Team size:  Three 

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? 

As an example, I recently developed a new internal Legal Archive that simplifies document management by the legal team and an internal depository capable of easily allow the activities and the research of documents related to extra judicial disputes. This was implemented with internal resources and without impacts on external costs. 

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

One main area of development will surely be represented by the increasing possibilities that will be given using automated solutions, chatbots and other forms of productized legal services, and these will also need an increasing competence of general counsel and legal departments to read data. In fact, technology platforms will enable stronger standardisation of processes, contract creation processes will be much more automated granting the application of much more robust legal controls, also on possible deviations. A second main area of development is connected to the fact that businesses are increasingly relying on their general counsel and legal team to help them identify opportunities to increase revenues and decrease risks and costs. 

General counsel will therefore need to quickly complete the transformation of the legal functions from “defenders” of the business to also become drivers of financial results. General counsels and legal functions may have the opportunity to become even more a true partner with the business, offering a proactive, evidence–based and strategic advice. In this context, general counsels will also face a growing spectrum of risk, compliance, governance, operations and regulatory issues. 

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?  

Schindler group committed to multiple environmental, social and governance goals. As a participant in the UN Global Compact, the company supports the ten universal principles covering the respect for human rights, labour, the environment, and prevention of corruption. Schindler Group is particularly committed to the sustainability practices with the ambition to help limiting global warming to 1.5°C, having committed itself to reducing absolute green-house gas emissions from scope 1 and 2 by 50 % by 2030 compared to the base year 2020. As general counsel, I worked on the projects related, for example, to the “connectivity” of the installations which allows business operations to be even more environmental-friendly if there is the possibility to remotely access the installations. I also worked on the applicability in Italy of the Contracts with the “Climate-conscious Module” which provides, at global level, a climate-neutrality for Schindler’s office buildings in terms of electricity consumption and, regarding Schindler’s fleet, a growing target of electric vehicles to be adopted in the next few years. 

What legal considerations should be taken into account when structuring and executing an M&A, and how can the legal department play a strategic role in facilitating a successful M&A transaction? 

There are many legal activities that must be executed when structuring and executing an M&A transaction, such as the due diligence, negotiation of the preliminary contract, the closing phase, etc., but in my experience beyond the legal technicalities one of the most important consideration that play a key role for a successful deal and for a successful integration activity is the compliance culture of the target company, meaning the values and the ethical principles, that should match the culture of the merging compa