Sessions

Enterprise GC kicked off looking at the key trends for general counsel in 2022 and beyond, with insights from Stephen Adams (Director of Global Counsel), Kriti Sharma (Chief Product Officer for Legaltech at Thomson Reuters), and Simon Croxford (General Counsel, investment bank and EMEA, UBS). A host of topics were discussed to set up the agenda, but the role of the General Counsel was a defining theme. The GC job has effectively adapted and evolved over the last few years from a pure legal adviser to someone who is really a strategic partner. The words “trusted adviser” are not popular because of the implication that the GC has a subordinate relationship and is not a decision maker – you’re not at the table, so you’re not putting your neck on the line. To be taken seriously around the top table, you have to put your neck on the line, you have to be there, you have to create decisions with other people. The real value you add is through those strategic decisions.

The relationship with the chief exec or with the top table is a difficult one, because it depends what kind of culture you have, and what kind of environment you have, and the people you have, to persuade someone of your value as a partner – not just on technical legal issues, but on strategy. It takes time. You have to be at the table when the crisis happens. You have to be at the table when the big decisions happen and you have to show your value through those decisions. GCs frankly fail because they haven’t been there in the first place. That’s what needs to change – lawyers need to be at the table.

In a lively discussion, legal search business, SSQ, sponsored and hosted this roundtable focused on how in-house leaders can compete in recruiting legal talent.

We discussed the issue of law firms’ highly inflated salary pay for associates and the consequent issue of higher financial expectations lawyers moving in-house have, when budgets for most in-house legal departments have seen very little increase. The consensus among GCs, generally hard-pressed by their internal clients to do more for less, was that it was more important than ever to enthuse potential talent in the purpose of the business, promoting the far better work –life balance lawyers can enjoy in-house and to do all one can to retain employees wherever possible.

It was agreed GCs could communicate the salaries and overall description of roles more transparently as an expectation management exercise. The possibility of nurturing talent internally at an even more junior level via in-house training contracts was also mooted, however the time and investment involved meant it was one for larger teams to consider.

Overall, the discussion was a particularly engaging one, with in-house leaders willing to swap best practice advice across the room throughout.

‘Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.’

Day one of Enterprise GC saw a lively and informative discussion on the all-important topic of diversity, equity and inclusion, hosted by RPC partners Kelly Thompson and Rachel Pears. Daniel Winterfeldt, general counsel for EMEA and Asia at Jefferies International joined the discussion remotely, while Caroline Withers, director, legal – commercial affairs at Virgin Media O2 participated in person, adding their invaluable insights on the role GCs can play in promoting diversity and inclusion in action.

As Caroline Withers pointed out, the talent war and the ‘great resignation’ has made it all the more vital to create an inclusive culture where everyone feels supported. Daniel Winterfeldt raised the point that, while law firms now realise they have to put on the show of diversity, equity and inclusion, the pace of change is still glacial, with far too few women becoming partner, even at the salaried partner level. He argued that the SRA should regulate law firms to the extent that corporate governance imperatives place corporates under greater scrutiny.

The question was put to the floor: ‘Who is responsible for diversity, equity and inclusion in your organisation? HR, the CEO, or everyone?’ with varying numbers of hands going up.

Practical solutions proposed by the panellists included empowering employees to call out non-inclusive behaviour without fear of reprisal and stepping up reverse mentoring efforts. There were also an argument for harnessing data to get a handle on how organisations are faring on diversity and inclusion and how they can improve.

Yael Selfin, KPMG Law’s chief economist, set the scene with an overview of the macro issues businesses are facing. Corporates are dealing with significant challenges as a result of soaring inflation, a huge churn in jobs generated by the post-lockdown Great Resignation and a lack of available talent post Brexit.  While Selfin predicts that there will be no recession and that inflation will return to 2% next year, there’s no doubt that the decline in disposable income is going to impact a many industries.

Her opening discussion set the scene for Phil Murden, a partner specialising in value creation, to take a look at how the legal function fits in with corporates’ need to reduce costs and drive profit in challenging trading conditions. Top of the list include better management of the external legal budget and driving greater levels of optimisation through contracts. All of which requires GCs to stay close to the commercial side of the business and to make sure they have access to all of the data.

We are living in times of change and within the current context of legal, economic and political turmoil, companies are seeking to continue business, growth and the maximisation of profit. At the same time, businesses are beginning to accept wider social or also environmental responsibilities. ESG factors are increasingly on the agenda, as companies recognise the need to forge links with society to maintain trust. Yet the incentive to include these factors in corporate decisions might not be very high, particularly if there is a focus purely on the shareholder, as has been the traditional model of corporate purpose.

In this Fireside Chat with Maria Connolly, Head of Real Estate and Energy & Renewables at TLT, and Timo Spitzer, Head of Legal at Santander Corporate & Investment Banking for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and The Nordics, we examined what happens when we include wider society in corporate decisions and what this means for the role of the lawyer. We proposed that there is a need for human leadership with integrity to realign companies with stakeholders besides the shareholder.

An audience poll immediately confirmed the important role of in-house and private practice lawyers in a new sustainability-driven environment. Out of 91 votes, 48% agreed that internal and external counsel have a very high impact on sustainable corporate decision-making, alongside another 36% who believed in some impact. This led to a discussion about views on how the legal profession might develop in the future taking into account a drive for sustainability. Out of 101 responses, 34% believed an evolved legal profession was somewhat necessary, and 31% thought it was very necessary.

Timo advocates the definition of an in-house counsel as going above and beyond the role of a technical legal expert by being also ‘a wise counsellor and accountable leader’ as well as ‘a human being of integrity including high moral standards.’ A drive for sustainability may require a shift from the idea of doing good by doing well to doing good by doing the right thing. According to Timo, this notion of ‘what is right’ means serving as the ‘corporation’s moral compass, which is an essential element in creating true corporate sustainability and lasting business success by generating trust amongst internal and external stakeholders.’

In other words, the GC becomes a ‘trusted advisor’, providing ‘business-focused and commercially minded, yet also legally and ethically sound advice’. The idea of trust permeates many levels: companies strive for public trust, GCs for the trust of their CEOs, and external counsel for the trust of their clients. As Timo puts it, if ‘in an environment where trust becomes a solid pillar, you can also expect a more collaborative environment’, while ‘lost trust is like broken glass, it’s very difficult to fix.’ Trust both comes with responsibility and a growing expectation for action on social and environmental issues and is key to advancing sustainability.

At the crux of the sustainable business debate is also the relationship between the pursuit of sustainability goals and business growth and profit maximisation. While it is now widely accepted that business continuity ultimately requires some form of consideration for topics such as ESG, sustainability, diversity and innovation, opinions divide on whether these factors can also contribute to growth. An audience poll with 97 participants showed responses heavily concentrated in the middle ground, with 36% somewhat confident that sustainability goals can be balanced with those of economic growth.

Maria believes that while sustainability comes at a cost to a corporate, the two can go hand-in-hand but require a corporate cultural shift. It’s about ‘thinking sustainability, thinking ESG as part of other decisions that you would make in the ordinary course.’ Timo furthermore points out, ‘Only if sustainability goals are integrated throughout the company, from its executive compensation to the hiring, training and promotion of talent, will we see that they can truly assist with making the business more socially and economically responsible.’

Within the context of all the current noise around ESG and sustainability, we also underlined the need to ensure that it is in fact not just noise and therefore greenwashing or more broadly, colourwashing. As Maria puts it, ‘There’s been too much talk and probably not enough action. The emphasis needs to be on taking meaningful sustainable action.’

In this call to action, we discussed how internal and external counsel can contribute to the more practical aspects of integrating sustainability, diversity and innovation, with collaboration – the sharing of ideas, best practice and thought leadership – constituting one crucial step. Timo proposes, ‘Rather than planting a tree, I want to go further, and plant (good and ethical) ideas with the future generation of leaders.’ Maria, however, is ‘not quite sure we’re necessarily there on the conversion of ideas to meaningful action’. In her view, ultimately, it requires ‘committing to a very firm strategy, setting some clear targets and then it’s the action that you take to get there.’

Following an engaging mainstage demonstration from Luminance’s CEO Eleanor Weaver and subject matter expert Luke Taylor, the pair hosted an interactive breakout session further exploring the benefits of its innovative Luminance Corporate product.

Eleanor and Luke fielded questions from leading GCs about the ways in which AI solutions, of the current and future, can ease contract management and reviewing woes and increase efficiency and organisation across the entire contract lifecycle. The session encouraged delegates to voice their needs, bugbears with current solutions and future wish lists for contract automation fixes, including issues surrounding compatibility with existing software. The moderators also offered practical insight into the rollout procedure of its product, flexibility of its use in adapting to business needs, as well as its future plans for further innovation and development.

As part of the second set of breakout sessions on day one of Enterprise GC, The Legal 500 partnered with Thomson Reuters to examine where the in-house legal world might be headed, and what the internal legal team of 5-10 years might look like.

In attendance were Legal 500 GC Powerlist research head Joe Boswell and, moderating the session, James Byrne, Manager, Solution Consulting at Thomson Reuters, who kicked things off to a room packed to the walls with stellar in-house legal talent from some of the most prominent and innovative companies in the country. Byrne began by referencing the Thomson Reuters 2022 State of Corporate Law Departments Report and invited the audience to share whether they agreed that there was a readiness for further transformation among them, given that this was a key finding of the report.

Byrne then asked the audience to highlight the significant challenges that legal departments had encountered over the last couple of years. One participant explained that they had had one matter which had made them rethink the way that they operated their department, whereby a colleague had been poached by another business unit. This situation, in their estimation, would have been avoided in an office situation. Being able to assess team dynamic was one advantage of office, rather than home, working.

Moving on to the next section, Byrne asked the attendees if their organisations had become more people-centric over the course of the pandemic. One participant stressed the increased focus on health and safety and mental health.  If a business did not provide a safe working environment, it would be unable to generate revenue, an attitude which has continued into the present day.

Byrne then asked whether the wider transformations were being led by legal teams that were attempting to change or align themselves with the strategic focus of an organisation.  Here followed an interesting and informative conversation about the use of metrics to demonstrate the value of the legal department. Participants were split on how useful these can be to a legal department. Some saw the value of KPIs, while others were adamant that this can actually muddy the waters when getting across the value of a team.

Byrne stated that technology had the potential to demonstrate value, and asked the attendees if they had seen any benefits from technology. One participant answered positively, stating that their business had undergone a transformation, which had included the production of internal reports that would allow clients to self-serve.

In summing up at the end of an incredibly rewarding session for everyone in attendance, James Byrne said that, as well as businesses looking at how they use the technology they already have, they should also consider bringing in new technology to help them in many of their challenges.

Following an engaging mainstage demonstration from Luminance’s CEO Eleanor Weaver and subject matter expert Luke Taylor, the pair hosted an interactive breakout session further exploring the benefits of its innovative Luminance Corporate product.

Eleanor and Luke fielded questions from leading GCs about the ways in which AI solutions, of the current and future, can ease contract management and reviewing woes and increase efficiency and organisation across the entire contract lifecycle. The session encouraged delegates to voice their needs, bugbears with current solutions and future wish lists for contract automation fixes, including issues surrounding compatibility with existing software. The moderators also offered practical insight into the rollout procedure of its product, flexibility of its use in adapting to business needs, as well as its future plans for further innovation and development.

The Macro, Micro, Me roundtable offered a chance for attendees to have their voices heard. Led by TLT partners John Wood and Daniel Lloyd, attendees were able to raise issues that are causing headaches in their companies and hear from others with similar experiences.

A lively discussion ensued, during which there was general agreement that demonstrating value within their companies is the one of the biggest challenges GCs are facing. Attendees shared their strategies for articulating their value and requirements to their boards and helping them to understand what makes a successful in-house department.

Other issues discussed included the ways in which in-house teams can compete in a recruitment market dominated by law firms offering eye-watering salaries, as well as the role that GCs as clients can play in driving culture change within city law firms. There was a consensus that GCs can help establish an equitable work-life balance within the legal profession by setting out their expectations regarding client contact.

In this panel we discussed the advent of ESG as a major business and legal development with implications that will take time to fully emerge, as legislation and market forces are still unfolding. Panellists stressed the importance of accurate ESG reporting, as well as the fact that in-house counsel has a very central role to play in helping their organisations navigate the new landscape.

Also important was the “human” element of the GC role, such as the relationship with the CEO, and the fact that ESG presents a new kind of challenge: one that cannot solely be solved when concerned with balance sheets, but one that takes into account the organization’s core strategies and values.

In this informative session, sponsored and hosted by legal solutions company Epiq, the power of in-house teams harnessing data internally to drive efficiency and measure performance was explored.

Led by Eyal Iffergan, managing director for legal business advisory at Epiq, attendees were informed of the key steps they needed to take to build a sophisticated metrics programme, as well as the benefits of doing so. In particular, the advantages of measuring key performance indicators relating to finances, operations, processes, performance and service levels were laid out.

The session took an interactive format and led to a number of thoughtful questions. In response to one such query, the nuanced differences in uptake of metrics programmes across different jurisdictions was discussed.

Part two of KPMG Law’s Changemakers sessions the following day saw partner Donna Sharp take a deep dive into the HR side of business, with a discussion centred around responsible business and the challenges of people management. The practical implications of where and how we work and the shift to a hybrid or even work from anywhere stance by companies looks set to change the way we work forever. But, with the opportunities and flexibility, come huge organisational challenges. And it’s important for in-house legal teams to play their part in enabling positive decision-making by the HR team. The session was followed by a group discussion around how delegates’ own legal teams are managing the return to the office and hybrid working and where they feel the legal team should play a role in corporate strategy.

On day two of Enterprise GC, The Legal 500 partnered with Epiq to examine how general counsel in 2022 approach the perennial challenge of proving their value to business leaders. Joining The Legal 500’s Joe Boswell and Epiq’s Eyal Iffergan were Ben Shillito of Fujitsu and Sarah Jane Holford of Scania.

First on the agenda was how the in-house role has changed over the course of the frenetic past two years. Eyal Iffergan summed up the mood of the panel when commenting that the pandemic has accelerated the evolving role of the in-house legal function, while becoming a more strategic partner to the business.

We then discussed the best way to approach others in the business to get things done. Sarah Holford emphasised the need to learn from others within your business, and to learn their individual personalities through regular informal interaction so that communication channels remain free.

Finally, the panel had a conversation concerning the best way to articulate value to the business. Ben Shillito was keen to point out that in-house counsel have a value that is self-evident: ‘We should never underestimate how our interventions can positively drive change in an organisation.’

The afternoon of day two of Enterprise GC saw a riveting discussion on how to switch sectors in-house, moderated by Nathalie Tidman, editor of Legal Business, and including Terra Potter – GC of Hexcel Corporation – and Janet McCarthy, GC of Micro Focus.

It is no secret that legal recruiters love to pigeon-hole lawyers into a particular discipline or sector. Terra Potter and Janet McCarthy offered invaluable advice on how in-house counsel can make their CVs ‘sector agnostic’, by highlighting the transferable skills you bring to the table, but also by being explicit about the kind of company you are looking to work for.

As Potter noted: ‘You have to be able to say: “I’m looking for something that is perhaps early-stage startup, I’m looking for a sole GC role. I’m looking for a regional GC role, I want to move and be the GC for a FTSE 250 or FTSE 100 company.’”

Meanwhile, McCarthy talked about the importance of telling your story to potential employers and having tailored CVs to appeal to several different sectors. She said: ‘It’s about being really comfortable that your experience can apply to anything actually, which it really can. We’ve just created this fiction in our industry that you have to be an oil and gas lawyer or you have to be a pharmaceutical lawyer or you have to work in financial services.’

Even the well-trodden path of going from private practice to in-house requires much bravery, as Potter noted: ‘When you’re in private practice, you don’t send out anything without the partner checking it first. All of a sudden in-house you realise: “but this is resting on my shoulders. There is nobody behind me.” You learn how to get comfortable with it.’

Above all, the ability to think on your feet and have the courage of your convictions has been paramount for our experienced panellists, irrespective of sector focus. They shared their insights on dealing with crunch time situations while not being completely conversant with the technicalities of a situation. After all, a huge part of a job is not regurgitating legal points but the ability to make important decisions under pressure when it counts.