Team size: 70

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

First, it is very important to adopt a proactive legal risk assessment to identify potential vulnerabilities, develop mitigation strategies, prioritise risks based on their potential impact on the business and allocate resources accordingly. Then, you must develop a comprehensive crisis management plan and clearly define roles and responsibilities for legal team members during a crisis. Establishing communication protocols to ensure timely and effective information sharing it is also crucial. One of the paramount importance elements during a period of instability is to foster close collaboration between the legal team and other key stakeholders, such as executive leadership, operations, and communications teams and to ensure that the legal team is involved in decision-making processes from the outset of a crisis. Providing timely legal advice and guidance to support the organisation’s response efforts is also a daily task for us. Not less important is to conduct regular post-crisis reviews to identify lessons learned and areas for improvement and update crisis management plans and legal policies accordingly. I personally encourage ongoing training and development for my legal team members to stay up to date on relevant legal issues and best practices.

What emerging technologies do you see as having the most significant impact on the legal profession in the near future, and how do you stay updated on these developments?

The first one is definitively the artificial intelligence. AI-powered tools can analyse vast amounts of legal data, predict case outcomes, and automate routine tasks, freeing up lawyers to focus on strategic thinking and complex problem-solving. Then is the blockchain technology that can improve legal processes by providing secure, transparent, and tamper-proof records of transactions, contracts, and intellectual property. Virtual and Augmented Reality can also enhance legal education, training, and client presentations by creating immersive and interactive experiences. Legal Analytics can help lawyers identify trends, patterns, and insights in legal data, leading to more informed decision-making. Remote work and collaboration tools proved already to be very useful in the daily activity of a legal department and in my opinion will continue to shape the legal profession, enabling lawyers to collaborate with clients and colleagues from anywhere in the world. Legal tech startups are often at the forefront of innovation and developing cutting-edge solutions. I am trying to attend legal tech conferences, webinars, and workshops to stay updated on the latest trends and best practices and subscribe to legal tech newsletters and blogs and network with other legal professionals who are interested in technology.