Team size: 47, consisting of 28 lawyers and 19 paralegals

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

Aspen Pharmacare Holdings, JSE Listed company, includes 62 affiliates, trades in more than 150 countries. Aspen is considered to be the most globalised South African company.

In my role, I am the head of the legal function Group-wide, spanning the 43 countries in which Aspen operates. Aspen Legal has offices as part of the corporate office in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Ireland, Kenya, Mauritius, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, and South Africa.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most? Which have you found most useful in your legal team?

A massive disrupter facing lawyers and in-house legal divisions worldwide is the impact of the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Quite simply, rules-based activities will be automated, and the drafting of agreements by lawyers will be focused on specific elements or unique items requiring legal judgment and strategy; the rest will be produced through AI. AI will not replace lawyers, but it will replace those lawyers who do not embrace and adopt AI. Your in-house client or business partner will easily find answers to their questions without needing to approach the lawyer. Thus, lawyers will need to offer added value to remain relevant.

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

In-house lawyers, and more specifically, general counsel (GC) leading in-house teams, benefit from seeing their role not only through the lens of the law and traditional legal perspectives but also through the perspective of those who consume legal services. By seeing the role of the legal team as “facilitating business,” underpinned by people, processes, and technology, their actions and activities are more likely to align with the priorities of the business.