About

As regional legal head and part of LinkedIn’s EMEA leadership team, Natalia Faura is valued by colleagues and outside counsel for her energy, pragmatism and commitment. ‘Being an entrepreneurial and innovative company that moves fast, it’s essential that our legal team is collaborative, solutions-driven and takes a business-minded approach to risk taking’, she says. ‘Taking intelligent risks is one of our core values and key in continuing to drive innovation in a company that wants to remain entrepreneurial even as it matures into an 8,000-employee global player’. The world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn, in Faura’s words, is ‘in hyper growth’. With 116 million members in EMEA and over 364 million worldwide, the company’ highly regarded regional legal function has tripled in size since Faura joined just nine months ago. By its nature, the business continually throws up unique legal challenges, and Faura attributes a large part of her team’s continued success to the strength of its individual members. ‘I have the privilege of working with incredibly smart forward-thinkers who (and I am quoting our CEO) think big, get things done and know how to have fun!’ Her focus over the coming year, she adds, will be on further developing the function, to meet the demands of LinkedIn’s continuing growth. In Faura’s view, it is still tough for female lawyers to advance. ‘I do believe that there is more to be done in the legal profession to provide viable alternatives for women as they become more senior at their jobs. 50% of the EMEA leadership team are women, many with families, so I feel supported at LinkedIn’. Faura previously spent five years supporting global payments provider First Data Corporation’s international business.