Team size: Four

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?

We recently implemented legal workshops, in which I share my experiences with particular cross-border transactions, setups, projects, litigations and lending in many jurisdictions. In sharing such information, it not only increases the skills of the lawyers on the team, but also makes work more interactive and joyful. This is also being expanded to that my colleagues to have a chance to share their experiences also.

Apart from legal matters, has the team worked on other company initiatives?

We have begun implementing commodity trade finance establishment project (documents, team setups, workflows, and processes). I lead the project which included drafting documents, team setups, workflows, processes (not only for legal, but also business units) and training all of my colleagues at the company. It is, and will continue to be, one of the core business areas of the bank.

We also recently established a collateral management unit. I trained (together with the team) some colleagues from the operations department for approximately six months and established the new collateral management unit from scratch. Now they perform under the operations department, and it was a success and additional unit to the bank.

A collateral check project was also initiated. I set up a team with all of the legal, operational, credit and corporate banking departments in the company to check the existing collaterals and all documents within the bank, in order to identify the risks and take necessary actions if needed. This process took around two years and ended up being very beneficial for the bank.

Can you sum up the team culture/ethos in one sentence? 

Our colleagues are expected to be supportive, constructive and influence each other in a positive way. Of course, every employee has different skills; however, we support each other and learn from each other’s strengths. We value trust and open communication.