Team size: 26

What are the most significant cases and transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Over the last 12 to 18 months, my team led a variety of significant legal matters for the company, both in strategic matters and day-to-day legal support for our businesses in Europe and Asia. While some of the transactions cannot be mentioned because of confidentiality obligations, some publicly announced transactions over this time can be included: (i) our formation of a joint venture with Liaoning Bora Group and subsequent startup of the associated facility in China; (ii) legal support during construction and startup for our Circular Steam Project in Maasvlakte, Netherlands in conjunction with our joint venture partner Covestro; and (iii) acquisition of PolyPacific Polymers Sdn. Bhd. in Malaysia. My team has also handled significant disputes across the region, which included arbitrations in London and the Hague, and litigation across continental Europe. Our disputes arose from various subjects including technology licenses, construction claims, environmental indemnification claims, and product liability litigation. We appreciate the challenge of having a variety in subject matters and jurisdictions.

How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

The pandemic brought challenges and opportunities for inhouse counsel that, in many cases, were just an acceleration of trends that we saw pre-pandemic. For instance, the desire for more remote working turned into a sudden necessity during the pandemic. By enabling remote working, we had the opportunity to reallocate resources no longer constrained by physical location; counsel that normally served only one local jurisdiction or one set of internal clients were now freed to support clients globally and in other subject matters. We saw the same opportunity to expand our outside counsel network across jurisdictions. This opportunity came with associated challenges including the increased and varying demand on counsel’s time and cultural friction from working and communicating across jurisdictions. With all these changes, however, our substantive role remained as the business partner and the guardian of the company.

What will be the main focus for the company in the next 12 months and how do you intend to assist with this?

Our team’s focus this year will match the company’s direction and the following emerging societal trends: (i) increased attention to sustainability and ESG issues; (ii) talent development and retention; and (iii) increased subject matter expertise that enables agile decision making. We have grown our talent development team within the department over the last year and it has become a resource for all of our in-house counsel as they consider and chart their own development.