How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience? 

Special situations require the prompt turnaround of advice that is a mile wide yet an inch deep to be both actionable (from management to frontline employees) in as much as uncompromising (to the legal and regulatory exposure). Our legal and compliance functions have aimed to early establish themselves as genuine business enablers in the crisis management team. In an integrated business landscape risks may be potentially systemic; therefore, identifying and neutralising destabilising vulnerabilities is ever more challenging for in-house legal departments.

Our legal strategy invariably calibrates to the market conditions and organisational challenges particular to our business ecosystem to provide tailored, real time and risk-based advice to our management. Our legal solutions focus on the commercial imperatives, market strategy as well as our corporate etiquette to add value to the overall business strategy. Moreover, the legal function runs a cost and benefit impact assessment in advance of proposing any solution to the stakeholders.

What emerging technologies do you see as having the most significant impact on the legal profession in the near future, and how do you stay updated on these developments?  

Generative artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and blockchain are automation tools that are already integrated in our legal operations, thus streamlining time-consuming workflows as well as improving research for our legal professionals. As early adopters, we have invested heavily in the right resources as well as our staff’s continuous development on same, to stay abreast of developments. With a limited number of legal solutions currently on offer in the market grounded in authoritative content, the implementation of automation tools in legal operations and services is cautiously leveraged rather than absolute. Undoubtedly, transitioning and adapting to this evolving landscape will ultimately determine which legal professionals will remain relevant in a technology-driven legal industry going forward.

How do you prioritise diversity and inclusion within your legal department, and what initiatives have you implemented to foster a more inclusive and equitable work environment?  

The diversity and inclusion policy (D&I) acts as a beacon in adopting action-oriented strategies, as well as setting out clear goals, to effectively address diversity and inclusion across the workplace. Our D&I initiatives are reviewed against demographic and engagement data, as well as employee feedback, and finetuned where necessary. Our recruitment guidelines and hiring practices are structured to appeal to a diverse pool of candidates, whilst at the same time aimed to forge strategic alliances with organisations that support underrepresented groups. Moreover, we endorse comprehensive training programmes on unconscious bias, cultural competency and inclusive practices to foster an inclusive work ethic and respectful workplace for all staff.