Team size: 95

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

There has been a U.S. Supreme Court case regarding Booking.com. After nearly a ten-year effort to register our trademark, the U.S. Supreme Court held that we could register Booking.com as a trademark. This was a significant victory for our company as it affirms that our brand name has unique significance to consumers.

The legal team has been instrumental in Booking.com pushing its products into new areas, with increasing regulatory complexity. We have set up our ‘Travel Sustainable’ which is our contribution to making it easier for customers to make sustainable choices and for partners to promote their sustainability efforts. We have launched flights products in over 20 countries around the world. We now also have a Fintech strategy that will enable customers to use their payment methods of choice globally. Lastly, we launched ‘A World Worth Experiencing’, the Booking.com Global Public Affairs Blog where we present our policy positions.

How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

Businesses have turned to in-house counsel as trusted strategic partners on navigating an unprecedented crisis and the risks that come with it.

The pandemic has also changed the nature of talent search in material ways. Like many other professionals, legal professionals are now placing greater importance on the values of the companies they join and the work they do. People have choices – salary and benefits remain important, but shared values have never been as important as they are now.

The “seat at the table” is now increasingly a reality for general counsel with companies turning to their legal and public affairs departments earlier for strategic input on commercial, reputational, and other topics.

What do you feel are the pros and cons of an in-house legal role compared to a private practice one?

Each role fits a time and place in a lawyer’s career. Law firms will continue to grapple with the reality that the end destination for most lawyers is an in-house practice. The transition from private practice to in-house can be challenging as the skills and resources needed in each are markedly different. Better preparation, for example through secondments and other dynamic staffing arrangements, can significantly flatten the learning curve for those making the transition.

I love a number of things about being in-house. First, you truly experience “international work” while navigating different regulatory environments and working with people of different cultures.