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What are the unique challenges of working as an in-house lawyer in Romania?

In terms of talent, Romanians are very smart, ambitious, innovative and eager to prove themselves as professionals. Offering each lawyer the right mix between routine work, challenging projects, know-how acquisition and mentoring others is the key to retaining high-value individuals and build teams that work well together.

The main challenge for any Romanian in-house lawyer in terms of quality of work-product remains the frequent changes in the legal framework. The request of management and shareholders for compliance is at an all-time high, especially in heavily regulated industries, and legal departments need to stay on top of the game.

If you had to give advice to an aspiring in-house lawyer or GC what would it be and why?

My advice for any in-house lawyer, irrespective of position, would be to be curious, build trust and identify the real “why”.

Be curious about the organisation, the business, the history, the trials and errors as well as the achievements, each team and their background, in order to understand what drives the internal client forward, the changes that are realistically attainable without hurting the company’s objectives and results, the level of legal training that allows people to understand legal concepts and easily identify areas of concern. Have this level of understanding and day-to-day legal support will go smoothly while change periods or crises will be easier to navigate.

Trust is the most important skill for any in-house lawyer, oftentimes more important than legal training or experience. Your internal client has to trust you and your work ethic, for an open and meaningful cooperation. As legal department is often privy to confidential decisions and sensitive problems, management needs to trust in-house lawyers to handle tasks with the ethical level they require.

Identifying the real “why” in any request of the internal client helps in-house lawyers do their job properly. The “why” helps in-house lawyers to determine the most important results the business is trying to achieve in any dealing and focus on securing such results.

In conclusion, know your business, earn the trust of your colleagues, management or shareholder and make sure you understand why you have been requested to negotiate a contract or an internal regulation, to file a claim or settle a dispute.

Where are external legal providers going wrong, and how could they do better?

External legal providers are specialised professionals who know their area of expertise well, and are reliable in terms of delivery and quality of their work product. The ones that excel are the ones that have relevant experience across various industries and pay close attention to client specifics and constraints.

As legal departments have gotten more engaged in business work and projects, developing a high degree of expertise themselves, rather than their past role as legal contract managers or supervisors, there is a growing need of added-value legal advice. Legal teams that can consistently deliver such added-value advice will be favoured by clients.

FOCUS ON… COMMUNITIES

We live in interesting times, where an increasing number of organisations and individuals make a determined impact on the lives of many. It is either by shared information or developing a new system, app or tool. It could be an innovative thing or simply a better version of something that already exists. We have had, in the past, village leaders, kings and queens and religious leaders, but their reach out area was always finite. In today’s world, the sky is the limit in terms of business reach, followers, customers, learning possibilities, financing options and more.

While very liberating, on both professional and personal levels, such connection, communication and a virtual lack of limits comes with a price. It is very easy to disconnect yourself as an individual and as an organisation from the community you live in, the markets you are present in or are newly engaging with, and the authorities you get in contact with. When it is always about you, first and foremost, what you want to obtain or are willing to offer, one can lose connection or never connect with your community, its interests, wishes and hard limits. And no amount of regulatory due-diligence, market research, shiny proceedings or processes or financial returns can compensate the lack of caring.

As people are becoming more aware of this phenomenon, we see sustained effort to rebuild communities’ activism, solidarity and to protect and defend common beliefs and rights.

As professionals that steer, direct or contribute to organisational strategies and directions, we should never ignore the voice of such communities. Irrespective of the form it comes into; such voices and concerns need to be addressed, because they have a right to understand what’s in it for them. What benefits will a new company bring or an existing company give? Does it pay taxes, employ local people, harm their living standards, bring better opportunities for their children, make their lives easier.

In the former communist block throughout CEE, after 1990 most people were simply happy to have stable jobs and take care of their families, so authorities were happy with any functioning company. By 2000, most people had jobs and took basic care of their families but they wanted to increase their living standards, so authorities welcomed any investor and developer, irrespective of origin, technology or purpose as long as it generated some business for the local community, a decent amount of local jobs and paid taxes. By 2010, most people had jobs, either in their respective countries or somewhere within the EU, had increased their living standards and started to aspire for more such as hobbies, skills and even luxury items. By 2019, a lot of people have jobs, financial security and a reasonable amount of self-indulgence possibilities.

However, since 2015, we have seen a steep rise in civil activism, directed either against central or local policies and administrative acts, or against business investments potentially threatening their living standards or the environment, or supporting legislative changes on a high number of issues. The EU is requesting its members to implement non-financial reporting, basically to report on community involvement and engagement on a transparent basis. Some public institutions request, as one of the criteria for the awarding of public contracts, companies to demonstrate social engagement (by amount of donations, completed projects, number of community members reached by such activities). It is very possible that by 2030, if we will have not demonstrated our contribution to our community to be no longer wanted, irrespective of the brand name, financial numbers or outstanding specifics of our products or services.