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 uncertainty or crisis, agility and creativity are critical for aligning legal strategy with broader business objectives. To ensure this agility and adaptability, my approach centers on four key pillars: having a deep understanding of the underlying business and industry, ensuring our team has strong; trust-based relationships with the business teams they support; a comprehensive risk management framework that integrates seamlessly with our broader crisis management strategy; and regular strategic planning sessions to ensure legal considerations are woven into the business’ decision-making.

Legal professionals who are well-versed in the organisation’s operations, objectives, and risk tolerance are better positioned to provide tailored and impactful guidance when it matters most. Building strong, trust-based relationships with business leaders and cross-functional teams in advance of a crisis fosters a collaborative environment where the legal team can work seamlessly with stakeholders during high-pressure situations, streamlining decision-making and driving unified solutions. Implementing a comprehensive risk management framework which involves regular scenario planning and early warning systems help us anticipate and respond quickly to potential legal challenges before they escalate. Lastly, through regular strategic and scenario planning sessions, we don’t just focus on immediate legal risks – we evaluate how our legal strategy can support business continuity during a crisis while protecting our long-term interests.

What makes this approach particularly effective is our emphasis on cross-functional collaboration. We maintain close partnerships with finance, operations, and commercial teams, ensuring legal considerations enhance rather than hinder business objectives. This collaborative mindset has transformed our legal function from a traditional compliance-focused department into a strategic business enabler.

In your opinion, what are the main trends affecting your work now?

As a lean legal team in a startup environment, we’re focused on building processes while staying agile. The dynamics of being a startup legal team are particularly interesting – we’re essentially building the plane while flying it. Everyone can agree that simply responding to legal issues as they arise isn’t sustainable, so we’re developing a sophisticated process framework. This includes creating standardised templates for common agreements, implementing automated contract review tools, and establishing clear escalation protocols. We’re also building a knowledge management system that helps us avoid reinventing the wheel with each new challenge.

In addition to being a lean start-up, the transformation in media consumption patterns is perhaps our most significant challenge. During the pandemic, traditional streaming services saw unprecedented growth – we were all binge-watching our favorite shows. However, the landscape has shifted dramatically. Competition in our space is particularly intense. Gen Z and younger millennials are increasingly consuming bite-sized content through social media platforms rather than traditional media. This shift has created interesting legal complexities: There’s been a rapid evolution of license windowing models to accommodate new distribution channels. Rights management has become more complex with multi-platform distribution. The speed of content creation and distribution requires faster legal turnaround times. International regulations around data privacy and social media platforms add another layer of complexity to an already complicated advertising market which soon will be 100% digital.

What strategic priorities are guiding your legal team into 2025?

To address challenges with our lean team, we’re implementing or continuing several strategic initiatives: developing a tiered review system that matches legal scrutiny to risk level; creating self-service tools for business teams to handle routine legal matters; building strategic partnerships with external counsel who understand our industry’s rapid pace; implementing legal tech solutions that can scale with our growth; and regular training sessions with business teams to help them spot legal issues early.

The key is finding the right balance between risk management and business enablement. We need to protect the company while supporting its ability to move quickly and innovate in response to market changes. This often means making calculated decisions about which legal processes need to be robust versus where we can accept some managed risk to maintain speed and agility.