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Heading legal and risk functions at water and power specialist, ACWA, Ned Othman reorganised the legal department into a standalone function, in his words, ‘akin to a “law firm”’. He is praised for his success in increasing legal’s performance and engagement with the business, through measures such as KPIs and effective IT infrastructure. ‘Success and satisfaction from an in-house experience is achieved by treating the constituent business units as clients’, Othman says. ‘By assisting them in attaining their goals and overcoming their challenges effectively, efficiently and economically, business managers recognise the value and appreciate the services delivered by their in-house partners’. When it comes to the law firms themselves, Othman identifies one key developmental area as ‘team management affecting cost management’. ‘Often, in an overzealous effort to achieve client satisfaction, matters are overstaffed with little team management, resulting in numerous unnecessary timekeepers billing time for uncoordinated services’.