What are the projects that you are most proud of working on over the past 12 months?
The last months have brought extraordinary changes to the business world in general and to the in-house legal practice in particular. The introduction of AI at a rapid pace is re-shaping the way we carry out our profession – in more than one way.
First, from a purely business side, we have had to learn and think hard about the legal implications of this new world. My internal clients are reshaping the way they do business in real time, in particular in such an innovative company as EY Luxembourg. What can and what can’t be used, how we obtain it, when necessary, consents, and where the risks lie have been constant questions in our day to day throughout the year.
But it has also been a change in the way we work. The new technologies enhanced with AI allow us to rethink the work we do, liberating tedious work whilst introducing the possibility of focusing on other problematics.
And change is not easy. In legal departments like the ones we are used to in Luxembourg, with multiple nationalities, age ranges, languages and life experiences, we see a wide range of approaches. From the lawyer tied to his or her old-fashioned way of working to those that are technologically savvy and willing to innovate. This is where the General Counsel needs to show leadership and be an adopter and leader. Even if we start to be on the “senior” side of the firm.
In my case it has been a very quick trip, from zero to where we are now in just four to six months, modifying my old ways of working to make the maximum use of AI, or as I have heard it defined, the new “motivated junior”.
But change should not be, and it is not, for change’s sake. With the time freed up due to the use of technologies powered by AI (many of them designed in-house) we have entered into a process of transforming the way we do deal with our internal clients. We have transformed the communication system between our different stakeholders, and we have managed to start a number of projects that used to be “good to have” and that are now completed or on the road of being completed.
So, in a way, what I am saying is that what I am more proud of is the fact that we continue to deliver as well as we used to whilst being able (by the correct use of technologies) to find the time to finish new projects.
What do you think sets you apart from other in-house counsel?
I would say that my main differential characteristic is the fact that, contrary to many other colleagues, my background is in litigation. Having spent my first ten years as a litigator shaped the way I see the work of general counsel. Most of the colleagues in this sector that I have met come either from transactional law firm backgrounds or from other in-house experiences. This is the traditional route, and it works very well. But different approaches and experiences allow for a different way of doing the same work.
What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?
As I mentioned above, in the current environment being technologically savvy and following the latest developments is not only a positive attribute but also a need. Aside from this new world, I think that there is one characteristic that is vital for in-house counsel: flexibility. As in-house counsel, our role is to achieve what might seem, at times, contradictory, and protect the company whilst enabling it to lead in a highly competitive environment. To achieve this, we need to be flexible. We need to be able to listen to what our stakeholders want (sometimes not to what they say) and make sure we manage to get them there – even if it is via a different route to what we would have preferred and different, too, to what they thought they wanted in the first place. Once you achieve this goal, you will earn the trust and respect of your internal stakeholders.