About

Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to March 2020.

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years?

Given the Canadian businesses are private, there is no public disclosure of our transactions and litigation across the group is minimal. Accordingly, there should be no reference to our transaction or litigation. Our most significant matters over the past few years has been our trade matters and below is a brief description of our significant matters.

ArcelorMittal continually monitors the trade landscape in North America and beyond and is working to protect and develop advanced manufacturing in Canada. Over the past two years, we faced the Section 232 tariffs on steel entering the United States and monitored and worked with the business and the government on the impact of the Canada United States Mexico Agreement. The ArcelorMittal Canadian legal team continues to support ArcelorMittal Canada’s trade, financial, commercial and strategy teams on issues regarding trade. The legal team will also continue to monitor changes to the legislative framework that impacts advanced manufacturing businesses in Canada and provide the necessary support to the business to adapt to these changes.

Our legal team has provided contract negotiating services to the businesses in support of a number of modernization projects across our plants and significant digitalisation and transformation projects, which have, and will continue to, introduce dramatic operational improvements and efficiencies changing the way we work. These projects required legal and compliance support in relation to privacy, data management, procurement, immigration, environment, and health and safety.

How do you feel in-house legal leaders can successfully introduce and implement a culture within a legal department?

Leaders should strive to create a culture that reflects the company culture and values, and aim to attract high-performing lawyers interested in developing and supporting strategic partnerships within the business.

I believe it is important to build an inclusive culture, where members of the department know and appreciate that everyone has different views and ideas and the department is a safe place to ask questions and suggest solutions. Leaders should take the time to understand their team and what they need and what is important to them. Leaders should be people focussed, supportive, accessible, and transparent.

The general counsel wants their team to recognise that they, as a department, need to earn the trust of their business partners. While hard work, good judgment and professionalism are expected, business integration is key to gaining trust. The department needs to invest the time in understanding the business and its objectives and goals. Leaders should help the department to understand the business better and the members of the department need to approach the business with curiosity.

If you had to give advice to an aspiring in-house lawyer or general counsel what would it be and why?

The general counsel should be seen as the most trustworthy advisor who is both transparent and accessible. The GC is often the leader of collaboration – a catalyst to align the different business functions working toward a common goal. The GC needs to be curious, navigate ambiguity with some comfort, and earn their reputation through being credible and trustworthy.

As general counsel, you need to put your ego and ambition aside. You are often working in the shadows helping the executive team and board succeed, all the while never losing your independent voice to speak for your client, the organisation.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners within their company?

Be interested in and engaged in the business; approach the job with great curiosity.

In this sense, smart collaboration is a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. In-house lawyers must integrate their individual, specialised expertise in order to deliver high-quality, customised outcomes on complex issues.

Increasingly, they must also rely on experts in other functions throughout their company and become business partners with managers and executives across their company. Through collaboration, a team of knowledge professionals is able to address issues than none could tackle individually, no matter how clever or hardworking.

ArcelorMittal Canada’s legal team strives to balance collaboration and cross-training to improve efficiencies and client service while also developing subject-matter experts for particular areas of law that impact our businesses.

Our In-house team strives for continuous improvement driven through cooperation, collaboration and diversity of thoughts and ideas. The team invests time to understand the business. We aim to be a meaningful strategic partner to the business. To integrate legal effectively into the business and build a culture of trust and collaboration, we ask to participate on committees and projects, we share information and we set up regular meetings with key business decision makers to improve communication and manage expectations. These steps help legal better understand the needs, risks and goals of the business. Conversely, the business better understands what the legal team can do, how it can add value and how to work with us. By working with the business, our team is better able to align to and support the business goals and advance the business.