About

In line with the company’s ethos of win, lead and serve, Faz Hussen’s legal team at McDonald’s has been concerned with post-deal consolidation following the major S$400m deal for 20-year franchise rights to Singapore and Malaysia agreed in late 2016. Hussen himself has also taken on an additional new role with the company, and is now one of three company officers and a part of the board of directors; he is now ‘privy to quite a lot more business developments in terms of assessing business opportunities’, which has been ‘very interesting’. The transition to more business-focused role is one that many high-achieving in-house lawyers are increasingly offered the opportunity to take, and Hussen provides some insight into what is required to be successful in this: ‘It is definitely a mindset shift. All the training that we have as lawyers is looking at risks – when you have a seat on the board you have to look at the business and what we are trying to achieve. Risk is still a consideration but, importantly, you have to see what costs and benefits are available to the company and how this is balanced with the risk of a course of action. This might seem like a subtle change, but in terms of your overall thinking this is actually a big difference. Only when you do this will you earn the trust of commercial colleagues’. Hussen is at the forefront of technological advancement both in the legal team and the company as a whole, and is a keen exponent of the business opportunities that this can create. ‘The gig economy has massively changed how we can deliver food to people and is one area that the team and I have been able to bring ideas and opportunities to the table for the company. Within the team, in terms of due diligence, technology automates this process very successfully, which allows the team more resources to do higher level legal work of more strategic value to the company’, says Hussen.