Team size: Eight 

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 last couple of years were challenging within the SaaS space where we operate, but as a business, we managed to stay afloat and continue to perform. My team adopted a proactive approach to managing legal aspects to ensure organisational resilience.  

This was done with a strong focus on delivering value and impact for the business; covering more tasks in-house; prioritising must-haves and revenue-generating support, as well as being business-minded to support the business. We also looked at our legal spending and moved some of our external support to more cost-efficient law firms, prioritising firms where the lawyers have demonstrated strong in-house experience.

How do you prioritise diversity and inclusion within your legal department, and what initiatives have you implemented to foster a more inclusive and equitable work environment?  

Diversity and inclusion are core values within our department, reflecting our commitment to fostering an equitable and inclusive work environment. I actively monitor and prioritise diversity to ensure that our team composition is representative of different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.  

I am convinced that a team that champions diversity and inclusion allows us to harness the collective strengths of our diverse team, minimise our individual weaknesses, drive innovation, and enhance our overall effectiveness.

What emerging technologies do you see as having the most significant impact on the legal profession in the near future, and how do you stay updated on these developments?  

AI has the potential to be a game-changer in our industry. At this point, we are focusing on defining the internal framework relating to the use of AI, particularly when it comes to deploying it in our product or supporting some internal processes.  

I tread carefully when it comes to adopting AI, especially large-language models, within our department as the quality of the output is not yet where we need it to be. However, the space is so fast-moving that it is essential for us to stay on top of the latest tech developments. We actively engage in conversations with our internal experts and peers to ensure we are ahead of the curve. I expect we will be rolling-out some AI tech in the next six to nine months to support us. It is about balancing innovation with integrity and quality, and that is where we are headed.