Could you tell us a bit about your significant successes in your role?

I am a member of an investment legal unit which has met steady growth over the last few years, driven by the international expansion of the company’s investment activities. I have aided our team in asserting itself as a true business partner for the project teams across multiple jurisdictions, in equity, finance, real estate and other deals, within the highly regulated environment the company operates. We have successfully advised on several core and non-core transactions in five continents which have helped transform the company into a proper multinational organisation.

In your opinion, what are the qualities and skills needed to form a strong legal team?

A solid legal team in an in-house context, like the one I am fortunate to be part of, must comprise cohesive members with different profiles. The ideal group of individuals must present a balanced mix of soft, hard, and technical skills – more demanding if a company operates in several sectors – and strong business acumen. Our role is way beyond a purely legal one. In-house teams are expected to constantly measure legal risks and their likelihood in any situation and determine how to avoid them or manage them via mitigation mechanisms. Therefore, in-house teams must develop specific competencies that are key from the early stages and throughout the investment cycle.

What is the biggest risk to your industry, and how are you contributing to prepare your organisation for this?

In a highly regulated environment like the insurance sector, companies are often challenged by new regulatory standards that beacon their business lines and international activities. Likewise, increasingly demanding international guidelines such as AML and Tax requirements impose the allocation of significant efforts to organisations to secure their compliance at all times. Our team and other departments collaborate daily to ensure a smooth transition and limited side effects across legal frameworks.

On the other hand, technological advances promise to disrupt all traditional markets and, more imminently, how our teams work. Recent AI and Machine Learning-based tools, like ChatGPT, are now broadly accessible and allow us to change our time allocation towards more productive tasks. Therefore, organisations and their structures must stay agile and able to pivot on short notice to maximise their resources and remain competitive. An in-house legal team like ours must effectively manage all applicable legal constraints, actively participating in the company’s transformation.

What challenges have you overcome to get to the position you are in today?

The biggest challenge in my case was to adapt my skillset from private practice to an in-house profile. In a law firm environment, risks identified are sometimes handled by simple disclosure to clients or by a written caveat. At the same time, in-house counsel like me is called to go beyond that and participate in the decisions which address such risks. They will probably be there to be held accountable for any misjudgements in their previous approaches, so their analysis is medium-to-long-term oriented. Also, it was challenging to learn how to operate within the applicable regulatory framework, which defines the boundaries of the company’s activities internationally. I have worked hard from day one to live up to this challenge. Several teams (risk, compliance, legal) act seamlessly to ensure the company stays compliant without jeopardising its innovative and competitive nature. The fact that these teams are united by and fully committed to a strong company culture of openness and cooperation has made my onboarding much easier, and this is something I value even more as the years go by.