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

Looking back, one year ago, we were finding our way back to the office following the Covid-19 lockdown. At the same time, we had a very high workload in the team and the outbreak of the Ukraine war, of course, led to lots of extra work as well which required a lot from the team members. If I would choose one challenge in the past years, it would be the challenge of maintaining our fantastic team spirit and keeping the team members motivated while working remotely and being under a lot of pressure due to both high workload and effects of the lockdown.

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?

Innovation is putting the bar remarkably high. In our company, and I believe generally, innovation is something that no one has done before. And I cannot pride myself with that.

Our department is in the same situation as many other legal departments. We are expected to do more with the same resources, even if we are already under high pressure. Besides that, increasing the number of team members is not always the solution. We have addressed our workload by finding new ways of working and optimising the existing. For ex, you must be very sharp on prioritising, be clear on what your service portfolio is and what to outsource. You will also increase efficiency by finding the right legal tech- and self-serve tools to enable the business to do more by themselves. We constantly try to prioritise to ensure highest output and impact by focusing on strategic and high risk matters and by that try to disregard all the trivial things that are constantly distracting us, which is easier said than done!

So, the transformation journey our department has been through (and still is on), is not an innovation. It is rather about adapting to the constantly transforming business and finding new ways to improve and keep up with time.

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

Even though the legal department is kept together as a central team, our in-house lawyers are very integrated into the business and members of different management teams and forums. The integration into the business is something that we have been working on for quite some time. Understanding and being part of the business is crucial if you want to become a trusted business partner and “go-to” person and work proactively. Also, like every lawyer would say, you must be solution minded and find ways around issues rather than being a blocker. It is also important to have the ability to communicate in a simple non-legal language. Finally, as the outside world and the business needs are constantly changing, it is also important to be open to change and listen to feedback. You cannot stay in the same place, you must develop alongside the business. And importantly, this way the legal team will also be better positioned to anticipate what the future needs will be.