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What are the most significant projects that your legal team has been involved with recently?

Boeing India legal plays a business enabler role and has been actively engaged in all business activities for Boeing in India. Boeing is setting up a 42 acre campus at Bangalore, which will cater to avionics manufacturing, engineering and research. Boeing has been a major player in India on commercial and defence programmes, including the sale of platforms and services, for which the legal team work closely with the business. The ramp up of engineering, IT and research is quite rapid at Bengaluru and Chennai and in last three years Boeing India has grown from about 700 employees to about 3,000 employees. Further, Boeing has started focusing on areas in Indian start-ups, which reflects the quality work that is happening in India.

Have any new laws, regulations or judicial decisions greatly impacted your company’s business or your legal practice?

India is witnessing a lot of reforms, which will be beneficial to business generally. Bankruptcy law will tame the defaulters and NPAs of banks; female employees find comfort in the POSH laws and making workplaces safer; GST is simplifying the complicated indirect tax regime; changes to arbitration law, new commercial courts should expedite dispute resolution; India’s new Code on Wages, should simplify labour laws in India…the ease of doing business should see better rankings for India.

Apart from legal matters, has the team workedon other company initiatives?

Boeing India’s legal team devotes a lot of time and effort on risk mitigation and compliance. It collaborates with other functions to ensure that risks and compliances are managed and addressed. Further, Boeing India supports and invests in CSR projects, corporate governance of which is supported by the legal team. The legal team also frames policies and monitors issues like women’s safety, prevention of sexual harassment at workplace, childcare and crèche facilities and employment of people with disability.

What are the key steps to take in order to increase trust in an in-house legal team within a company?

Understanding your client’s point of view seems to me the most critical and helps us find creative yet legally compliant solutions. Another one would be to be with your client at the midnight hour, try and solve problems which are keeping them awake. Then a proactive approach to be able to see the problems coming and find a solution. The most important to me is to be able to communicate with your client in a language that is easier for them to understand the law Focus on…