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 have recently set up legal operations verticals, using existing resources, in order to manage repetitive legal work. This has freed up the time of our lawyers to focus more on high quality strategic work. Not only has this increased the productivity of the team and improved our turnaround times, but also improved the levels of work satisfaction experienced by the team. 

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in? 

It has been a challenging but a fulfilling year for the team with several successful strategic initiatives. Keeping pace with the ever evolving legal and regulatory landscape in India, supporting the organisation to deliver on its aspirations as well as improving our processes and technologies has made for a busy year which has also been full of learning. The legal and secretarial team has stepped up and delivered on it with aplomb and I could not be prouder of what each one of them has accomplished individually and as a team. 

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

To an aspiring general counsel, my advice would be to build a world class legal team, focusing equally on the calibre as well as the culture of the team. Also, it is important for general to speak up when required, even if they are the only dissenting voice in the room. Along with being strategic business partners and enabler, we are also the conscience of the organisation, so it is our ethical and moral duty to be courageous enough to speak up to explain the nuances of the ethical and legal paradigm that the organisation operates in.