Team Size: eight

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

I see in-house lawyers as members of the business community acting as business partners. This criterion differentiates us from the roles of external counsel. In-house counsel should be part of the network and be increasingly wired as a strategic business partner by having a seat at the regional leadership team which then allows in-house counsel to participate in the business planning and strategy building stage. Of course, another key principle is having efficient close communication after building trust within the business group.

Compliance and governance are all-important factors for all companies today, including the Coca-Cola Company. In-house counsel across the board account for risk. I believe we should blend risks, business goals and what is right optimally.

Learning, sharing as well as proactively tracking developments and ensuring the update of and automation processes and templates accordingly are essential, too.

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years?

I believe becoming experts in new areas of law is not enough anymore and this is why we should all also invest in developing our skills and growth behaviors. Being curious and having external focus will be essential components. We should all proactively be ready to contribute and add value to the new emerging areas like e-commerce which goes hand in hand with data privacy.

In the new evolving business world to be successful we should learn to work in cross-functional teams because none of the functions have sole ownership and accountability. Legal teams should be empowered to be agile when responding and working with stakeholders and to think out of the box to create solutions when advising proactively.

We should understand and internalise the role of in-house counsel as more than lawyering. Today’s environment is more complex and demanding, meaning the traditional way of working is no longer sufficient.

The expectations from the business from in-house legal teams will be around supporting the strategic direction, growth, and productivity initiatives of the companies that we work for by providing proactive and effective legal advice in a timely and consistent manner more than today. I believe our role should focus more on ensuring that the business operates using sound governance that protects the company’s people, resources, technology, brands, and reputation.

Our structure should also give every member opportunity to grow and develop. Every member should demonstrate that we are competent to have a holistic view to provide legal counselling beyond our regional scope as true business partners. In a global unitary function, we should share knowledge, see the pain points in advance to develop plans or roadmaps to be executed locally.