About

Can you briefly explain how the legal team is structured, highlighting key individuals and their role within the department?

The legal organisation within the company has undergone restructuring globally and under the new structure some of the team members have different functional and administrative reporting. For the country and functional responsibilities, the team works closely with the India general counsel but for their particular business segments, the functional reporting is to that particular business counsel based out of India. We are a well-knit team and work closely with each other. We utilise individual strengths and expertise to ensure that the legal function continues to be a key stakeholder within the organisation and is seen as a proactive solution provider that is helping the business grow while ensuring that we continue to operate within the legal framework as well as our internal guidelines.

What are the most significant cases and/or transactions that your legal team has been involved with in the last two years?

DuPont and Dow merged in the year 2017 in a merger of equals and thereafter separated into three independent, publicly traded companies in 2019. This transaction which involved getting anti-trust clearances, divesting businesses, separating legal entities as well as integrating incoming businesses has been an all-consuming transaction for the legal team for the past two years. This transaction has been one of the largest transactions of its type globally. It has been a challenging and complicated process but a professionally enriching experience full of new learnings for all of us.

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

Certain new regulations issued by the FSSAI have posed some new challenges for the organisation. Being an organisation which has diverse businesses, many of which are highly regulated, any new regulations or practices that are introduced by the relevant regulatory authorities impacts our company’s business. Furthermore, the continuously evolving scope of corporate law and the various amendments that are introduced, whether it is with regard to corporate social responsibility, the constitution of the board of directors and the responsibilities and liabilities of the directors. The amendments that continue to be made to company law is an area that we monitor carefully to ensure that we are strictly complying with the standards of corporate governance mandated by law.

Can you describe some of the challenges your team faces by working for a foreign multinational in India?

The laws and regulations in India are sometimes different from what happens in other jurisdictions. This results in a standard globalised supply chain process needing to be changed for any products that are brought into India.

What attributes are essential for an in-house legal team to possess?

In my view, the top two qualities an in-house counsel needs to possess are a business enabler mindset as well as of being the “conscious” of the organisation.

How has the team harnessed technology to improve output or drive efficiencies?

Our compliance system is completely digitised now and that has helped us improve the output as well as efficiency across the organisation and its various sites. We are in the process of evaluating contract management systems globally. Focus on… In today’s world, the role of the legal function has evolved from being the “watchdog” to more of a “conscience keeper”, with the general counsel being involved in important decisions impacting the company. However, to ensure that the general counsel can effectively contribute to the good governance of the company and continue to be the trusted advisor for the management, it is imperative that this role has independence and maintains the highest integrity. This enables the legal function to work with the management to inculcate a culture where ethics and good management practices become a priority.