Team size :   12 

What are the most significant cases and transactions that you have recently been involved in?  

We have been involved in the acquisition of all Sizzlers, the rights to use the IP, worldwide outside of the United States. We also negotiated and concluded agreements to set up a joint venture to introduce and operate the Tai Cheong Bakery in Thailand. The conclusion of negotiations for the first Minor hotel in the Neom project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was also successful. 

Our expansion of Minor’s brands 14 hotels continued into China as a member of the Board of Directors of Minor’s joint venture in greater China. Finally, we managed the intellectual property portfolio of Minor Hotels and Minor Food Group worldwide. 

How do you motivate and manage your legal team well?  

Motivation of our legal team comes from an environment of trust and reliance on each other. Minor’s legal team is made up of seasoned professionals who have been working on average for the past eight to nine years. We are very fluent in working with each other supporting and leading when necessary.  This support of team members is provided regardless of title and rank—both the general counsel (Stepehen Chojnacki) and the associate general counsel (myself) will assist more junior attorneys to accomplish the company’s goals. We have established an environment of trust, support, and open dialogue while openly acknowledging and celebrating the team’s and individual’s successes.  On average we add one attorney per year and our mid-level attorneys work closely with new hires to make sure they understand and work within our culture of trust, in both understanding the culture and adapting it. Our motivation comes from our dedication to each other, the shared sense of accomplishment we all feel for each individual success and our shared sense of ownership over the team and protection of its culture. 

Are the effects of AI on the legal world overplayed, or underplayed? 

The effects of AI on the legal world are underplayed as they will affect the way we conduct our daily work, while AI will create new areas for lawyers. On the one hand, AI will and is changing the way we research, draft, negotiate, and litigate. Like all technologies, AI is a tool which is best deployed by those who understand it and have the imagination to test its limits.  We at Minor, including the legal team, are experimenting with AI on a daily basis, understanding how it can currently make our jobs more efficient with existing iterations of the technology, and also keeping an eye out for future developments. On the other hand, AI creates a whole new universe of legal uncertainty regarding intellectual property, questions of what is “new” and “novel”, and the legislation of new laws which try to keep up with the developments in business and society. We are only at the beginning.