Key Team members: Maria Corazon Alvarez-Adriano, chief legal officer 

What are the most significant cases and/or transactions that you have recently been involved in? 

All transactions are significant whether big or small in terms of monetary value. They are all significant because they create a milestone in business, resolve what otherwise could be a brewing or magnified issue, avert anything catastrophic or sustain the day-to-day operations of business. We partner with those who are aligned with our goal of “Finance for All”’ which make any engagement or transaction a push rock to achieve our plans along the said goal. 

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? 

Our in-house Legal team advises an increasingly expanding business team that has been growing disproportionately quickly in keeping with the remarkable growth of our organisation. The nature, variety and breadth of legal queries that our team receives daily can be overwhelming. Initially, we were dealing with these queries on an ad hoc basis, but we quickly realised that we had to organise the queries into different categories and assign these questions to different members of our legal team based on expertise, experience and even interpersonal relationships which were built as different business units got more comfortable with different team members. 

To resolve this, we worked with our tech team. Specifically, we have a program in the company that encourages, and train interested employees who want to learn how to develop an app. This community of developers have done amazing jobs in their respective groups including Legal in coming up with either a new app or enhancing existing ones. We can integrate law and technology or what I would call LawTech. Being mindful of the immense capacity of the human brain to process knowledge, harvesting the same with the use of technology allows us to gain strides at a much efficient speed. 

The use of the app has been remarkably successful and has helped team get better organised and respond to our fast-paced business’ legal needs efficiently and with the best expertise available receiving and answering the queries. 

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

The General Counsel (GC) or Chief Legal Officer (CLO) role continues to be a sought after, valuable and indispensable contributor to the organisation. Being embedded in the company as member of the management team, the growth and sustainability of an enterprise is in tune with the changing legal landscape and even prepared for the regulatory changes. As a close partner of business and of the same culture DNA of an enterprise, the GC or CLO could be a driver of national growth and global integration. There is increasing acknowledgment of expertise and respect for the role as the GC or CLO continues to be visible in the business stage. 

In addition, In the next five-ten years, general counsel would likely be more tech-savvy, taking advantage of AI, block chain, and other available technologies. Due to the rapid adoption of AI, five-ten years from now, general counsel will likely be able to leverage AI to create more systemic solutions, which would boost productivity and promote efficiency. With the emerging technologies, general counsels may, however, experience challenges relative to the protection of intellectual property (IP) rights. In this regard, general counsels will likely be more cognizant of IP rights, striking a balance between innovation and IP rights protection. 

Additionally, general counsels will continue to build connections, especially with general counsels from different jurisdictions, which would be greatly beneficial in sharing insights and best practices, especially those related to technology and intellectual property. 

How do you motivate and manage your legal team well? 

To keep the team members motivated, we empower them to participate in decision-making, and encourage them to identify their own means of implementing their decisions. Allowing them to decide and implement their strategies create a more positive work environment and enriches accountability. This also gets them an opportunity to be recognised, boosting their sense of accomplishment and value. 

Another significant approach is creating and sustaining a safe space within the team. This allows each single team member to speak their minds, building trust and creating valuable relationships within the team. 

Also, in managing the team, we practice situational leadership, and leading by example. Through situational leadership, we can adapt our leadership style based on the strengths, needs, maturity, and/or morale of the team. Leading by example, on the other hand, allows us to set an example of what values we want the team to embody, thereby increasing the team’s confidence in their leader. 

And always to remember, treat each one right. Never allow anyone to be left behind. Be an example of values like compassion, humility, integrity, passion and selflessness. 

Are the effects of AI on the legal world overplayed, or underplayed? 

The overplay is done in the wrong context of obsolescence or extinction of lawyers. Like any human made tools, AI should be used for the good. Considering the magnitude of its capacity, it is a means that should be used with ethics and integrity. At this point of time, we believe that they may be over played. An attorney’s role is varied. They make submissions before court, respond to a judges’ or an arbitrator’s queries, prepare for cross examination, change tactics depending on the demeanour and knowledge of the witness and address the court after sensing the mood and the attitudes of a judge. This aspect of law requires skills and training that we believe no amount of AI can achieve.  

As legal counsel, we advise clients based on several factors such as the business needs, quantifying risk, applying practical solutions to a problem- in the sense that we seek solutions instead of baldly stating the law to the business and tech teams that come to us with legal queries and issues. Similarly, during contract negotiations, conciliation and mediation talks, legal strategy discussions with management and business partners, we need our attorneys to think through issues and effectively provide solutions. This again, is not something that AI can solve. AI can be very helpful for legal practices in quantifying text, gathering and citing sources collating material and presenting it and maybe even making legal arguments but with certain errors. However, the effect of AI for an in-house counsel or a litigator is overplayed.