GC turnover is not slowing down. Citing Russell Reynolds, former Adtalem GC Chaka Patterson notes that 43% of Fortune 500 general counsel who left in 2025 had served under five years, up from 17% in 2022. Outside hires made up most of the early exits, and the top reason was a bad cultural fit. So much for the long, slow climb to the GC chair.
His angle is the mess left behind. A new GC may reopen old risk assessments, budgets and who runs investigations, and the compliance chief ends up as the keeper of history. His fix is dull and right: put the legal-compliance protocols in writing, keep a live list of open matters, and brief the new GC within 30 days. Eyeing one of those General Counsel jobs? Ask a lot of questions about culture first. That is what sends people back out the door.
“Institutional memory suffers too. The critical context behind past investigations, regulatory relationships and settled remediation commitments often leaves with the departing GC, putting the burden of historical continuity entirely on the CCO.”
Read: Your General Counsel Might Have One Foot Out the Door. Is Compliance Ready? at Corporate Compliance Insights