Team size: 80 

Major legal advisers: Allen & Overy, Ashurst, TLT 

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?  

The team disposed of our interests in Russia which was a complex situation given the sanctions issues. Additionally, the team is negotiating complex patent licenses which are becoming more common in an industry pivoting from traditional products to more technology-based products. Lastly, we have an active but confidential litigation docket which includes safety claims, antitrust issues and tax cases.  

What do you see as an opportunity or risk over the next six months?  

Supply chain integrity and the need to support that with risk management as well as with contractual flexibility.  

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?   

I established a digital academy in order to build capability from our existing workforce as our commercial lives became more skewed to digital products and services. The academy was a three-year program which started with the basics of understanding the digital world, including reverse mentoring for colleagues who were less familiar with aspects of technology. Then, gradually, other skills were trained to ensure a relevant team equipped for the future. This was done for very little money, partly by leveraging the digital education resources of the technology team in the organisation but also availing of their willingness to engage with the legal team and educate us.  

As the legal landscape evolves, what steps are you taking to foster a culture of continuous learning and development within the legal team, ensuring that they are all well-equipped to address future legal complexities?  

We have a well-structured training and engagement programme that allows us to gather experience and intelligence from a broad source of sources both internally and externally. We couple the insights derived from these sources with our internal strategy refresh discussions to build capabilities for now but also for future challenges. These approaches also form part of future-facing risk management plans for the business.  

In your role, how do you balance the need to protect the organisation’s interests today while also considering legal implications and opportunities that may arise in the future?  

This is the classic business guardian concept where I seek to support current business opportunities while not losing sight of the fact that we need to have one eye on protecting the future. This can be very frustrating for commercial colleagues who wish to execute plans with urgency, but it does ensure a balance is achieved – an important role for the general counsel.