Team size: 35

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

A company’s general counsel today has technological tools that help a lot in tracking, controlling, organising, and maintaining legal knowledge. For example, there are software programs that help organise the company’s secretaries, systems that track obligations and conditions in agreements and remember the relevant factors in the company, systems that manage monitoring and reminders in the field of compliance and enforcement and more.

In my opinion, as a legal advisor, I lack the ability to present complex legal arguments in the form of a simple infographic within the framework of complex legal opinions and court documents. The legal documents are becoming longer and more complex, and currently, there is no system that transforms such legal documents into simple abstract graphics, as is customary in other areas of the company.

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?

A company’s internal general counsel must help the company promote its business plans while fully complying with the provisions of the law. In order for a legal advisor to have added value, they need to thoroughly understand the business, the economic model, and the competitive and regulatory environment in which he or she operates. They must be active and involved at the senior management level and not wait for them to contact the legal department. The general counsel should have the ability to make decisions and be assertive in front of various stake holders such as board and management members.

What can law firms do to improve their service to the legal department?

A good external legal advisor should, of course, be an expert in their field of advice and have a high level of service, but these are threshold conditions. In my opinion, an excellent external legal advisor is an active advisor who appears to be actively working to promote issues and gives the feeling that he or she is part of the “team.” In addition, an excellent legal advisor should know how to give advice and not just review the various options and the risks and prospects in each of the alternatives.