What are the most significant cases or transactions you and your team have been involved in?

Norddeutsche Landesbank successfully completed the sale of a €2.6bn shipping loan portfolio (“Big Ben” transaction) to an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, a global alternative investment manager. Part of the €2.2bn portfolio was Internship’s vessel mortgages. The transaction required successful transition from the ex-lender to the new lender enabling the company to start fresh with a healthy balance sheet. This transaction led to a new refinancing arrangement with an Australian provider for our owned vessels. Third party managed vessels have represented a significant challenge in the past year both for me and Intership.

Even in the best-case scenario, Covid is likely to have far-reaching ramifications. How are you safeguarding the long-term health of the business?

We are now moving towards the end of the Covid-19 pandemic; however, its legacy is still very present. With an increased reliance on remote working, limited travelling and disrupted supply chains, the impact on the environment has been significant worldwide. The legal industry, and in-house legal departments are going through a transformation. Companies will have to assess their legal obligations and exposure to risks, and strategically align technologies to speed up processes and make them more efficient.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

The world we are living in is becoming increasingly digitalised. Many of the tasks that were previously done manually are now being automated. Digital planning and building models will have impacts within the legal area in shipping projects. Artificial intelligence will be able to offer alternative solutions based on systematic experience and provide guidance for efficient decision-making. However, the need for expertise and experience will not vanish. The biggest challenge going forward will be to keep up with technological developments. I am sure that there will be major changes because of technological developments, but it is difficult to predict what the substantial changes will be. Therefore, one must not look at changes with fear, but see how to make the most of them.