What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Over the past year, our legal team, and our associate general counsel and head of intellectual property, Marian, have been involved in various significant cases and transactions. 

One of the major undertakings has been the management of intellectual property (IP) across approximately 30 countries, a role Marian took on directly. She unwound our international counsel relationships and decided to manage over 300+ trademarks directly. This involved substantial trademark registration, prosecution work, and monitoring for trademark infringement and scam sites. She personally manages a larger legal budget than most IP lawyers on a per-head basis, and indisputably a larger global footprint (she knows the IP law firm hourly rates from China to Nigeria, the side effect being she is also the go-to person for referrals to translators). 

Confidentially, the team (with no international counsel support) was able to execute a global IP filing exercise due to a potential infringing trademark in 24 hours, and we later found out that other blockchain organisations (such as Binance) could face the same issue but did not execute at the same speed and scale. Confidentially, given a potential dispute, the team also handled preparations for matters that were not strictly legal such as crisis PR, directly briefing PR specialists, for example, while briefing IP litigators. 

With the team, Marian handles confidential disputes with current and potential counterparties, including Fortune 500 companies and large blockchain projects. Her most notable achievement was her expert handling of an extensive dispute with a Fortune 500 company that involved around 30 countries, where she skilfully negotiated and reached a settlement agreement.

Many in law firms claim to be blockchain IP experts, but Marian does this every week and is conversant with the blockchain-specific IP nuances in each major jurisdiction and each major segment of blockchain. For example, Marian tracks blockchain-specific developments such as metaverse and NFT infringement issues, which are impossible to appreciate without knowing both the underlying technology and the subculture of blockchain communities. The team was even consulted by a law firm handling one of the most high-profile NFT lawsuits initiated recently, by one of the world’s largest consumer brands. 

Marian is a legitimate blockchain law expert outside IP and helps in other areas, such as corporate and securities law and non-IP disputes and potential issues in adjacent industries such as AR/VR, video games and payments. She and the team led the corporate/finance side of Efinity’s recent US$200 million crowd loan, our partnership with Square Enix (producer of the legendary Final Fantasy video game), and other key corporate exercises.

She is part of management and works directly with our CTO to help liaise with key counterparties in tech/coding-focused discussions. She is part of the hiring committee and is a key manager screening marketing hires in particular. All this is a testament to her knowledge of blockchain products beyond law. 

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most? Which have you found most useful in your legal team?  

There’s a lot of talk about AI and ChatGPT and I’m similarly excited! While some have complained about ChatGPT “inventing” its own cases, I see it as an opportunity to refine its training process. It would be interesting to see how you could train it by “feeding” a whole library of actual cases and how it could evolve from that. 

Another really useful use case for ChatGPT is having a reliable source of information that has endless patience, almost like a personal tutor. Given that I’m in the ever-evolving field of blockchain, I constantly encounter new concepts and technologies. It’s wonderfully helpful to have a tool that patiently answers even my simplest questions until I’m fully satisfied.  

I’ve also been exploring a software called Make, which is similar to Zapier. It has shown tremendous promise in automating the process of creating contracts, which can be a game changer in terms of efficiency. 

Moreover, I’m really getting into Google Apps Script. It’s a remarkable tool as it fully integrates with Google Sheets, Google Docs, Google Forms, and the whole Google Workspace. We’re stepping into a time when you don’t necessarily need to be a professional developer to learn coding to boost your work efficiency. The ability to automate and streamline tasks is becoming accessible to everyone, and that’s truly exciting!

In general, what would you like to see change about the external law firms you use? Examples could be greater flexibility in billing, a more expansive suite of services offered, more transparency in reporting ESG statistics etc.

Overall, we’ve had quite a fortunate experience with our external law firms, particularly appreciating their prompt communication and fair approach to billing. However, if there’s one area where I’d like to see improvement, it would definitely be in billing clarity. 

As I work with over 30 different firms, it’s notably more efficient and less confusing when we receive a single, consolidated invoice each month per firm, rather than multiple smaller bills for various matters. This streamlining not only simplifies the process of reviewing and paying these invoices but also helps us better manage our budget and maintain accurate financial records. 

So, for future collaboration, I would very much like to see our external law firms adopt a more coherent and simplified billing process, presenting all charges for a given period in one comprehensive bill.

As we live in a fast-paced world today, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry? 

First, is an openness to continuous learning. As laws and business environments change, it’s crucial for legal teams to stay abreast of the latest developments and adapt their knowledge accordingly.

Secondly, the ability to pivot swiftly is crucial. Situations may arise that require quick changes in strategy or approach. An effective legal team should be agile and flexible, able to shift focus as needed.

Thirdly, in the age of digital transformation, tech-savviness is an absolute must. Understanding and utilising cutting-edge legal tech tools and technologies can significantly enhance a team’s productivity and efficiency.

Lastly, a modern corporate legal team should strive to find alternative solutions rather than simply saying “no” to a business need due to legal hurdles. This proactive problem-solving approach means collaborating closely with the business, understanding its needs, and finding ways to fulfil those needs within the bounds of the law.