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

My role in American Express requires collaboration with the legal team, working to provide alternatives or solutions which either prevent or solve litigations and mitigate legal risks. The two key factors in achieving a successful performance are:

1) Developing a skilled team with a deep understanding of the business and the organisational culture of the company and being capable of providing solutions in light of the applicable regulation.

2) Collaborating in the creation of a trusted environment between our teammates and our stakeholders, so that the stakeholders feel comfortable enough to consider the legal team as business partners.

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

A successful in-house counsel needs to have a 360° vision; this means that they are able to provide support to the business, while understanding their needs and priorities. They must consider not only the legal and regulatory requirements, but also bear in mind the customer experience, and reputational risk, among other things.

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

The biggest challenge for the financial industry that service innovation driven by new online capabilities is accelerating at a great rate; it will be incredibly difficult to keep up with such an acceleration, but we must, in order to provide accurate and timely assessments to the business in every single project. As in-house counsel, we must be focused on contributing to the business, to allow for the growth of the company; this can be achieved by strengthening our business and legal knowledge, as well as identifying, analysing, and reporting potential changes in the legal and regulatory environments.