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?  

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

In my view, general counsel will be increasingly called upon to fully embrace a shift towards legal risk management which must speak fluently with the language of business.  They will need to promote an even stronger business acumen in their teams, while introducing an innovative approach to practicing law. 

To this respect, as innovation is not merely a matter of the technology relied on, but also of underlying purposes and perspective, they will need to promote innovation across the board, including the tools used by their teams, the objectives they pursue, the tracking methods they use, the structure of cases the make, and the resources they recruit. 

What is a cause, business-related or otherwise, you are passionate about, and why?  

I have been passionate about the cause of bringing stability to the Middle East through a deeper understanding of its inextricable complexity and multi-faceted social and historical fabric for a couple of decades. 

Having lived in a Gulf country and travelled extensively across the region, and also read a number of books and countless articles on the matter, I often end up considering how deceitfully the West looks at Middle Eastern issues, potentially failing to seize some of the angles from where these issues could be addressed. 

I am passionate about this first because it gives me the opportunity to dig deeper and challenge mainstream positions, and second because I find it fascinating to get a better insight of potential developments in an area of the world that is crucial for the stability and development of the planet.