General Counsel Masterclass | Session 3

Please note that this course is designed for LSE Law/Law and Finance students ONLY.

Certificates will be provided to participants who attend all three sessions. 

This three-part Masterclass offers an inside look at the world of the modern General Counsel — one of the most consequential and least understood leadership roles in business today.

Drawing on Bjarne Tellmann’s three decades of legal practice, including seventeen years as General Counsel of global public companies, the series explores how the GC role has evolved from legal adviser to strategic leader, risk architect, and institutional navigator.

The series follows a deliberate arc: from the macro forces reshaping the profession, to the micro realities of life inside a legal department, and finally to the personal choices and capabilities that define career success.

The goal is to equip students with a clear lens on how the legal profession is changing, and what it now demands of those who want to thrive within it, whether in a law firm, in-house, in academia, or with a legal services provider.

Session 3 – (Drinks reception to follow after the event)

The Modern Legal Career: What Law School Doesn’t Teach You. Lessons from a GC

The path of a successful legal career is rarely linear.

In this final session, we turn from institutions to individuals: how careers are built, how opportunities emerge, and what it really takes to thrive as a lawyer in a profession undergoing rapid transformation.

We will draw on Bjarne’s own journey, which took him from law school to law firms, and then to global companies, moving across continents and industries. In so doing, we will discuss the organic and often unpredictable nature of the legal career path. Serendipity matters. So does curiosity – and the willingness to take risks rather than remain trapped by “golden handcuffs.”

We will talk candidly about the differences between life in a law firm and life in-house, and why there is no single “best” path. Some lawyers find deep fulfilment as partners and specialists; others are drawn to the breadth, ambiguity, and leadership demands of the corporate environment.

We will also explore the importance of networking and mentoring, not as transactional exercises, but as long-term practices of intellectual generosity, relationship-building, and professional community.

The session will consider what will distinguish a successful and meaningful career in today’s landscape, blending both timeless wisdom and modern insights in a changing legal landscape. This is ultimately a lecture about agency — and how to shape a meaningful legal career in an era of disruption.

Speaker

Bjarne P. Tellmann is CEO of FjordStream Advisors GmbH and a Senior Visiting Fellow in Practice at the LSE Law School. He spent three decades in global legal leadership roles, including as Founding General Counsel of Haleon plc, a FTSE 20 company, and Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel of Pearson plc, a FTSE 100. He has also held senior leadership positions across Europe, the United States, Asia, and the Middle East at Coca-Cola, Aramco, and Kimberly-Clark, and began his career at Sullivan & Cromwell and White & Case.

Session 1 – 3 March | 5.30pm – 7pm 
Being a General Counsel Today: Careers, Technology, and Change
Location: Student Common Room, 5th floor, CKK

Session 2 – 10 March | 5.30pm – 7pm 
From Law School to the C-Suite: What General Counsel and Legal Departments Actually Do in Today’s Companies
Location: Student Common Room, 5th floor, CKK

Session 3 – 18 March | 6pm – 7.30pm (Drinks reception to follow after the event)
The Modern Legal Career: What Law School Doesn’t Teach You. Lessons from a GC
Location: Student Common Room, 5th floor, CKK