legal business leader, and how to prepare for future challenges internally and externally.

For more info: www.gcbusinessschool.com

The online General Counsel NL Newsletter will be received regularly and consists of relevant national and international information and news about our GCN activities and meetings.

The GC Newsletters are kept in our newsletter archive, which you can find behind the members-only-login.

The General Counsel NL Magazine provides an overview of the developments and activities of our network.

Please take a look at our General Counsel NL Magazine.

GCs from across the country can interact through our interactive website and  can contact other GCs, of any seniority, from all sectors and from large international companies to medium enterprises. It is a state-of-the-art platform where participants can meet and share opinions and can exchange documents in a protected environment.

The Members Only section of the website (behind a login) provides the following functionality:

• Detailed GCN Agenda
• GC Diamond Box
• GC Jobs
• GC Academy
• GC Newsletters
• GC Forum

Each GC receives a special password for the Members Only section so that you have acces to this information at anytime and anywhere.

Behind the members-only login you will find a comprehensive agenda, which reflects the programming, location and topic details of all GCN activities during the year.

Behind the member-only login you will find the Knowledge Database – the GC Diamond Box – with specific and relevant GCs information (documents, videos and images), such as studies, surveys and reports but also relevant content distributed by our Partners. These are grouped around our Themes and other relevant topics.

Each GC can contribute relevant information and documents for the GC Diamond Box. A place where you will find all the required theme content and relevant information for GCs.

Wondering what jobs are available for GCs in the Netherlands?

Behind the Members Only login our participants can stay informed about General Counsel vacancies.

Behind the Member Only login we will inform you about relevant courses and educational possibilities.

Behind the Members-Only login you will find all formerly distributed General Counsel NL Newsletters.

Behind the members-only login you will find the GC Forum. The GC Forum offers the possibility, in a protected environment, to start up discussions, ask questions  and exchange information (including documents, PDFs, images) with the other participating GCs.