How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience? 

In managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises I, along with my team, take a pro-active approach which involves pre-crisis planning and risk management.

Understanding and assessing the legal landscape and the broader environment in which the bank operates, being aware of legal, regulatory and other trends, developments and areas of instability that may impact my bank, and staying informed through continuous education, enable us to anticipate legal issues that may arise and plan accordingly to manage them effectively.

Aligning legal strategy with the broader business strategy, is crucial to ensure that legal decisions support our bank’s resilience and long-term objectives. To achieve this, I maintain effective and close communication with Senior Management and key stakeholders. Regular updates and transparent dialogue ensure that decision-makers are informed of the legal challenges and implications associated with a crisis. My participation as Chief Legal Officer in the Executive Committee of cdbbank is also very important in this respect, enabling me to fully understand the bank’s goals, priorities, business strategies and areas of concerns.

Proactive risk management involves running various scenarios and assessing the impact on the bank’s business continuity, operations, regulatory compliance, client relationships, financial position and reputation. The outcome of the assessment enables us to build a plan and adapt to legal and contractual arrangements, and establish safeguards and processes to mitigate and manage potential risks. Such plans are reviewed and updated, in collaboration with other stakeholders at regular intervals or earlier if needed.

Managing legal aspects during a crisis involves a holistic and dynamic approach that considers the direct and indirect impact on key stakeholders, both internal and external, ensures effective and transparent communication with them, and provides a thorough understanding of the legal and business implications.

What emerging technologies do you see as having the most significant impact on the legal profession in the near future, and how do you stay updated on these developments?

Emerging technologies like cloud-based systems, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain have a significant impact on the legal profession as they are currently changing the way legal work is conducted. These technologies can assist lawyers with repetitive, routine tasks, allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks. This can reduce the time and cost of legal services and, if used prudently, even help enhance their quality. These technologies can also assist in analysing and reviewing legal texts, conducting legal research, providing drafting tools, handling complex legal datasets, automating documents, and performing legislative analysis. They can also support functions such as data analysis and extraction, and smart legal contracts and enhance collaboration.

However, their adoption introduces ethical, privacy, and security risks, such as algorithmic bias in AI applications. It is therefore important for legal professionals to stay informed and wary of these risks through continuous education. Importantly, despite these advancements, ethical decision making, which is crucial to the profession, remains irreplaceable, as human moral judgement cannot be replicated by technology.

At CDB Bank’s legal department we stay up to date with these developments by participating in conferences, seminars, training sessions, and webinars, subscribing to legal publications, working closely with IT staff and following developments on new components being introduced in relation to the tools and subscriptions we have at our disposal.