The “Internal Stakeholder” station focuses on the General Counsel’s ability to identify, understand, and strategically engage with the key internal players who shape the business. Beyond the internal client, the GC must navigate a complex web of relationships with senior executives and functional leaders whose decisions directly impact legal risk, compliance, and corporate strategy.

This station recognises that legal effectiveness is not just about technical expertise - it’s about influence. The GC must be politically aware, commercially attuned, and operationally embedded. Success depends on the GC’s ability to align legal priorities with those of the business, often requiring negotiation, persuasion, and strategic compromise.

Stakeholder engagement is not a soft skill - it’s a survival skill. Whether it’s securing budget, driving compliance, or enabling deals, the GC must work through others to achieve legal outcomes. This means understanding stakeholder motivations, constraints, and power dynamics.

Ultimately, this station is about building a legal function that is not just reactive, but proactive - one that is seen as a strategic enabler rather than a necessary cost. That starts with knowing who matters, and how to work with them.

The scope of the Internal Stakeholder station includes:

◼️Mapping Key Stakeholders: Identifying who holds influence over legal-relevant decisions.

◼️Understanding Stakeholder Mandates: Knowing what each stakeholder is accountable for and how legal intersects.

◼️Building Strategic Relationships: Establishing trust and credibility with senior leaders.

◼️Aligning Legal Priorities: Ensuring legal goals support broader business objectives.

◼️Navigating Internal Politics: Managing competing interests and power dynamics.

◼️Collaborating Across Functions: Working with Finance, Risk, HR, IT, and others to embed legal into workflows.

◼️Influencing Decision-Making: Providing legal input at the right time and in the right way.

◼️Reporting and Communication: Tailoring legal messaging to different stakeholder audiences.

The Internal Stakeholder station is considered a Specialist resource within the GLS Legal Operations model.

A Foundational Resource: Is responsible for determining the overall performance capabilities of a “critical” legal function. If it is not optimised, the function can never be optimised. 

A Repeater Resource: Supports the performance of multiple "critical" legal functions and as such represents a "ripple effect" productivity intervention point. 

A Specialist Resource: Is responsible for driving the performance of a very specific part of an individual legal function. Its productivity contribution is limited to that single legal function. 

The best practice features of the Internal Stakeholder station are as follows:

◼️A regularly updated stakeholder map with clear influence profiles.

◼️Formalised engagement plans for top-tier stakeholders.

◼️Legal KPIs aligned with business unit objectives.

◼️Participation in cross-functional leadership forums.

◼️Stakeholder-specific legal dashboards or reporting tools.

◼️Training for legal team on stakeholder management and influence.

◼️Clear escalation pathways and decision rights.

◼️Documented stakeholder feedback loops to improve legal service delivery.

The Internal Stakeholder station delivers the following value to the Business:

◼️Faster decision-making through aligned legal input.

◼️Reduced friction between legal and other functions.

◼️Improved compliance via embedded legal processes.

◼️Enhanced deal velocity through proactive legal structuring.

◼️Greater strategic alignment between legal and business goals.

◼️Lower risk exposure due to early legal involvement.

For the legal team, this station delivers:

◼️Increased influence within the organisation.

◼️Better resource allocation based on stakeholder priorities.

◼️Improved morale from clearer purpose and recognition.

◼️Greater agility in responding to business needs.

◼️Enhanced visibility of legal’s contribution to business outcomes.

◼️Stronger internal networks that support legal initiatives.

The Internal Stakeholder station is essential for:

◼️Legal Team Leaders

◼️General Counsel

◼️Legal Operations Managers

◼️Legal Business Partners

◼️Legal Transformation Leads

A legal team operating without an Internal Stakeholder station will face a wide range of inefficiencies including:

◼️Misaligned legal priorities

◼️Delayed decision-making

◼️Poor cross-functional collaboration

◼️Increased legal risk due to late involvement

◼️Reduced influence in strategic initiatives

◼️Fragmented communication with business units

While not a tech-first station, stakeholder management benefits from:

◼️CRM-style tools to track engagement and influence

◼️Collaboration platforms for cross-functional alignment

◼️Legal dashboards tailored to stakeholder needs

◼️Workflow tools that integrate legal into business processes