Team size: 130-150

What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

Due to the tech industry’s increasingly complex regulatory environment, it has been challenging to ensure the legal and public affairs team are equipped with the necessary skills and right operating model to deliver strategic priorities.

Do you have an example of a time when you have come up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works that did not result in a large expense?

An especially important company value held by Booking.com is “Learn Forever”. Through continuous learning, we can keep up with an everchanging world – anticipating opportunities and challenges before they arise.

At minimal cost, we have expanded the Learning and Development offering to our team, through two key stakeholders. Firstly, we partnered with the company’s learning and development team to discuss our department’s specific learning needs. Then, we co-created a 10-session training course that addressed different areas of how we work. Secondly, we discussed our department’s learnings needs with a few of our outside counsel firms. Through these conversations, we better understood and promoted the available learning and development and continuous legal education training

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?

Curiosity about the industry, company and the product with an interest in emerging issues in legal and policy are essential to be successful as an in-house lawyer in this industry. It is also important to have sound judgment and the ability to see the big picture while appreciating the details necessary to operationalise the strategy. Furthermore, the successful in-house lawyer must be confident, yet collaborative, with the ability to listen attentively and influence stakeholders across all levels in the organisation.