‘Big data’ is becoming a buzzword in all walks of business life, and legal is no exception – whether that involves supporting your business in its forays into big data or using big data to inform processes in the legal department itself. Continue reading “The promised land? Big data and the in-house lawyer”
GC: What initiatives has Microsoft and its legal department pioneered to promote race and ethnic diversity within its workforce?
Mary Snapp (MS): Microsoft’s legal department has had a focused diversity team for 12 years. Brad Smith [Microsoft’s president and chief legal officer] and I collaborated to start the diversity team within the department, which grew to include 85 people. Continue reading “Change partners: How can law firms and in-house departments promote race and ethnic diversity?”
When the global financial crisis (GFC) loomed over the West, multinationals turned their attentions to emerging markets, including many in Asia Pacific. Fast forward to 2015, and jurisdictions like China, Hong Kong and Singapore are key locations for global business, with a huge amount of foreign investment and a driving seat in the world markets. Continue reading “Green shoots: the growth of newlaw in Asia Pacific”
Catherine McGregor (CM): What are the challenges for in-house legal departments when you’re traversing a large number of geographies and trying to communicate across a dispersed department or business?
Richard Nohe: We look at things from a number of different matrix perspectives. You have the geography or the jurisdiction, you have the line of business, then you have the subject matter expert or centres of expertise. Continue reading “Dinner with GC: New York”
After joining the old Aramco [the Arabian American Oil Company] in New York after graduation from law school in 1973, I lived in Saudi Arabia from 1974 to 1980, London from 1980 to 1982, Houston from 1982 to 1989 and then back to the Kingdom just before the First Gulf War. The experience has been a professionally and personally rewarding one. Continue reading “In-house life: David Kultgen Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco)”
In common with in-house lawyers everywhere, our guests have found anti-corruption, bribery and investigations to be an increasing and more compelling part of their workload, notwithstanding the fact that the burden is often shared by compliance and risk departments.
Continue reading “GC Roundtable: Anti-corruption, bribery and investigations, Hong Kong”
GC: Was law your first career?
Maksim Arefiev (MA): My first profession was as a military translator and I served as an officer in the Russian military forces. I participated in several peacekeeping missions in the former Yugoslavia. While on these missions I not only worked as a translator, but also performed the function of civil observer. I worked on a wide variety of challenging tasks, such as resolving conflicts between the Serbian police and Kosovo Albanians, participating in humanitarian missions, and participating in the investigation of various military crimes. Upon my return from Kosovo, I decided to go to law school and become a lawyer. Continue reading “Shopping around”
Russia, the largest country in the world by territory, has a unique geographic location that allows it to serve as a bridge between Europe and Asia. Emerging from a decade of post-Soviet economic turbulence, the country has moved from economic isolation to become a country that is well-integrated in the global markets. The ‘90s saw privatisation of most sectors in the economy, with the exception of defence and energy. Continue reading “GC Powerlist: Russia”
With pressure to increase capacity, work collaboratively and have management information at the GC’s fingertips, many in-house departments turn to a case management system. A clever one can bridge gaps caused by time zones, streamlining even multinational teams. Continue reading “Your business matters… Top tips for case management”
Is a sales person closing deals worth ‘ten million’ doing a good job? At first glance, it’s impossible to tell. The first thing you need to find out is: what currency? A ten million deal in pounds sterling is better than a ten million deal in US dollars, but the latter is still a decent size. Continue reading “Best practice or not best practice? That is the question”