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?

We believe that managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis requires a proactive and strategic approach to ensure an organisation’s resilience.

To address this, it is essential to develop a comprehensive legal response plan. The legal response plan should outline strategies for addressing each prioritised risk, including immediate actions to mitigate any ongoing or imminent legal issues. This plan should be aligned with the broader business strategy and take into account the organisation’s goals, values, risk tolerance, most importantly the organisation’s reputation and goodwill.

Conducting scenario planning is also crucial. We develop different scenarios of potential crises or instabilities and anticipate the legal challenges associated with each scenario. This helps in being prepared and formulating proactive strategies to handle various legal risks that may arise.

Collaboration with internal and external stakeholders plays a vital role. During times of instability or crises, collaboration between the external law firms and other internal stakeholders such as banks and financial institutions are crucial. This includes regular communication with executive leadership, operational teams, crisis management team, and any other relevant departments. Collaboration ensures that the legal strategy aligns with the broader business strategy and stays adaptable to changing circumstances. Engaging external legal counsel with expertise in crisis management or specific areas of law related to the crisis. They can provide additional guidance, support, and specialised knowledge to navigate complex legal issues.

Staying informed of industry-specific legal implications is another key aspect. We continuously monitor the legal landscape and any changes in regulations, court decisions, governmental actions or industry-specific challenges, and emerging legal trends that may impact the organisation. We stay abreast of emerging legal risks and adapt the legal strategy accordingly to ensure ongoing resilience.

Maintaining strong relationships with regulators and authorities is also important. We foster open lines of communication and maintain positive relationships with regulators and authorities relevant to your industry. This can help in managing compliance issues, gaining insights into regulatory changes, and seeking assistance or leniency during a crisis.

Training and educating key stakeholders within the organisation. We provide training and educational resources to key stakeholders within the organisation, including executives, management teams, and employees. This helps to enhance legal awareness and understanding, enabling better decision-making and risk management during periods of instability or crises.

Documenting and retaining detailed records of all legal actions. We maintain detailed records of all legal actions, decisions, and communications undertaken during periods of instability or crises. This documentation serves as evidence of the organisation’s proactive and strategic approach to legal management and can be helpful in any potential legal disputes or investigations.

Finally, learning from past experiences is essential for improving future legal management practices. We conduct post-crisis reviews to identify areas for improvement and incorporate these lessons into the organisation’s overall legal strategy and response plan.

Overall, we believe that a proactive and adaptable approach, coupled with strong communication and collaboration, will contribute significantly to effectively managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis.

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?

We believe that ChatGPT is another emerging technology that can significantly impact the legal profession in the near future. We have been encouraging our team to apply ChatGPT and other similar conversational AI models as part of our legal tooling at work. These models can assist with various legal tasks, such as stimulating ideas, brainstorming, drafting, and providing preliminary legal information.

Whilst ChatGPT presents numerous advantages, it is crucial for us as legal professionals to use it with caution and responsibility. Responses generated by the model should always be verified and reviewed by legal experts to ensure accuracy, completeness, and adherence to legal standards. The judgment of trained legal professionals must be retained.

With the ability to understand and generate human-like text, ChatGPT can offer efficient and accessible legal guidance. For instance, it can streamline communication, provide self-service options to clients, and handle basic legal inquiries, freeing up time for lawyers to focus on more complex tasks.

Our experience in engaging ChatGPT is broad. In document drafting, it proves to be useful in generating initial drafts of contracts, legal briefs, and opinions. By guiding the model with specific inputs, legal professionals can produce documents that are then reviewed and refined by experts. Additionally, ChatGPT assists in structuring documents and improving their logical flow, ensuring clarity and coherence, and readability.

Another significant advantage is ChatGPT’s ability to refine complex legal language into plain English, addressing a common challenge in legal drafting. It helps simplify convoluted sentences, suggest alternative phrasing, and enhance the overall readability of documents, including grammar and punctuation.

For legal training and education, ChatGPT can serve as a valuable tool for law students and junior lawyers. It can simulate conversations, answer questions, and provide guidance on legal concepts, case analysis, and writing, thus supporting and enhancing legal education.

Moreover, ChatGPT can be integrated into legal practice management systems or client portals to automate routine administrative tasks such as appointment scheduling, document filing, and essential intake processes. This integration allows legal professionals to focus on higher-value tasks by automating repetitive activities.

To stay abreast of advancements in legal technology, our Group actively engages in several initiatives. We participate in legal technology conferences and workshops, which provide opportunities to learn about the latest trends, network with industry experts, and explore new applications. We also regularly interact with legal tech vendors and attend their demonstrations to stay informed about new tools and market developments. Additionally, collaborating with legal technology consultants and advisers offers valuable insights into effectively integrating emerging technologies into our practice.

By embracing these technologies and staying informed about their development, we aim to enhance our legal operations and continue providing valuable guidance and insights on the potential impact of emerging technologies in the legal profession.