Team size: 16

What is the biggest risk facing your industry now and how are you preparing your organisation to deal with this?

Being in the energy sector, the slenderest of alterations in the political realm will bring daily ripples of changes for legal departments. And each of such fluctuations brings risks. The recent incursion of Russia in Ukraine, the volatility of Sri Lanka, adversarial decisions of OPEC, the institution of new taxes, and qualms following the Covid-19 grappled globe; all carried in tsunamis of changes and concomitant risks for our legal operations in the energy sector. Technological progress has also impacted our lives by bringing new disruptions and associated risks.

As a dedicated and committed legal team, we have designed various strategies to deal with such risks of varied nature. We have spent time analysing and rebuilding our formats and bringing new wisdom to cope with the changes and risks they carry. We consulted industry experts and have borrowed ideas from confidantes for prolifically dealing with the changes and mitigating risks. We have also taken help in negotiations with our customers and suppliers and liaised with authorities wherever we could, which helped us in facing risks boldly. Also, we have adapted to the newest skills to overcome all such challenges.

Another challenge we faced was the health of team members. Multiple coronavirus infections among our members often disrupted our schedules and systems. We thought of ways to overcome these frequent upsets and set up definite plans for each mission while caring for the team’s health. This overwhelmed the troubles of the frequenting virus infections and could restore stability to our systems.

What are some of the most significant cases or transactions you have worked on recently?

Recently we concluded the significant merger of OMPL with our company and have synchronised our works in the most prosperous manner. We are working on a significant joint venture with a foreign partner for an important innovation. We also did essential documentation for a few new business tie-ups for the company last year. We worked on significant policy changes for the company and advised management on certain important transactions. Similarly, we settled many noteworthy arbitrations and litigations in our favour. We also succeeded in favourably getting the closure of a frivolous case alleging pollution by our industry, which threatened us with a closure notice for one of our processes.

What is a cause, business or otherwise, you are passionate about and why?

I am passionate about the innovations that can be brought to a legal department. I work hard to discover how our legal processes, systems and practices could be improved and given a chance by enabling them to deliver better outputs with enhanced quality that would benefit all process owners and stakeholders. For this purpose, I experiment with novel ideas and try to blend them into conventional legal systems with the cooperation and backing of my band of specialists. I have realised that I could carry in changes in many facets of our domain and have been enthused and stimulated by each of such successes.