How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?   

During periods of instability or crises, my priority is to thoroughly understand the problems and specific challenges we face by conducting thorough risk assessments, that allows me as GC to identify and prioritise potential legal and compliance issues. With this, we can create specific plans that address identified risks while ensuring adherence to relevant laws and regulations.  

Sometimes a crisis can be very complex, so the success of your response strategy depends greatly on your ability to listen and ask the right questions that allow you to understand the problem and the dimension of its impact on the company. As a global GC, the challenge intensifies when the crisis occurs outside your jurisdiction, where you must have an immediate, efficient, and professional support network to understand contexts and nuances that you may not be able to identify as an outsider.  

Despite focusing on the legal aspects of a crisis, you cannot neglect the company’s day-to-day legal matters. To manage this effectively, you need a well-organised legal team that can handle routine operations seamlessly while also addressing urgent issues that arise.  

These actions, and always keeping close with all stakeholders, will allow you to stay aligned with the broader business strategy. Combined with good judgment in decision-making aligned with the company’s vision and mission, this approach helps minimise any negative impact and positions the company to recover and emerge stronger.  

I can’t emphasise enough how important it is for a GC to understand the business of their company: logistics, manufacturing, finance, sales, marketing, and human resources. From day one as GC, you need to get involved with all stakeholders and immerse yourself in the culture and relevant details of the business. This is crucial for being better prepared to advise the company and to keep pace with its demands during crises and challenges. 

How can general counsel foster a corporate culture that supports ESG principles and compliance across all levels of the organisation?   

While supporting the company in achieving its goals, a GC should focus not only on ensuring all corporate actions are legal but also on promoting, advocating and developing internal policies that helps provide order and direction in various areas such as environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and governance frameworks, thereby consolidating compliance with relevant norms and standards.   

For these efforts to be successful, it is crucial that the GC has both the opportunity and the interest to position themselves as a leadership figure within the company, enabling participation in significant corporate decision-making processes. Although the GC is not solely responsible for promoting good practices within the company, their expertise in political matters, law, ethics, and processes equips them to introduce constructive challenges during decision-making discussions. In this role, a GC and other in-house lawyers should have the ability to bring ideas and perspectives into discussions that provide executives with a broader understanding of any strategy, thereby assisting the company in making the best possible decisions.  

Finally, the GC should also promote the importance of the tone from the top. The tone set by the board of directors, CEO, and CFO is crucial in embedding these values throughout the organisation and ensuring they are maintained over time, ultimately becoming an integral part of the internal culture.