Team number: Ten

What are some of the legal challenges that IT companies face in the development and use of emerging technologies in their products?

New and innovative technologies will always pose challenges and opportunities. To stay ahead as a business and as an in-house lawyer, you need to understand and embrace this. Even in the conservative legal industry, the rise of AI revolutionised the eDiscovery process, rendering manual review obsolete and enabling efficient prioritisation of the most critical documents. Learning to operate effectively in the legal ‘grey’ area is one of the greatest attributes of a strong in-house lawyer. Advising on cutting-edge technology puts you right at the heart of the ‘grey,’ where the trade-off between significant business advancement and potential litigation and regulatory scrutiny can be high and hard to scope definitively. Therefore, to effectively help their organisations embrace the power of innovation, in-house lawyers must learn to think differently. They must question how things have always been done and look for new ways to be the best business partner they can be. That starts with embracing the ‘grey.’

As we enter the next decade, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

To succeed and stay of value to our organisations, in-house counsel should develop key skills including technological competence, clear communication skills, business acumen, and learning agility. Strong in-house legal teams continuously seek out new efficient ways of working by keeping tabs on the latest technological tools and innovative methods to streamline workflows. In-house lawyers have to engage with a variety of stakeholders from different perspectives and backgrounds, none of whom think or talk like lawyers. When offering advice, boil the advice down to its essentials in a simple business-focused manner. One of the greatest skills is to truly understand the risk of a ‘business opportunity lost’, and to factor that into your advice when balanced with the legal risk. If we never do business with this company due to an undesirable liability position under the contract, is the damage of not having this business opportunity worse that the potential legal exposure? Each business will need to decide this for themselves, based on their stage of growth, leverage, and risk appetite. However, understanding this as an in-house counsel can have a true game-changing impact on your business.

Lastly, any in-house lawyer will tell you that no one day is the same. Therefore, to stay valuable to your business and your team, always have a growth mentality and continue to learn and seek learning opportunities.