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

Considering the multiplicity of legal issues involved in McDonald’s activity and the high level of brand exposure (which necessarily adds an additional level of complexity to the management of issues), it is difficult to single out specific cases. I would say, however, that last year – atypical, insofar as it essentially sought to recover from the impacts caused by the pandemic – the main focuses of legal advice focused on the estate area and on monitoring various legislative initiatives (both at national and European level), with significant impacts on the functioning and management of companies. In the case of McDonald’s, whose business model has very particular characteristics, the legal support given to the various departments was and continues to be particularly challenging, as many of the new legislative initiatives did not consider the specificities of some realities and business models, which naturally makes their interpretation and application difficult.

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company´s values? Are you likely to reconsider what firms you work with based on this?

In my view, it is essential these days that law firms not only know or seek to know, in detail, the business developed by their client companies (including their particularities and challenges), but also that these firms know and identify with the culture of customers, sharing similar values. It is unlikely that a partner who does not share the same values ​​and acts based on them will be able to meet the expectations of its clients and generate the relationship of special trust that must be the basis of any legal advice. The sharing of values ​​and knowledge of our factual reality are key points when choosing the firms and lawyers with which we work.

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

In today’s world of accelerated legislative evolution and constant transformation, I believe that in-house lawyers must have a strong capacity for adaptation, maintain a curious spirit and be comfortable with changing paradigms and constant learning. At the same time, they must have the ability to clearly understand and translate the business reality in which they operate, to correctly frame it from a legal perspective. For this, a deep knowledge of the business is essential. More and more companies are looking for in-house lawyers capable of adopting a more practical and sensitive approach to business needs, anticipating potential challenges and, simultaneously, capable of offering innovative legal solutions (often to solve problems that arise for the first time), acting as a true business partner.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

For a strong partnership relationship to exist, it is essential that in-house lawyers are able to listen and correctly understand the needs of their partners, have the capacity to simplify the legal language in the dialogue with them and that, under any circumstances, they adopt a constructive posture focusing on the solution rather than the problem, assuming an active voice in management decision-making processes.