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?  

Like all companies in the luxury fashion sector, we handle a large amount of leasing contracts worldwide. These contracts are for shops in the most famous and expensive locations and losing one of these locations means financially and reputationally damaging the company. As a result, we decided to implement, with our IT department, a tool capable of alerting the legal department as well as the regional general managers when one of these contracts is about to expire, thus enabling us to start timely renewal negotiations. 

To make this tool helpful for all departments, we requested our IT department to connect it with the administrative tool in order to accurately determine our rental expenses. We then added, for each lease all the contracts relating to that shop – utilities, cleaning, mystery shopping, shop windows and so on – so that we have, in a single digital archive, all the documents relating to a single location.
 

Can you foresee any key developments to the way general counsel work over the next five years?  

In the next five years I foresee general counsel becoming more strategic. It is now quite common to have general counsel in the C-suite as part of the board of directors. I sit on the board of directors at Dolce & Gabbana, the brand group’s parent company. In this role I help shape our brand strategy, our company’s important asset. Having general counsel on the board means placing legal expertise directly into the decision-making process, we are able help board members consider the legal implications first-hand.  

Moreover, considering the implications of AI in the coming years, general counsel and legal departments will have more time to devote to strategic issues, as AI will be capable of performing many of the day-to-day operations, including contract management which can otherwise be time-consuming.
 

What measures has your company taken to embed sustainability practices into its core business operations, and how does the role of the general counsel contribute to driving and ensuring sustainable practices within the company?  

In 2022, Dolce & Gabbana started to focus more closely on ESG by first establishing strategic priorities and ambitions. The Dolce & Gabbana Sustainability Ambition defines the brand’s strategic direction on social, governance and environmental aspects. The Dolce & Gabbana Priority Areas define the key topics and impact areas to be addressed by the strategy and the Dolce & Gabbana Sustainability Initiatives will be defined for each priority area to make the strategic ambition concrete.  

Our ambition is to promote the culture and tradition of ‘Made in Italy’ by involving new generations in an ongoing dialogue with the territory and local communities to actively contribute to the creation of social value, while protecting the natural ecosystem. To achieve this ambition, we have outlined seven key sustainability priorities.  

Firstly, Net Zero Carbon, we are aiming to achieve have 100% of our global electricity supply from renewable sources by 2024. Secondly, we wish to strengthen ties with Italian excellences to promote ‘Made in Italy’ & preserve heritage. Third, we want to engage and educate 100% of business management in sustainable business evolution by 2023, followed by all DG employees by 2025. We will be launching Botteghe di Mestiere program for training new generations and supporting the LGBTQ+ community. Fourth, zero waste, we aim to achieve single-use plastic-free corporate offices, plants, and stores by 2024, and zero-waste-to-landfill by 2027. Fifth, we want to initiate at least one collaboration initiative on sustainability by 2024. Sixth, we aim to implement circular services by 2024, reduce virgin plastic single-use packaging by 50% by 2025, and phase it out by 2030. Finally, and seventh, we aim to implement traceability schemes for a minimum of 50% of key raw materials by 2027. 

The legal department is very much involved in this plan, and one of our members holds a permanent position on the Group Committee governing ESG transition and goal achievement.