Team size: 2

What are the key projects that you have been involved in over the past 12 months?

The legal team in Alliance Healthcare has over the past 12 months been occupied with several big transformation projects.

Firstly, the business has been undertaking a large turnaround operation in relation to an IT project, delivering a new pharmacy system to all 150 Boots pharmacies. The old ERP system in pharmacies, Farmapro, has been replaced with a modern platform named EIK, involving a common patient journal across all pharmacies in Norway. At the same time, on top of this, the pharmacy chains have delivered their own POS- and RX-systems. Alliance Healthcare has, for the last year, been focusing on finalising its new IT solution and rolling this out to all its pharmacies. The project has been running for several years, and the legal team has been an important stakeholder in supporting this project.

Furthermore, Alliance Healthcare is replacing its old warehouse with a new, automated warehouse. For the past 12 months, the legal team has been working on securing contracts with the landlord, the automation provider and other key suppliers to the new warehouse. In addition, Alliance Healthcare is upgrading its IT systems at the wholesale premises, which requires legal support in order to secure proper IT implementation contracts and IT service contracts for the updated systems.

What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?

Being an in-house counsel can be a balancing exercise where the key is to effectively support the business, mitigate risks, and, at the same time, contribute to the company’s overall success. In order to be a successful in-house counsel, I believe there are three attributes that stand out as particularly important; agility, being solution-oriented and the ability to clearly communicate.

As an in-house counsel, it is highly important to be agile and to be able to quickly adapt to changing business needs and environments. This means that you have to stay informed about industry trends, understanding how these trends impact the company, and adjust legal strategies accordingly.

Furthermore, as an in-house counsel, you are there to assist the business in achieving its goals, whilst, at the same time, ensure compliance with the legal and regulatory framework. This requires the in-house counsel to be solution-oriented and pragmatic in order to find legal paths and solutions that support the underlying business objectives. This can be a challenging exercise, for which the in-house counsel has to balance legal constraints with business needs and propose practical solutions that can facilitate growth at the same time as compliance and legal integrity is maintained.

Another key attribute of an in-house counsel is the ability to convey complex legal concepts in simple, clear terms. This ensures that non-legal stakeholders understand the implications of the legal advice such that they are able to make informed decisions and can act on it confidently.

Based on your experiences in the past year, are there any trends in the legal or business world that you are keeping an eye on, of which you think other in-house lawyers should be mindful?

As the digital transformation is continuing to influence and change businesses, it is essential for in-house counsel to become familiar with legal technologies and cybersecurity.

The role of AI is currently fundamentally affecting the manner in which many professions do their job, the legal profession included. Utilising AI in a smart manner can transform the legal landscape by automating routine tasks such as contract review, due diligence, and legal research. Successful integration of AI tools for an in-house counsel can enhance productivity and accuracy in their day-to-day work. Whereas AI cannot substitute human review, the ability to integrate AI solutions into legal workflows can lead to more strategic and effective use of the in-house counsel in the organisation.

In addition, geopolitical tensions and cyber threats are on the rise, making cybersecurity a top priority for businesses. In-house counsel must be on top of this and understand the legal implications of cybersecurity breaches, incident response strategies, and how to implement robust data protection measures. This knowledge is vital for in-house counsel to be able to effectively advise on risk management and compliance in a landscape that changes quickly.