Team size: Six

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

As the world is becoming more complex, so is the regulatory landscape. Regulatory changes are gaining momentum: both the number of regulations and the complexity of requirements that need to be met by companies are increasing. It is more difficult than ever to keep on top of new regulatory and legal developments, especially when working in an international environment. The past year, the rise in sustainability and digital legislation has had a particular impact on the business and our legal team. To ensure compliance with necessary laws and regulations, we needed to find ways to respond to the rise in legislation. The growing volume of work forced us to redefine our ways of working with the public affairs department and make a shift in content focus. Improvements have been made, but it remains a challenge.

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?

With an expanding array of legal challenges and an increased workload, a high-performing legal team is more important than ever. To be effective, we needed to ensure our early involvement in strategic projects and tactical decision-making processes, rather than joining at later stages like after a contract has been signed. Thus, we focused on integrating our standard contract processes into existing businesses processes and on using the same digital solutions as the respective business units. This has proven not only to be a cost-efficient way of digitalising legal processes, but it also improved the process flow and increased overall productivity.

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

In order to deliver legally sound and pragmatic advice as an in-house counsel, it is essential to understand the business’ needs, risks, and operating rhythms. Therefore, a good legal counsel is well integrated with the business and understands their commercial interests. In addition, having good communication skills is key. Your advice should be simple and straight to the point, and complicated legal language should be avoided.