Team size: 32+

Focus on: Dominik Engel’s career

Dominik Engel arrived in Dubai from Europe in 2008, which proved to be an extremely successful move given the success he has enjoyed since. Joining Giesecke & Devrient in January 2010, Engel quickly made an impression and steadily rose through the ranks of the company; at the end of his time with the company approximately six years later, he headed legal, compliance and risk for the Middle East and Africa. He then made the move to ABB in late 2015 and has performed similarly successfully there in the time since. Now regional general counsel for Europe, Middle East, and Africa at ABB Electrification Business, he takes on a diverse set of responsibilities.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

I personally believe that artificial intelligence and its advancement in the support of the autonomous redlining of contracts will have significant impact on the job profile of lawyers. Also, the increased use of analytics and contract life cycle management tools will impact the work of lawyers in the future. In the future, we would look for more technological savvy lawyers than we previously did.

What is a cause, business related or otherwise, that you care about, and why?

I personally care about digital improvements and people development. For me, people remain the most important resource in the legal industry, and technology and digital improvements shall aim to improve the quality of work of lawyers and reduce low value-added repetitive works. So, we need to support, encourage the legal teams, and empower them to try out and use technology advancements to their advantage.

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?

The in-house lawyers most important qualities are, in my view, that they take ownership and pride in their work, and that they provide strong, proactive, timely and business focused legal advice that enables sound and informed decisions, and which facilitates risk mitigation strategies.

What can law firms do to improve their service to the legal department?

In general, law firms need to spend more time in understanding the business they are representing and each business’s unique approach. Further, a more simple and predictable fee structure would be beneficial. I expect law firms also to be cost efficient and, for example, reduce time spend (billable hours) by employing technologies which support to do the legal work more efficient.