Team size: Eight

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Banking Circle is on a growth journey that has presented highly complex legal matters, including securitisation transactions, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, financial license applications, and various product launches. As a legal team in an innovative growth company within a highly regulated space, you are faced with many challenges. We map regulations and assess which regulatory regimes and requirements might apply, often in a vacuum where novel solutions may not fit into the current regulatory landscape and without precedents to rely on. Consequently, the legal team at Banking Circle is deeply involved in the design and description of new products to ensure that all legal aspects have been covered.

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

First of all, having a genuine interest in the business is essential. Otherwise, it will be difficult to be successful as an in-house lawyer. Furthermore, the ability to navigate complex legal issues and balance legal risks with business objectives is essential for success. In other words, you need to be able to solve the business’s problems rather than just provide legal advice to the business. In my view, the job is to help the business achieve its commercial objectives, not just minimise legal risk. As part of this, it is important to be able to critically analyse the advice you get from external lawyers. Often, it can be too conservative, aggressive, or simply plain wrong, so it is important to be able to filter that advice to the business and give your take on it rather than just passing the advice on. Finally, it is a quality to be creative and be open to exploring alternative solutions to deliver value to the business. In-house counsel who can provide alternatives for the business to consider will succeed and earn the trust and confidence of their colleagues.

How have you fostered a closer collaboration between the legal department and your business counterparts?

Collaboration with business counterparts is essential to address legal and regulatory issues effectively. To create close collaboration, it is not sufficient to show solid legal skills alone. Fostering collaboration requires demonstrating a deep understanding of the business environment and industry trends. A general counsel who excels in communication skills can effectively bridge the gap between legal and business teams, fostering a harmonious working environment.

Further, legal teams must also take it upon themselves to become business partners rather than a team that works in silos. If time allows, it can also be beneficial to have regular cross-departmental meetings. It is not just about sharing updates but also understanding challenges faced by other departments. This can make it easier to tailor legal advice to be more practical and business oriented. A closer collaboration can also be achieved by having legal team members spend a day with other departments, like a mini-internship. It builds empathy and a better understanding of what each side deals with, which can lead to greater collaboration.

Do you have a cause, business-related or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

I am particularly passionate about mentorship as well as the development of legal-technology solution.