What has been the number one challenge that has impacted you over the past year?

In January 2023, Semtech Corporation closed on its acquisition of the Canadian company, Sierra Wireless, Inc., doubling the size of Semtech in terms of employees and revenue. As a result, I had to oversee all the legal aspects of integrating Sierra’s numerous subsidiary entities in Europe and Asia into the Semtech group.

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?

My legal team is based in several countries. I do not micromanage. Instead, I hold meetings only when necessary, with outlined agendas, and treat each team member as a professional, to develop and maintain a level of esprit de corps. I am not sure we could classify any of these ways of working as an innovative. That said, this approach, at almost no cost to the company, has worked well and helped build a solid, multinational legal team that supports customers across the globe.

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?

The products – semiconductors – and services – cloud services – our company offers are complex. It is imperative to really understand how these products and services work and how customers use them. This quality will enable you to better support internal customers when providing legal services.