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?
The world is changing rapidly and yet it’s likely that the rate of change will never be this slow again. So, in reality, there are very few days, if any, that do not have components of instability and crises: requiring us to be more agile (often not a natural skillset associated with lawyers). I focus on ensuring the team is equipped with the necessary skills, like navigating a VUCA world, being comfortable with greater ambiguity and not always having answers and importantly remind them to hold our purpose and value proposition as north star, thereby enabling a calm confidence in them to navigate through any uncertainty.

In developing my departmental strategy and objectives, there is only one place to start and that is with the business strategy. We are, because the business is: so, whatever we do must enable, enhance and support the organisational strategy. Additionally, components of my departmental strategy form part of the primary organisational strategy (specifically within my sustainability accountabilities).
What are the main cases or transactions you have been involved in recently?
Within my legal responsibilities, I have once again in 2024 spent a considerable amount of my time on large merger and acquisition transactions, in collaboration with the CEO and CFO.
Although my focus always extends beyond merely the legal components of transactions, the two most exciting ones I have worked on this year have been ones where I’m also the ultimate P&L owner. As part of my accountability to drive our new Impact Advisory offering that focuses on delivering forward thinking sustainability and environmental, social and governance insights and advice to retirement funds and corporate clients, I have been pursuing acquisitive opportunities to assist in scaling this new business line into a sustainable revenue contributor: thus, managing the full transaction lifecycle of these potential acquisitions.

The broader team focused on two-pot implementation (the biggest retirement fund transformation in South African history and requires a whole document on its own to cover the extent of effort), large scale international arbitration, litigation etc.

How can general counsel foster a corporate culture that supports ESG principles and compliance across all levels of the organisation? 
Considering that there are over 2400 ESG related regulations that emerged worldwide in 2023 only, as a GC one must have a solid understanding of the regulatory framework and developments, how it affects one’s industry and business. But it’s about more than merely complying, it is about understanding that a lead or lag position taken in respect of ESG can significantly enhance or destroy a company’s reputation and sustainability.

I think it’s critical for GCs to assist their organisations to not merely comply, but to truly integrate sustainability into business strategy and importantly look for the unique opportunities within their businesses emerging as a result of a greater focus on ESG and sustainability.
This requires a different kind of lawyer, so in our case, in addition to broad team exposure to ESG and sustainability, one of the steps we’ve taken is to include a nominee from our legal or compliance team in our annual United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Innovation Accelerator for Young Professionals cohort – thereby exposing them deeply to sustainability so that they can come back into the business with a different view of the world and act as change agents within the company.