How have you attempted to bring the legal department closer to your business colleagues?

The deputy general counsel has meetings every few weeks with the heads of procurement and commercial to discuss work being carried out for their business units. This has two benefits; (a) informing them about what legal work we are doing for their teams and (b) getting input from them on their key goals to enable the legal team prioritise work in line with business strategy.

How does the in-house legal function contribute to the overall dispute resolution strategy of the organisation?

The legal team plays a lead role in managing disputes, contributing at every step during the process. Our first aim is to avoid disputes by having contracts that clearly set out the rights and obligations of all parties and to give internal stakeholders the advice they need to hear rather than what they want to hear when issues arise.

When a dispute emerges, the team’s role is to estimate as best they can what the end result may look like if one or both sides take an adversarial approach and commence legal proceedings. We have a low tolerance for advice that we have a stateable position on one point or a defensible position on another. We have learned through years of experience that courts tend to put the legal submissions of one side in the bin (where they belong). We find litigation takes on a life of its own with both sides taking positions they find it difficult to move from.

This applies to commercial people in our business units and can also apply to internal and external counsel. Unbiased clarity of thought is the key weapon to be deployed, as protagonists on both sides in litigation generally overestimate the strength of their arguments and are frequently not helped by external counsel who do likewise. Our experience is “your first loss is your smallest loss” – if you are going to lose, work this out early and adapt your strategy to minimise the financial loss and waste of executive time.

Have you used AI in your day-to-day work? If so, how useful do you find it?

We have started using the Luminance AI platform to assist in reviewing third party and internally generated agreements. Having applied the technology first to NDAs, the team has moved on to terms and conditions of sale and supply agreements with customers and suppliers. It is at an early stage of implementation, so a definitive view cannot be given as to how much value it adds in reducing the time input of internal lawyers or the quality and consistency of legal output. However, the early signs are promising, and the Luminance tool can be expected to add more value over time as it learns from our contract database and the way we do things legally.