In-house counsel should not aspire to a seat on company boards, the general counsel of British Airways told his counterparts last week.

Robert Webb QC told lawyers at a seminar arranged by the CLO programme, a management development network for general counsel and heads of legal, that the disadvantages outweigh the benefits.

He said: 'Why would a general counsel want to sit on the board? Your age and salary are published, and any big payoff is unlikely, as everyone can see it.

In my view, it is all downside and detracts from a lawyer's ability to give advice.'

He said a lawyer's separation from the board, even though they may be attending board meetings, had advantages for a company's corporate governance strategy.

Richard Wiseman, UK general counsel at Shell International, stressed that responsibility for corporate governance should not fall entirely on lawyers' shoulders.

He said: 'The role of the law in corporate governance is exaggerated, partly because of American influence.

Any corporate governance regime which is created by lawyers, and capable of being interpreted and enforced only by lawyers, is doomed.'

Rachel Rothwell