Team size: Two

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

As a very small legal department with a broad scope of functions, it was difficult to find a replacement to support my pregnant colleague. At the same time, we had to face several emergencies and challenging litigation without resources. Also, the impact of the war in Ukraine, the aftermath of Covid-19 and global supply chain disruptions required delving into unfamiliar matters. I had to devise ways to adapt supply agreements and exercise pressure on contractors without having a framework agreement in place and so on. When my colleague left for her maternity leave, I was left to deal with all matters alone.

Do you have an example of a time when you have come up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works that did not result in a large expense?

In 2021, we decided to implement a software to provide access to signed documents to relevant stakeholders and establish a document review workflow to replace the existing review process which was exclusively handled by e-mail.

We started implementing this solution in the first quarter of 2022 and it limited the time needed to review confidentiality agreements that complied with our standards and empowered the commercial teams to independently review CDAs.

I also established indexes to be completed by the person storing the agreement in the software and defined some critical indexes – which cover the typical clauses we focus on in our review – as triggering points for the legal workflow. This functionality involved adjusting the solution with minimal cost, and as a result, the commercial teams had a greater responsibility to carefully read the contract they store in the solution. Also, there was a significant decrease in the number of CDAs due to automatic approval, leading to a corresponding reduction in the time spent on them.

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?

I think the most important quality to have is knowledge of the business in which you operate, including risks, challenges faced and the company vision. Without such knowledge, in-house counsel will only function as legal support and not as a real business partner. It is also important to adapt legal solutions to business needs, considering the main business risks alongside individual strengths and weaknesses in the process.