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What have been the major external trends that have impacted your team’s work over the past two years? To strengthen the litigation mechanism in the company, the law department has taken numerous initiatives to develop a robust dispute resolution mechanism in the organisation (such as a litigation policy, panels, milestone based fees structure, conciliation rules, software for litigation management, etc.), which were proved to be highly effective in the overall handling of disputes and proved to be a benchmark for the other companies today. The recent amendments in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996, have given a further boost to overall dispute resolution process in GAIL. The average time for conclusion of arbitration matters in GAIL is now around 1.5 years. Can you describe some of the challenges your team faces by working for India’s largest natural gas company? The law team has remained instrumental to protect the legal interests during the rapid growth of the company, which was incorporated in mid 1980s and has achieved the most coveted status of “Maharatna” in such a short span of time and becoming a youngest Maharatna company in India. The legal team at GAIL does much more than to provide pure legal advice. The in-house lawyers remain involved at the genesis of all critical business opportunities of the company to ensure that it provides absolute measures of security and safeguard relating to any potential legal risks. This becomes all the more challenging when a company’s growth plans are so aggressive The law department of GAIL has developed robust systems and processes to proficiently handle all the legal issues to protect the interest of the company, such as formulating GAIL’s litigation policy and conciliation rules, developing online litigation and statutory compliance management systems and a milestone based fees structure for the advocates and the arbitrators to ensure timely conclusion of matters. All these systems and processes have proved to be a benchmark for other companies today.
How has the team harnessed technology to improve output or drive efficiencies? GAIL’s law department has internally developed the following two major software with the help of in-house IT team: Firstly, the implementation of an online litigation management system (LMS) in the company for the effective management of all the case details. The development of a mobile app for the same system is in progress for easy access to the case related information while attending legal conferences and even during hearings. The LMS has the following capabilities: generating numerous kinds of reports through its customised report section to cater any kind of MIS requirement; uploading case documents so as to have a single repository of pleadings rather than storing bulky hard copies to avoid wastage of paper and space; generating automated email alerts to the users including linked officers from different departments and advocates informing various details like, next date of hearing, case updates; and generating reports related to payments made to each advocate, and under each case so as to monitor the expenses Secondly, the implementation of an online compliance management system to ensure 100% compliance of statutory requirement throughout GAIL’s work centres, wherein all nodal officers are mapped and confirm compliance of applicable laws mapped in the system against their name for onward submission to the board of directors. What is missing from the “legal tech” products currently in the market? We have used various decent legal software available in the market these days and most of them are really providing good features and services. However, all the systems are basically designed for computers and are remodified by some for mobiles. As we see that nowadays everyone is carrying smart phone and most of the office work is done while travelling by phone. Therefore, we believe that an effective mobile app needs to be brought in the market which should be very easy to operate and full of features, including case laws, statutes, commentaries, news, and more. Focus on…