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

Cobepa completed a capital increase of €500m with its existing shareholder base. The legal team managed this entirely internally. In addition, Cobepa’s legal team was highly involved in three new platform acquisitions as well as a number of significant add-ons.

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

In my view, the most important attribute for a modern, in-house counsel is to be an excellent communicator. In order to be effective, an in-house counsel needs to adapt his/her message to whatever audience he/she is talking to (whether it is senior management, commercial teams, specialists, accounting & finance teams, etc.) All these people don’t speak the same language. An effective in-house counsel is able to translate complex ideas into something simple, ultimately bringing people together.

The second most important attribute as an in-house counsel is to be extremely curious and solution driven. One must have the ambition to learn and understand issues or challenges from different angles. Don’t be the one who just brings the legal perspective; our legal team always strives to bring the solution who combines the different perspectives.

Finally, I would add that effective in-house counsel bring some level of fun and levity to the table. People should be happy to go and see their in-house lawyers, it shouldn’t feel like a burden. Having the ability to give people a positive emotion/feeling through humor, without losing your gravitas, is extremely powerful.

What is a cause, business or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

I am very passionate about learning and letting people grow through honest conversations. I helped set up a coaching project at Cobepa on which I am still very proud.