Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?  

As the ambit of my coverage grew wider (there are 17 jurisdictions that fall under the Middle East North Africa Division), I realised that we could utilise resources better through enhanced connectivity and through breaking silos. Lawyers working on projects that are intended to be rolled out to different countries were encouraged to share their learnings and experience with other team members to ensure that workstreams are not duplicated and we can leverage off work already done. In this era of zoom connectivity, it is a lot easier to achieve connectivity and raise trust amongst peers by heightened interactions. Information sharing and having an open-door approach allows team members to feel comfortable in raising issues, voicing ideas, and raising the bar on excellence. 

How do you balance your responsibilities as a general counsel with your involvement in dispute resolution and M&A matters?  

I have an excellent team of extremely capable lawyers that perform their duties and responsibilities knowing that they are empowered to make decisions and escalate matters before me where necessary. My role allows me to shift between matters that relate to transactions, litigation management, function related support (for example, employment matters, compliance matters, and operations applications) and our UAE franchise even maintains a consumer banking portfolio. Hence there is never a dull moment! Having said that, given the robustness of our franchise, it is essential that I stay on top of matters that need my involvement and attention. I achieve this by ensuring that I always remain accessible to peers and colleagues. I also ensure that we maintain an excellent panel of external counsel that can assist us on litigation matters and work with us on litigation related strategy to be adopted. 

Can you foresee any key developments to the way general counsel work over the next five years?  

I believe there will be a greater reliance on AI. Teams might move to having to balance between time spent in the office and working from home. A more fluid arrangement on such front may pose issues for new joiners and managers would need to focus more on ensuring that organisational values and core principles are understood, followed, and appreciated by all members of their teams. We may see greater dependency on AI for matters that previously required a full-time resource. Accordingly, standardised templates for agreements downloaded using AI support would become the norm.