Team size: Nine

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

Some of the most significant projects include a PPA and related agreements for a solar 100MW Solar PV project; the conclusion of a Long Term Negotiated Pricing Agreement with Eskom; a commercial agreement portfolio covering goods, services, capex, raw materials, and logistics; securing intellectual property by pursuing a multi-jurisdictional patent registration for a furnace pre-heating technology; and the rationalisation of our mine to port strategy to unlock cost benefit.

How do you see the general counsel role evolving in South Africa over the next five-ten years?

The best way to predict the future is to create it and by so doing, general counsel will do well to foster an appetite and capability to embrace and respond to the disruptors impacting the industry they operate in. It is necessary to evaluate the disruptors that are, or will be, forcing an attitude of evolution and prioritise capabilities to respond accordingly in order to accomplish the full scale of expected value from efficiency initiatives.

Corporate legal departments are increasingly being asked to reduce costs and operate more efficiently than ever before. This will require the implementation of legal technology to improve efficiencies. However, to reap those benefits, legal teams need tools that empower them. We foresee the need for integration of technological solutions to provide a full suite of solutions to promote near autonomous efficiency and consistent delivery of outcomes.

Legal work will increasingly become automated by systems and technological advancements. Consequently, we will see a reduction in full-time in-house legal department employees. This may be further compounded by a shifting of generalised legal work from lawyers to non-lawyers within the business.

Multiple locations mean more applicable and stringent regulations. There will be regulatory hurdles to overcome before legal departments can fully realise the benefits of implementing technologies. We foresee that legal departments will function globally, cross pollinating their trade to transcend international borders and business functions, perhaps even centralising their models of support and service delivery.

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

One of the first pieces of advice that I was given by the person who taught me everything I know, and love, about law was: “Clients don’t care that you may not know everything when they seek advice (because that you can research), but they want to know and trust that you will be there for them when they call.”

The key to building strong relationships with your internal stakeholders and business partners, is the much the same as it is with any relationship – trust. Trust, in my view, is a function of being authentically (a) responsive (b) communicating in a manner that makes sense to the receiver, (c) managing your impact on the delivery of others, and above all, (c) being approachable.

The following are my daily mantras:

Respond to emails and telephone calls promptly, even if that response is that you would not be able to substantively respond until the next week or so due to other priorities.

Read the room. Advice should be direct and relevant to the questions asked keeping advice targeted to the particular set of facts and issues; and people receiving it.

Do not be a naysayer. Rather than being seen to shoot down ideas, if something seems problematic, explain the risks and how risk might be minimised through alternative approaches.

It is all about the experience. You should always be a pleasure to work with. Even when deadlines are looming, business partners should feel comfortable contacting you to discuss matters. Having valuable guidance does not help if personnel are hesitant to “bother” you to seek it. If you must have some uninterrupted time to concentrate on drafting or untangling a thorny issue, develop a method to let others know you are momentarily unavailable.

What are some of the main trends impacting your industry in South Africa?

In 2023, the several trends that impact on the mining industry which include environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments, economic and geopolitical factors, digital transformation and innovation, regulatory changes, and infrastructure development.