Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?

Our legal team concluded that having robust documents with many complex clauses does not always guarantee that clients or suppliers will comply with the agreed terms. Being able to understand our needs as a company, and the importance of the other party fully understanding what they are committing to becomes necessary. The legal design initiative at Yara involves applying design thinking to complex legal information to make it more accessible and easier to understand. We needed to create a new way to contribute and connect with our internal and external clients, devise better processes, and achieve better results in a more useful, understandable, and attractive environment. As a result of applying legal design to our legal documents and processes we achieved a reduction of more than 50% of the text in most documents. So far, we have transformed some 40 contract and policy templates. As a team, we incorporate legal design as a way of thinking while working on our daily tasks. The idea of the lawyer who gives long and complex answers to his clients is history for us. We became strategic partners to our key stakeholders within the company and, as a result, our involvement in business analysis and decisions increased considerably. Our motto: More simple, more legal!

What measures has your company taken to embed sustainability practices into its core business operations, and how does the role of the general counsel contribute to driving and ensuring sustainable practices within the company?

Sustainability is at the heart of what we do. The company has taken several sustainability measures so far, but I would like to highlight a collaborative project between the legal and procurement departments in this area. To achieve our goal of being climate neutral by 2050 we need to inspire and encourage our suppliers to go down the same path, because to be a sustainable company offering sustainable product solutions, we need a sustainable supply chain. Sustainable supply chains are more resilient, reduce risk and lead to better performance in all aspects, including profitability. In this context, we came up with the idea of creating the sustainable procurement programme. This is a framework of processes and tools to ensure that sustainable procurement, and our ambition to improve the transparency and sustainability of our supply chain, is integrated into the daily work of our suppliers. We want to develop long-term relationships with suppliers that share Yara’s values and that enable Yara and our suppliers to meet business objectives in a socially and environmentally responsible way. This is a project created and developed jointly by the procurement team and the legal team and has become a great initiative to drive and ensure sustainable practices within our company.

What steps do you take to ensure the successful integration and adoption of new technologies among your team members?

We start by doing a SWOT analysis and answering the following questions, what do we need to keep doing? What do we need to change? And what should we stop doing? The result was a brainstorming on how to improve and define new technologies to implement. In the second phase, after starting to use the new technologies, we had the opportunity to see the improvements achieved through the time invested and the quality of the service provided, as well as the feedback from stakeholders.

How do you prioritise diversity and inclusion within your legal department, and what initiatives have you implemented to foster a more inclusive and equitable work environment?

Yara has a clear global D&I culture, we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year we have various activities to encourage and motivate our people. I am a sponsor of the D&I Programme at Yara, and I always encourage my team to proactively participate in D&I activities. As a legal team we are a very diverse team, as we are seven lawyers of different genders, idiosyncrasies, culture, and religion, and we all have different ideas and goals, but showing respect for each other and giving each other equal opportunities enriches us as a team.