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

For legal service providers in general, and legal departments in particular, I think it is important to understand that the key to success in any technological advancement or automation is to first identify specific issues that can be solved with technology or automation. Automation should be seen as a means to an end.

In-house lawyers spend a lot of time and effort in activities involving manual data-entry and similar repeatable daily processes – matters that do not necessarily require any exceptional legal skills. This is where technology and automation may solve real problems for lawyers and legal departments.

Workflow automation tools, as an example, streamlines such processes and is therefore amongst the technological advances that can impact the role of in-house legal teams positively by helping them invest their focus and time on tasks and areas that require legal expertise and eventually leads to increased efficiency.

Contract management takes a lot of legal departments’ time and focus. If one only looks at the organisation’s existing contracts, they will find that these contracts hold a wealth of data that can help in so many ways. But the process of manually extracting that data and inputting it takes a lot of time and can rarely be error-free. This is where automation and technological advancement may come into play. Artificial Intelligence (AI) contract management solutions can help a lot in extraction of the data and its transfer in a very efficient and accurate manner. Once this data is extracted and provided to the in-house lawyers in the desired form or dashboard, then they use their legal skills and expertise to identify, prevent and manage legal risks, among other things.

AI solutions can also help legal departments a great deal in conducting search and E-discovery activities in a very efficient manner, which helps in achieving efficiency and enhancement of productivity levels. Again, this is an area where technology and automation can help.

For other critical processes that are time-consuming and do not require legal expertise within legal departments, like E-filing, Robotic process automation (RPA) can help a lot by freeing up in-house lawyers’ time which can be deployed for specialised and more value-generating work.

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

Climate change seems to be one of the most pressing issues that we all need to pay attention to and take immediate steps to reverse. All of us across different parts of the world have already felt the severe impact climate change is having on our daily lives, although the implications may vary from one country to the other. The saddest part of this issue is that those who contributed the least to climate change are paying the bill, while those who have contributed the most to it are not. The effects of climate change include hotter temperatures, which increase the risks of heat-related illnesses, and wildfires; more severe storms; increased drought; warming and rising ocean, which leads to threatening coastal and island communities; loss of species; lack of food and nutrition resources; poverty and displacement.

I add my voice to the voices of millions across the globe, who are supporting this share their concerns on the future of life and future generations’ lives on this planet and who are trying to do something to reduce the implications with the hope of reversing it. I take this space to call for support for all initiatives that aim to help and support this cause, such as Cool Earth and the Clean Air Task Force.

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

For one to excel as an in-house lawyer in any industry, it is important to understand the industry. In-house lawyers operate in corporates that have their own business objectives. Understanding these business objectives and being able to exercise sound business judgment is extremely important as this is what is going to shape and drive the way one should think as an in-house lawyer.

In corporate life, strong working relationships help a lot in understanding the business thoroughly. This is important especially for people who do not come from the business line, like in-house lawyers. The ability to build, manage and maintain such business relationships is an important quality, and of course one cannot do this unless they have good communication skills.

The biggest mistake an in-house lawyer may make is to conduct and present themselves just as lawyers. They should conduct and be seen as true business partners and an integral part of the business team. They should be able to identify business opportunities using their legal expertise and knowledge, in the same manner they are able to identify, prevent and manage legal risks.

Being a solution-oriented is another important quality. In a business environment, it is not enough to detect the problem or raise it. It is equally important to propose workable solutions that make business sense. This requires creativity and ability to marry legal knowledge with business sense, which is an important quality of good in-house lawyers.