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 head of legal providing legal support to Novartis in over ten countries across Anglophone, East, and Southern Africa, I faced the challenge of streamlining the document review process. After thorough consideration, I came up with a simple but effective cost-free innovation that significantly improved our workflow. Previously, our team managed contract drafting, review, execution, and sharing of contract templates as a sole function, which led to significant time consumption. To address these issues, I introduced a pre-filled 85% restricted agreement template to simplify the contract drafting process for non-legal associates while ensuring a consistent and compliant output.

We also implemented the process of downloading a fresh contract template from a dedicated link to ensure that updated templates and contract terms are being used. Following various training sessions, we introduced an additional process to reduce the categories of contracts within the sole purview of the legal team. Non-legal associates were tasked with downloading pre-filled restricted templates, filling them with the required information for simple contracts that could be initiated and finalised by the team without the input of the legal team. A lot of measures were put in place to ensure standardised and compliant output. The reviewed process eliminated the need for physical document reviews, tedious email exchanges, and delays, enabling the legal team to focus on more substantive work.

The outcome of this cost-free innovation was remarkable. It led to quicker turnaround times, better cross-functional collaboration, improved compliance, and enhanced productivity.

In your role, how do you balance the need to protect the organisation’s interests today while also considering legal implications and opportunities that may arise in the future?

In my role, balancing the need to safeguard Novartis’ interests, considering potential future legal implications and opportunities, requires a strategic and proactive approach. This entails participating in strategic planning and commercial discussions to ensure comprehensive assessment of legal risks. I also aim to enforce a culture of compliance to cultivate strong ethical compliance and reduce exposure to risks. We also conduct regular legal risk assessments to identify areas of improvement and promptly mitigate any gaps. It is also important to remain abreast of industry trends, legal developments, and changes that might impact the organisation’s operations. We also ensure that drafted contracts effectively protect the organisation’s interests, whilst considering potential scenarios that may arise from the business, and finally we provide legal training and updates to improve legal awareness within the organisation.

In conclusion, it is essential to remain forward-thinking, staying up to date on current industry trends, all while considering future opportunities.

How do you see the general counsel role evolving in Nigeria over the next five-ten years?

I anticipate a considerable change in the role of the general counsel over the next five to ten years. Firstly, there will be an increased adoption of technological inventions to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Secondly, general counsel will be involved in solving more complex business issues. It will be necessary for general counsel to understand the commercial plans of their organisation and develop the necessary expertise to advise on diverse issues. Finally, general counsel will be expected to play a more strategic role in advising organisations on potential business opportunities than they did in the past five to ten years. There is a growing trend of commercial teams seeking the involvement of the legal team from inception to provide guidance and identify possible risks.

In conclusion, the general counsel will be expected to play a more strategic role in the business, which will not only be limited to the ambit of law.