First, can you please give us an idea of the sort of work your team has done recently? 

Within the broad range of legal matters on which the legal department has worked on in the past year the highlights in 2023 concern legal and advocacy work on international trade law matters in Asia and the EU, the coordination and negotiation of multi-party consortium agreements, some of them partly funded by EU and US agencies, for joint research and development in the field of new technical applications of fiber based products and the negotiation of turn-key contracts for installation of highly innovative energy systems to decarbonise industrial energy and steam demand. 

How does your legal strategy change during periods of instability or uncertainty?  

During times of instability and uncertainty the company’s risk profile needs to be constantly reviewed and adapted (e.g. rising treat of cyber-attacks, comprehensive new sanctions regimes). Business expects the legal department to deal with such new sources of risk immediately to ensure business continuity. Therefore, key drivers of the legal strategy are risk mapping and know how generation/ management to deliver sound legal advice to protect the business and at the same time provide such legal work in an effective and efficient manner. 

Do you make use of any ‘legal tech’ products, and if so, for which areas of your job do you find it most useful? 

Considering the breadth and complexity of legal work today standard legal tools (such as contract management and compliance management tools) help to increase transparency and visibility into legal obligations and risk exposure and facilitate collaboration across business areas. The next generation of AI-powered legal tech products (such as contract review assistants) will certainly improve efficiency which will allow legal departments to spend less time on routine tasks but instead focus on its role as trusted advisor providing strategic legal advice.