Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?

Training our internal clients is key to strengthening the relationship with other functions. We identified the importance of providing training to target people that are frequently involved with contract negotiation and legal matters.

We structured a training on commercial, contractual, and legal conditions based on the applicable legislation, corporate polices and best practices for contract negotiation. Several functions were involved and appointed different roles. They were also tasked with negotiating and closing a contract, using real templates of terms and conditions, and a set of facts that were presented during the contract execution. At the end, the participants were able to see the impact of negotiating properly depending on the risk of every contract.

These targeted trainings do not come at a large expense, yet they emphasise the need for the business and legal team to always act jointly. In addition, other functions were better prepared with the tools for contract negotiation. Training has been a traditional way of engaging with the business, but the training requires an innovative approach with real cases and active participation that allow the participants to feel the responsibilities and importance of other roles.

What challenges have you encountered in implementing effective risk management practices, and how have you overcome them?

Every business opportunity triggers a risk assessment that the legal and contract management team need to carefully review in order to provide proper advice to mitigate it as much as possible while guaranteeing business continuity.

However, clauses in a contract are not the exclusive way of mitigating risks. In my role as Head of legal and now as global contract manager, I have encountered enormous challenges in implementing effective risk management practices. However, I consider companies that conduct a proper risk assessment in a timely manner to have a considerable advantage in contract execution.

One of most important challenges I would say, being able to align the business needs with the legal and contractual advice that could often be conflicting. I overcame this challenge by trying to make the legal and contractual function a genuine business partner, engaging with the business in an early stage, asking and understating the opportunity, amount, scope, and technical aspects of the business. This has helped our function to assess the risk of each opportunity to provide more effective legal and contractual advice.

What is a cause, business-related or otherwise, you are passionate about, and why?

Integrity; acting properly when nobody is watching, doing the right thing when nobody is controlling. Acting with honesty and integrity are part of my core values that I share with the company values. I had the opportunity to promote and enhance the integrity program as integrity officer for several years, and now in my new role as global contract manager, I apply the principles of integrity every day and I believe that every employee should have the hat of “integrity officer” in everything that we do. I have the immense privilege to work in a company that has a strong Integrity program worldwide that is not only a set of documents and policies, but a real culture of integrity.