Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?  

We recently adopted a design thinking approach to contract workflow management without a contract management tool by creating a contracts playbook for standard clauses customised per business and market along with different negotiated options, consequent risks, and an escalation authority matrix for deviations from base case scenario over SharePoint and email. 

If you had to give advice to an aspiring in-house lawyer or general counsel, what would it be and why?  

Being an in-house counsel requires one to build a different set of skills than practising advocates in India. It is important to be very clear as to why you want to be an in-house lawyer – clarity of thought and purpose will help align expectations. Be ready to be agile and adapt – you could be required to brief the board on a governance issue and resolving a labour crisis at the same time. Take time to learn the business in order to bring value to the business as a strategic partner. Also, it is important to learn project management skills and the ability to network as that will help you have a long tenure in an organisation and do different things at the same time. Lastly, make sure you align with the values and the purpose of the organisation and can contribute to the common vision.