Team size: Ten

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure organisational resilience?

In times of crisis, momentum is critical, and the real goal is to minimise the number of decisions that need to be taken ad hoc under pressure. Proactive preparation is essential. The General Counsel’s role is to define and communicate to the team in advance roles and responsibilities, so that everyone knows who does what when a crisis arises.

Of course, legal management cannot be agnostic to the underlying business needs. The legal function and business leadership need to work hand in hand in the planning phase, aligning legal risk appetite, governance frameworks and contractual structures with the broader business strategy. This alignment allows the organisation to move quickly and confidently towards stability, taking fewer improvised decisions and relying, instead, on well-designed processes and pre-agreed boundaries that support overall organisational resilience.

How do you see AI and automation reshaping the legal profession, and how are you leveraging technology in your own legal team?

As with most things, AI is neither inherently good nor bad. It is an extremely valuable tool that helps individual lawyers and legal teams accelerate legal research, streamline routine tasks and improve efficiency. On the other hand, its increasing capabilities can create the illusion that there is less need to think critically – and this is the point where the real risk lies: becoming overly dependent on AI.

It is important not to forget that, in the legal world as in the real world, not every issue has a precedent. In such cases, technology cannot replace legal reasoning, experience, ethical judgment and an understanding of the business context.

With the above in mind, our legal team leverages AI capabilities while always putting the human factor first.

What is the most overlooked skill or mindset that today’s in-house lawyers need to succeed at the highest level?

We live in a world where information is no longer scarce – it is instead abundant. Every day, in-house lawyers are exposed to an overwhelming volume of legal updates, regulatory developments, AI-generated insights, market trends, and business data. The real challenge is no longer finding information; it is exploring how this information could affect the organization, improve the organization, create for the organization certain opportunities.

In an era where AI can generate information instantly, in-house lawyers should have the ability to implement knowledge in ways that strengthen the business. Ultimately, the best in-house lawyers are not those who know the most, but those who create the greatest impact from what they know.