In a time of geodisruption, general counsel of large multinationals have relied on corporate diplomacy and anti-fragile risk management strategies to stay competitive and secure business interests, according to Lex Mundi’s latest annual General Counsel Summit report.
The report titled “Embracing Geodisruption: General Counsel, Corporate Diplomacy and Antifragility” found that:
- The increasing politicization of business has altered corporate governance and management
- Existential threats to national sovereignty have driven geopolitical volatility
- New pressures on financial, physical, and digital sovereignty have spurred new laws and regulations across key jurisdictions, capital flows, and “serial value chain disruption”
“The accelerating politicisation of business is fundamentally reshaping the role of the General Counsel,” said Helena Samaha, Lex Mundi’s chief executive officer and president, in a press release.
“Legal leaders are no longer operating solely as advisers on compliance and risk, but as strategic partners engaged in corporate diplomacy — navigating divergent regulatory regimes, managing sensitive stakeholder relationships, and helping boards make decisions in conditions of profound uncertainty,” Samaha added.
Amid the volatility of today’s world, Lex Mundi highlighted the importance of understanding national interests and the need for deep local expertise, relationships, and resources. The report seeks to offer strategies for legal leaders to adapt to the current climate.
Applying Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s concept of anti-fragility, which involves the ability to gain from disruption, the report argued that general counsel should:
- Directly integrate geopolitical insight into business strategy and risk planning, given that geopolitical tensions have become an enterprise risk
- Balance competing stakeholder demands amid political scrutiny from all sides
- Advise boards on decisions with legal, political, and social implications, often without clear legal precedents
- Adopt corporate diplomacy when navigating conflicting laws and deal clearances by utilizing intelligence and assets, preparing for policy shifts, influencing sensitive relationships with regulators, and anticipating crises
- Embed anti-fragility into legal, operational, and governance structures to turn uncertainty into a competitive advantage, rather than falling back on resilience and defensive risk management
“Two core capabilities that general counsel can leverage to build competitive advantage in their companies are smarter corporate diplomacy and antifragile risk management, both of which depend on internal and external resources across jurisdictions,” said Eric Staal, Lex Mundi’s vice president (global markets).
Geodisruption
Lex Mundi shared that the current volatility in geopolitics and the risk landscape, including the uncertainty surrounding contract reliability and regulatory stability, has disrupted cross-border strategies, operations, and transactions. The legal network noted that governments have begun interfering directly with markets.
“Our work with General Counsel in the past year focused on how geopolitical volatility impacts the demands they face from c-suites, boards and other stakeholders to enable strategic decisions,” Staal said in the press release. “The insight that national sovereignty is at stake helps to anticipate significant legal and regulatory activity on the horizon.”
According to Lex Mundi, to reconcile business objectives with political forces across markets, businesses have reorganized global footprints, renegotiated commercial relationships, and engaged actively with policymakers.
“What distinguishes leading organisations today is their ability to build anti-fragility: the capacity to adapt, respond and even gain strength from volatility,” Samaha said. “That requires global perspective, deep local insight and legal teams that are empowered to anticipate change rather than react to it.”
General Counsel summit
Lex Mundi held its annual General Counsel Summit in Versailles in October 2025. The report incorporated the insights of 60 senior in-house counsel at blue-chip multinationals and other external experts who attended the event.
Lex Mundi is a legal network of independent law firms across over 125 countries.