Focus On: Legal Matters in COVID- Impacted Industries

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the in-house legal community in various ways across numerous industries and jurisdictions. It has introduced multiple challenges not previously faced or managed by in-house counsel as they work to support and protect their business, in many instances working with decreased budgets and staff shortages caused by the pandemic. In the face of these unprecedented challenges, in-house counsel needs to remain resilient, tenacious, nimble, and flexible to ensure the ongoing health of their organisation.

It is critical, now more than ever, that in-house counsel: remain positive, even when faced with very difficult decisions; stay closely connected to the legal team maintaining consistent, and sometimes increased, dialogue while remaining mindful of the personal challenges individuals may be dealing with; work closely with and support management in the development of strategies and solutions to protect the organisation regionally and globally; maintain close and continuous connection to the business and its operations across all levels and functions; develop a clear understanding of local, regional and global business needs and initiatives operating as both a thought partner, advisor and champion of management directives; stay apprised of the continually changing regulatory and related guidelines landscape; prepare to take more business risk than in ordinary times with a willingness to step outside of our comfort zones; work collaboratively with customers and suppliers to develop smart solutions to manage and survive the crisis; and have a willingness to explore, collaborate and implement these solutions together with a view toward the long-term health of both organisations.

Working in the already heavily regulated travel, hospitality, technology, and retail sectors, which are also amongst the hardest hit industries in this pandemic, my organisation has had to quickly adapt to an extraordinary ‘new normal’. First and foremost was to focus on managing the health and safety of our employees together with the safe delivery of our services and products. There has been significant additional work required on securing company interests and finances, navigating customer bankruptcies, and reorganising and restructuring where required. We also have had to continually evaluate our current and prospective markets and look for opportunities to reinvent ourselves through this crisis to drive smart expansion into new markets in a cash-strained environment. This smart growth includes leveraging existing assets and a strong talent base not being fully utilised during the pandemic to diversify our offerings into new areas.