Team size: Eight

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

It was most notable during this post-pandemic period, that being able to work remotely can be, and should be, a part of the new work life balance. As such, in-house legal teams will not escape from organising themselves to make such arrangements possible and workable. Furthermore, working remotely has demonstrated many benefits related to the better usage of time, work efficiency and ultimately an improvement in the cost of working.

Technological advancements that would impact the role of in-house counsel include AI that could be used in, for instance, entity management, providing a single source of truth containing information about each group company such as shareholders, directors and filing deadlines. It could be also used for contract management and drafting, enabling much of the workflow to be done outside the legal team such as automated creation templates, electronic signatures, specific contract clauses, centralised documents organisation, management of obligations under the contract or creating an agreement by using key data and information. Lastly, AI could be used in document management systems with real-time status report.

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

Climate change is often spoken about and is an important cause that I care about. It is all too evident that the world’s climate has changed over recent years and is continuing to change. There have been unprecedented climatic disasters striking the planet and substantial changes to seasonal weather conditions, which have impacted local communities, not just in terms of loss of life and livelihoods, but their way of life. It is very important that awareness is raised in the world, and all of us struggle together to overcome this problem. The pandemic was reacted to successfully, as we all worked together to find solutions and to mitigate the virus spread. As such, the world must coordinate in the same manner and quickly to prevent a looming ecologic disaster from devastating this planet we call home.

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

There are some improvements which can be adopted to aid the service that law firms provide. For example, understanding the perspective of their clients and their needs, understanding the dynamics of the industry that your clients work within and associated issues, and keeping clients in the know even if they don’t know. Also, I believe it is important for law firms to be more pragmatic in assisting legal departments, so flexibility in working practices and advice. Lastly, it is also essential for law firms to adjust their fees according to market conditions and their clients’ needs.