Team size: >50 

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 ABB Motion legal strategy is very well aligned with the Motion business strategy and supports the organisation’s resilience in many ways. According to our legal strategy, we scan the horizon for potential crises and aim to build up preventive measures for various circumstances. While not all crises are foreseeable, when they do occur, we take swift actions and formulate an action plan that we adjust as the situation develops. This requires frequent meetings of the core team during the crisis.

What measures has your company taken to embed sustainability practices into its core business operations, and how does the role of the general counsel contribute to driving and ensuring sustainable practices within the company? 

Sustainability is a core principle of ABB Motion, and we have taken numerous steps to embed it into the DNA of our organisation. We have established a sustainability board that oversees all activities related to sustainability. Additionally, we have sustainability champions around the globe to serve as the go-to persons for sustainability topics. Furthermore, we of course report on our sustainability KPIs in our annual non-financial report. 

Generally, we look at sustainability from multiple perspectives, encompassing global, local, company-wide, and individual perspectives. For instance, we have started an Energy Efficiency Movement, whereby companies can make energy efficiency pledges and share ideas on saving energy.

We have also focused a lot on a few ‘big bets’, such as circularity. When we look at the legal department and the GC’s role in this wide scope of activities, we are naturally providing support with understanding the regulatory landscape and scanning the horizon for new upcoming legislation. We are also part of the team that is designing the business processes needed in order to collect the necessary data that needs to be reported. Last but not least, we have also put in place processes to ensure that we have a proper mechanism to avoid any greenwashing in our communication. This includes training programs for the communications employees and mandatory legal review of certain external communications.

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? 

I believe that AI will have a major impact on the legal profession, and the technology will change the way we work. It should also change legal education. We will spend a lot less time on drafting contracts and correspondence, commenting upon contracts, doing legal research, and spending time on litigations, among other tasks. The legal role will transform into a more strategic one, with a lot of importance placed on understanding legal concepts, scanning the horizon for risks, and strategising on how to mitigate and avoid risks for the particular circumstances that a business is positioned in.