Team size: 25

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? 

HDFC Life is one of the largest listed private life insurance companies in India, with more than 32,000 employees and assets under management of INR 2.4 trillion as of March 31, 2023. Our company’s focus is on building a long-term and sustainable business, deep commitment to customers’ interests, creating customer-friendly products, sustaining investment in technology for customers and distributors alike, as well as operational and sales efficiencies.

The legal team is well aligned with this strategy and is required to be strategic, capable of anticipating issues, and estimating risks, including reputational, business, regulatory, and legal risks. The key objective is to proactively identify issues, provide solutions, balance risk and growth, and provide a governing framework to operate seamlessly and ensure compliance with the legal and regulatory framework in which the company operates. 

I firmly believe that innovation and technology will play a major in defining the success of a department, and it plays a very important role within my circle of influence. We constantly collaborate with our Business Service and Excellence team as well as our technology team to create technology solutions that increase operational efficiency and agility.

Considering the large portfolio I handle, I need to ensure there is always agility in the system in terms of delivery, timely resolution of complex issues, and overseeing that the legal team is taking proactive measures to advance the business. Some of the key initiatives that have been implemented include, litigation management, I have upgraded our in-house monitoring tool for over 2,000 legal cases. This tool serves as a case repository for effective case lifecycle monitoring, controls, and reporting legal exposure. We have deployed cost-effective external technology systems synchronised with our internal tool to provide real-time case lifecycle monitoring. This enables us to anticipate case volume, prevent ex-parte orders, access order copies and case notes in real time. This real-time monitoring has helped us assess legal exposure, prepare, review, and prioritise important legal matters, resulting in wins exceeding INR 400 million for HY-FY24 and substantial savings for the company. Additionally, we use analytical tools to study the correlation between legal cases, claim repudiation, and customer complaints, working on legal solutions to reduce case backlog and customer complaints.

I have also added advanced legal tools for knowledge management, legal alerts, subject matter legal opinions, and judgment trackers to stay updated on the latest legal precedents affecting our industry and business. It is equally important to ensure sector-specific compliance, so I have established a comprehensive solution to track notifications and share insights from our legal dashboards with the relevant teams responsible for taking action. 

We are also working on migrating our contract management framework to a new in-house agile legal technology solution, this will allow us to track renewals, contract expiry, trigger key actionable alerts, maintain a key clauses library, automatically generate standard templates, implement version controls, establish an effective repository, and monitor the lifecycle of contracts. This will assist in advancing our business, monetising opportunities, and result in significant savings.

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

In this dynamic, fast-paced environment, we require general counselwho are willing to assist organisations in the exploration of new products, markets, services, innovation, development, and protection of intellectual property, and who can make a significant impact on their company. We need general counsel who possess the ability to assess all dimensions of risk but are not risk averse. 

Aspiring general counsel need to be proficient in asking “why” and “how” questions and be able to articulate a systematic and constructive set of options that reveal and explore the value tensions that are inherent in most decisions. In the context of business decision-making, where issues are often grey, aspiring general counsel should consider the alternatives for achieving a legitimate business goal with different degrees of legal, ethical, and reputational risk, as well as varying direct and indirect costs. 

Furthermore, aspiring general counsel need to think about the ethical, reputational, and enlightened self-interest of their client or the institution they are leading, rather than focusing solely on what is strictly legal or advantageous in the short term. Exposing and analysing these extra-legal issues is a critical function for the general counsel.

In a multidimensional ecosystem, quality general counsel are not just strong individual contributors; they must also excel at collaborative teamwork in diverse and multidisciplinary groups. Little attention has been given to what makes an individual an effective team player among lawyers, and leadership today involves persuasion, motivation, and empowering teams toward a shared vision. These skills are essential in diverse teams, where general counsel must collaborate with professionals from various disciplines to achieve their goals. Aspiring general counsel should also develop the ability to be outstanding generalist-leaders. The modern legal department, beyond its traditional advisory role, is now viewed as a business partner that innovates and collaborates to generate value through its legal prowess. 

While core legal skills are essential, the ability of aspiring general counsel to embrace technology and support the business in monetising on opportunities can set them apart. For instance, artificial intelligence can streamline legal document drafting, research, translation, and document generation. Machine-reading algorithms can review numerous documents rapidly, freeing up lawyers for high-value analysis and advice. These innovations help legal departments overcome capacity limitations and build their long-term value proposition. General counsel must avoid the risk of inaction and complacency, as the greatest risk lies in not innovating.