Team size: 20+  
 
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?   
 
I have been observing over a period of several months how to improve the efficiency of my legal team and, at the same time, improve our TAT. Hence, I took it up as one of my most prominent goals this year. I have decided to implement a contract lifecycle management system – a tool to draft, preserve, and retrieve all contracts. With the involvement of the procurement and IT teams, I have selected the appropriate software system for our organisation. In the form of a process improvement, the finalisation of this task has ultimately resulted in a robust contract compliance framework for our company. It is also boosting the contract execution process by standardised contracts and clauses for effective drafting.  
 
This task has been successfully achieved by collaborating with various internal stakeholders and going through various processes such as standardising and updating contract templates, finalising the organisational structure, masters, and workflows, reviewing the process flow, conducting UAT and finalising, launching the system, and rolling out the SOP for the contract review process. Now, I can demonstrate a visible change in the qualitative and quantitative benefits that we have achieved through the implementation of this cost-effective software system. It has resulted in reduction in physical workflow, avoiding missing renewal dates, better customer concentration analysis, and having a centralised digital repository. Furthermore, it has resulted in a comprehensive contracts dashboard tracking for pending and completed items, better visibility on the clauses being negotiated, in-house legal team members having access to a centralised clause library for swift drafting, and pre-designed templates for maintaining consistency and TAT for recurring matters. We have achieved flawless confidentiality and data protection measures and tracking each iteration of red lining a transactional document.  
 
What are the most significant cases and transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?  
 
My legal team has recently been involved in various business transactions for our organisation and they have provided effective end-to-end legal solutions. We have successfully delivered on all these strategic transactions and initiatives. This achievement was made possible by my team, who extended efficient and well-organised legal support in key corporate development transactions, including in-licensing, out-licensing, mergers, acquisitions, strategic collaborations, and more.  
 
If you had to give advice to an aspiring in-house lawyer or general counsel, what would it be and why?  
 
I would always advise all aspiring in-house lawyers or general counsel to break down their contract negotiations into two parts – “must haves” and “good to have.” You should always ensure that the deal negotiations do not disintegrate because of your “all or nothing” approach. This strategy will relieve you from the obligation to justify your terms or spend time negotiating the theoretical risks. You will have to take ownership of your and your team’s work product by delivering the complete transactional documents flawlessly and proficiently. Moreover, you will have to mentor your team to prioritise contract negotiations, typically focusing on revenue and risks. It will give you a clear picture regarding the depth of your risk appetite in the deal vis-à-vis the revenue focal points. You may also adopt concurrently the “offer-concession” strategy to make sure that the other side leaves the negotiation table feeling they have made a good deal by signing a contract with your organisation, thereby creating a long-term partner without accepting any major red flags. All major risk exposures should be thoroughly negotiated or mitigated through internal project modulations and adopting mitigation measures at the operational levels.