What legal and compliance teams handle
Contract work is the daily load: customer agreements, vendor contracts, NDAs, leases, and distribution and franchise agreements, each drafted from templates and negotiated with the other side. Litigation and disputes include recovery suits, consumer complaints, labour matters and property cases, which the legal team manages through empanelled advocates and tracks until disposal. Corporate and secretarial work covers board meetings, minutes, statutory registers and filings with the Registrar of Companies, usually through the company secretary. Compliance teams maintain a register of applicable laws and licences, track due dates, run training on the code of conduct, anti-bribery and POSH, and investigate complaints raised through the whistleblower channel.
- Contracts: drafting, review, negotiation and a contract register
- Litigation: case tracking, counsel management and settlements
- Secretarial: board and shareholder meetings, registers and ROC filings
- Regulatory compliance: licences, registrations, due-date tracking and audits
- Ethics: code of conduct, whistleblower cases, POSH and investigations
Legal and compliance at 50, 500 and 5,000 employees
Up to about 50 employees, legal work is usually outsourced: a CA firm handles company filings, a local advocate handles disputes, and the founder signs contracts after a quick review. The compliance calendar is often kept by the accountant or HR. At about 500 employees, the company hires a legal manager or in-house counsel who owns contracts and litigation, a company secretary for secretarial work, and a compliance executive who tracks licences and labour compliance across locations.
In a 5,000-employee company, a general counsel or chief legal officer leads legal managers for commercial contracts, litigation, real estate and employment law, with a company secretary and secretarial team, and a chief compliance officer who runs regulatory compliance, ethics and investigations. Regulated businesses such as banks, NBFCs, insurers and pharma companies have larger compliance teams with product and regional compliance officers, and legal staff may sit inside each business unit.
How legal works with the business, HR and finance
Legal works best when business teams bring it in early. Sales and procurement need contract turnaround in days, so legal publishes standard templates and a clause playbook that says which changes the business may accept without legal review. HR brings employment contracts, disciplinary matters, POSH complaints, terminations and labour disputes, and legal checks that notices and processes are sound before they are issued. Finance works with legal on tax disputes, recoveries and guarantees. Management relies on legal for board papers, approvals for large contracts and advice on new laws, such as the Labour Codes that came into force on 21 November 2025.
Legal sign-offs and reporting lines
Legal executives and associates report to legal managers, who report to the general counsel. The company secretary and the chief compliance officer may report to the general counsel or directly to the managing director, and compliance often has a direct line to the board's audit committee. Contracts above a set value, for example ₹25 lakh, or with non-standard liability clauses, need legal approval before signature. Litigation settlements need the general counsel and the business head. Filing or defending a case, issuing a legal notice and appointing outside counsel are approved by the head of legal. Compliance breaches are reported to the compliance head and, if serious, to the board.
Typical legal and compliance team structure
Legal and Compliance designation hierarchy
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What does a legal department do in a company?
A legal department drafts and reviews contracts, manages disputes and litigation through outside advocates, advises management on legal risk, handles company secretarial work and filings, tracks licences and regulatory compliance, and runs ethics programs such as the code of conduct and whistleblower channel. It also supports HR on employment contracts, disciplinary actions and labour disputes.
What is the difference between legal and compliance?
Legal advises on rights and obligations and handles contracts and disputes: it tells the company what it can do and defends it when challenged. Compliance makes sure the company actually follows the laws, regulations and internal policies that apply to it, through registers, monitoring, training and investigations. Many companies combine them under one head, while regulated businesses keep compliance separate.
Who does the company secretary report to?
The company secretary usually reports to the managing director or chairman for board and secretarial matters, and in some companies to the general counsel or CFO for administration. Because the role serves the board, the company secretary keeps direct access to the chairman and board members whatever the day-to-day reporting line.
When should a company hire an in-house lawyer?
Hire an in-house lawyer when contracts, disputes and compliance questions arrive every week and outside counsel fees keep rising, or when delays in legal review start holding up sales and purchase. Until then, a good outside firm on retainer and standard contract templates are usually enough. The first hire is often a legal manager who handles contracts and coordinates litigation.