Team size: Six

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

There has been unprecedented growth within the organisation in the last 12-18 months, both globally and regionally. The organisation has established new offices, new trading markets and asset classes and has seen a significant headcount increase — Optiver is now a business with well over 600 employees in APAC, having doubled in size in the last few years. The business has diversified its external relationships and further sought to develop a global operating model. Consequently, in addition to the legal support that comes with this, the primary challenge in this context has been the need to develop a fit-for-purpose, scalable, legal operating model that meets the requirements of a maturing business now and in the future. In an industry in which innovation and speed of execution are key, that model must balance commercial agility with sound risk management practices. To be effective in this regard, the legal function must have a clear line of sight of the business strategy and work towards that strategy with a sharp vision of its operating model. Our particular focus has been building corporate governance frameworks and control and assurance programmes.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

A topic that dominates, and while chat GPT has recently passed its law exams, lawyers may not need to pack their bags just yet, I suspect. AI integration into existing legal services is the primary question that grabs headlines today. However, in the shorter term, the more prosaic answer and what I think will be more immediately impactful for in-house teams is in the document management system space. Correctly understanding the market for DMS and what is on offer, assessing the must-haves and nice-to-haves, implementation, transitioning old systems, and integrating these systems for other users within the organisation, such as tax teams, compliance and finance, locally and in other jurisdictions and future-proofing those systems in a rapidly changing environment is all a huge process which will materially impact legal functions. The net benefits, however, will also be critical for in-house legal teams where, at a minimum, a well-organised and accessible repository is essential.