About

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

A case in the field of labour law regarding the employer’s liability for an accident that happened to an employee in the workplace but for reasons solely caused by his improper behaviour. The struggle revolves around the issue of contributing to the damage caused by the injured party and determining whether an inappropriate behaviour of the injured party causing him harm may give rise to liability for damages by the employer.

What changes have you made to the workings of the legal department during your time in your current role? How has that affected the wider company?

The most significant changes I have faced were at the beginning of my work – the creation from scratch of a compliance department within the organisation – as well as increasing the efficiency of the legal department and minimising the costs of external legal services.

The first task consisted in creating from the beginning or adapting to local requirements a number of corporate regulations and policies, creating among employees the awareness of the impact of their actions on the company and, as a consequence, joint responsibility for their actions. The essence was to convince an employee to understand that the effects of his actions, including in particular those in conflict with applicable law, would directly affect the company, its management board and stakeholders. It was difficult because sales representatives often treated all restrictions and requirements imposed on them as actions threatening or delaying their commercial goals.

Increasing efficiency is inseparable from the automation of processes, where this automation does not adversely affect the quality of work. I am talking about the implementation of the system and central register of contracts together with the obligation to register them at the design stage of gaining internal approvals in a specific order and hierarchy. Cost minimisation was achieved by limiting the number of suppliers and centralising the processes of outsourcing work to external offices while changing the method of calculating remuneration from hourly rate to a flat fee.

What do you do personally to promote diversity and inclusion in your company? In your team?

I understand that the question is about diversity in legal matters management. First of all, I pay attention and take into account the specificity of the client, both internal and external. Some departments work with clients running large enterprises, while others work with small, often family-owned companies, and this must be reflected in the content of the contract. Other requirements must be met, even for collateral, for multi-million transactions, and other enterprises incomparably smaller. Setting the same conditions would make the deal impossible or improperly handled. Secondly, I take different opinions and views into account and, if possible, try to meet these expectations Thirdly, I do not reject any ideas in advance. Sometimes it turns out that even from this seemingly most strange and absurd one can draw conclusions and ideas worth considering in this or another transaction. Fourth, I try to be friendly. I want my colleagues to know that my door is open to them and they can always come, make suggestions, talk about everything. When I think about it now, I notice how many fantastic ideas arose from such conversations.

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

Remember that not everyone is a lawyer. In fact, you are often the only lawyer. People have the right not to understand what you are saying, so try to speak to them straight.

Respect their time. Do not postpone meetings for academic consideration. You are not doing an exam at university, you are dealing with practitioners.

The times when the role of a lawyer boiled down to presenting options and the consequences of their choice are over. The lawyer is one of the stakeholders. He is a business partner. You must suggest solutions that you think are right and take responsibility for them. You will never regain trust once lost.

What do you feel are the pros and cons of an in-house legal role compared to a private practice one?

An internal lawyer is a partner for communication with management and employees. They at least should be more honest and willing to present their views because he is one of them. Such closeness creates a unique relationship, like among soldiers on the front. You can count on help, greater understanding of colleagues from the company for ideas and ideas that seem incomprehensible to them or even meaningless but in return they also expect more flexibility and knowledge of the specifics of their work. An internal lawyer must be able to speak on many issues, they must be interdisciplinary and cannot hide under the argument that “this is not my speciality.”

An external lawyer is expected to be fully available, present calm, emotionless judgment, and answer every question in the area of expertise. If these conditions are not met, he will be seen as incompetent. This is a consequence of the fact that the client is aware that every hour with an external lawyer at a currency price, and if so, the requirements will be higher. External lawyers, in principle, are not forgiven of mistakes. Hence they are called to the most complex and risky ventures because, in the event of culpable failure, it is possible to demand compensation in full.