How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?  

During periods of instability or crisis, it is important to stay more closely aligned with the broader business strategy to anticipate legal support needs and to be prepared to respond with less time to research issues than in normal times. This is primarily done through more frequent communication with senior leaders and stakeholders. This enables the legal department to be aware of the critical issues as they are developing, to understand senior leaders thinking about these issues, and to anticipate and research the emerging legal issues.  

It is equally important to keep the legal team informed of the above information so that the team can anticipate and prepare for emerging legal issues. They can also provide information for senior leaders to inform their decisions during the difficult periods. Closely monitoring each member of the legal team for overload or unusually high stress is also important. More frequent checks with each member are needed. They will need extra capacity to respond to a crisis. Reducing the priority of non-crisis related issues can provide some respite that allows members to build that extra capacity. Automating routine tasks can also provide extra capacity. It is also important to be flexible and to be available for senior leaders and legal team members. More frequent ad-hoc requests are to be expected and they will need quicker responses than in normal times.  

What emerging technologies do you see as having the most significant impact on the legal profession in the near future, and how do you stay updated on these developments?  

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the emerging technology with the most significant near-future impact on the legal profession. This impact has two facets:  

AI used by legal professionals to enhance legal services and AI used by businesses. The vast amount of data and high-performance computers used by AI enhance the speed and accuracy of legal research. The skilled user can find the applicable law faster and with more precision using AI.  

Routine legal services such as drafting and reviewing legal documents can also be enhanced by AI. These efficiencies allow legal professionals to focus on the more complex issues requiring human judgment. AI can similarly enhance business operations because of the vast amount of data available and the fast processing speed. AI can find correlations in business data to guide current and future business operations.  

Both of the above uses, by the legal team and by the business, bring risks that must be reviewed and mitigated. These risks, such as bias, are generally known to exist in AI results but more specific information about the AI algorithm and the data is needed to evaluate the specific risk to a business and to mitigate that risk. Although there is a general awareness that AI can be biased and can produce harmful results, there is insufficient understanding of what causes the risk of harmful results and how that risk can be mitigated. As a lawyer and computer scientist, I study the AI algorithms and programming to better understand the risk and I share that understanding with colleagues. Staying updated on the developments in AI and its supporting technologies is very time consuming. Abundant sources of “pushed” information are available to stay updated. Dedicating time to stay informed is essential. Using AI daily and extensively helps me stay updated on the developments. Attending professional seminars as a speaker and participant provides a broad perspective on AI and information on efficiently using AI while mitigating its risks. This also allows interaction with a wide variety of subject matter experts. Teaching AI in a LLM degree program at the University of Fribourg Law School provides the opportunity to engage with a diverse variety of legal professionals at a detailed level about the technical, legal, and business aspects of AI. Explaining the technology to my students requires me to precisely and thoroughly understand the technology.