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? 

Covid expedited digitisation of the KSA litigation practice.  Hearings, claims, defenses, and execution orders were all moved online.  The legal team deals with number of cases which can be raised against number of its commercial registration.  Managing, hearings, verdicts, executions orders is a significant challenge.

Case management system was crucial, to address the above issues, presently no major case management systems could work with the Ministry of justice transaction notification system based on WhatsApp notifications We developed an in-house solution with Internal IT, developed a bespoke system linked to WhatsApp and we are building the complete interpretation logic to read and translate the messages from the legal WhatsApp Business account.

WhatsApp messages received from MOJ will be forwarded to the in-house developed case management system, which will then automatically 1) translate Arabic messages into English, the b) create an entry into a live database, which will then be visible to the legal and individual business leadership, 3) new cases will be allocated by the GC to a lawyer as such subsequent incoming messages will automatically cascade to the lawyer concerned, 4) auto scheduling, meetings, hearings 5) notification to function/verticals, leaders depending on the content of the notification.

System will allow research into which product or service business vertical is causing the most litigation, this knowledge when addressed, will reduce customer complaint, enhance Petromin’ s reputation, a very positive contribution from legal department, reduce errors, improve legal personal confidence, importantly, reduce impact on bottom line and business reputation.

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

The nature of transaction, strategic or operational importance, will determine whether a hands-on approach or a helicopter view is used. On major cross border transactions, I played a hands-on role working with external counsel to translate corporate strategy in a new jurisdiction, whereas local smaller transactions, I tend to play a more of managing external counsel.  Strategic new businesses, I support and at times drive the commercial, legal efforts, new business venture, I take on hands-on role to negotiate major strategic agreements, support commercial negotiations.  In respect of litigation, given that expat lawyers do not have rights of audience, my role is to oversee, review positions, arguments and provide strategic guidance to the Saudi lawyers in my team and law firms.

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

Technology will free up resources for GC’s and legal teams to focus on the evolving nature of the role of GC from legal advisor to strategic business partner. Short term, cloud computing, many networking platforms will enhance collaboration, knowledge document management, collaboration in problem solving and document creation.  Medium term advanced analytics will enable automation in document structuring and filing documents, review of documents, assessment of risks, and automated e-discovery thereby impinging on the role of junior lawyers and support staff.  However, this development should be welcomed, as junior lawyers will have to quickly upskill themselves to do less routine work.

Development in Collaborative tools means that the traditional concept of being present in one office or jurisdiction will increasingly become an exception, team members can be based across time zones, jurisdictions, which will allow GC’s to build teams reflecting the organizations marketplace.  As such a GC is no longer restricted to a market for legal talent, provide round-the-clock service.

What emerging technologies do you see as having the most significant impact on the legal profession in the near future, and how do you stay updated on these developments? 

Analytical technologies, cognitive analytics currently help with and as technology develops will help automate time consuming and routine legal process.  Indeed, language processing tools will be used to examine textual threads to understand the context of complex statements.   This will then be applied to automating analysis, editing, and approval of contracts. In the future we may have situations where two systems will negotiate contracts with minimal human input.