Team size: 75

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

My team has been taking the legal lead in some global transformations, with the overall mission being to flawlessly blend our tools and processes with legal and ethical standards, guaranteeing that every customer interaction meets compliance. By achieving this harmony, we are dedicated to upholding the utmost integrity and trust, competing fairly while continuously delivering exceptional value to our customers.

How have you attempted to bring the legal department closer to your business colleagues?

Think global; look for simple, scalable solutions. Standardise and digitise. Be local; utilise local lawyers in the operations with local languages, law, business and cultural knowledge.

I focus on: using clear and straightforward language and avoiding legal jargon; providing legal advice within the context of the operational goals and industry; and making an effort to know our customers, suppliers, market, offers.

Risk awareness – clearly communicating legal risks and implications while offering practical advice helps colleagues make informed decisions. Getting in front of the workload by proactively connecting with stakeholders to understand their pipeline, plans, projects, or challenges, and aiming to engage early, prioritise and support is key.

It is also important to actively listen to colleagues’ perspectives and concerns, understand their challenges and pressures, and work together to find solutions. Use every opportunity to educate colleagues, empowering them to identify and address risks and make informed decisions.

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?

We used to manage our claims and litigation tracking with an Excel sheet. After exploring our existing systems, we automated the global reporting quickly and inexpensively. This reduced errors, improved real-time updates, and boosted team productivity.

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company’s values? Are you likely to reconsider what firms you work with based on this?

It is a basic requirement and fundamental to a successful and long-term relationship.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most? Which have you found most useful in your legal team?

CLM and AI will impact the role of in-house counsel, and are both tools I have found useful.