How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

The pandemic has given the opportunity to hit a reset button on how the legal departments operate, and to accelerate the ability of in-house lawyers to adapt to new unpredictable challenges. The in-house team is becoming more resilient and flexible in serving its internal clients. In a climate of increased pressure to do more with less, the role of the general counsel has increased its importance, becoming a trusted advisor to the board of directors, demonstrating how they can add value. The financial impact of the pandemic resulted in reduced budgets and increased hard work to be carried out in-house rather than to external law firms. An enhanced skillset will become relevant, together with investing in the career progression of the in-house team.

In a changing financial landscape, how does the company remain competitive against new phenomena such as fintech and blockchain, and how does the legal team assist with this?

The pandemic has increased the workloads and flattened staffing budgets, technology represents the most obvious solution, being more efficient and less costly. The legal team supports the digital transformation of the company from a technical point of view (such as detecting new potential legal risks) and is keen to adopt new tools to internally innovate the legal work in a way that increases its efficiency (blockchain can also be used to manage documents that need to be available to the board of directors before meetings).

What do you feel are the pros and cons of an in-house legal role compared to a private practice one?

Among the pros of an in-house career, there is the capacity to detect all risks promptly and address them by participating to the decision-making process of the business. This is possible only for in-house lawyers who demonstrate a deep understanding of the company in every aspect of business and in the organisational point of view.