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

We’ve been involved in a broad range of global projects encompassing finance, corporate, and data protection elements; the nature of our industry has also seen us face employment and environmental challenges. Never a dull moment!

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

In-house counsel are no longer just legal gatekeepers, but also integral contributors to decision making. Sound legal judgment and strong business acumen are assumed; an excellent in-house counsel in the modern environment should also be a strong risk manager, relationship builder, and be curious, adaptable and resilient with a clear ethical compass, even when under pressure.

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?

Within our own industry, investors and large buyers increasingly demand even greater sustainable practices and environmental disclosures. This area continues to grow significantly from year to year (with developments over the past 24 months in particular being extensive); all businesses in the supply sector should and are expected to have extensive ESG strategies in response to tightening ESG frameworks. Enhanced ESG Compliance is no longer optional.

Businesses also need to keep pace with changing Data Protection (and related) regulations, or risk regulator scrutiny or fines. The activities of cyber security threat actors are causing a rise in cyber insurance and data breach litigation. We have seen a number of very high-profile data breach incidents in the UK, in particular, and, unfortunately, I expect that we will see more of these. Threat actor activity poses enormous risks to businesses.

Once again, the increasing use of AI in the business place for contract review, research and compliance monitoring has seen some non-traditional legal service providers gain market share. It will be interesting to see how successful these turn out to be and whether the traditional law firm model is affected in high volume areas e.g. document reviews.