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

Over the past twelve months, I have been fortunate to lead on a number of strategic projects spanning governance, delegated underwriting and business transformation across CNA Hardy’s UK, Lloyd’s and European operations.

One of my recent areas of focus has been supporting the business’s approach to artificial intelligence (AI) governance. The rapid pace of development in AI technology presents significant opportunities but also creates challenges in ensuring that governance frameworks remain fit for purpose, particularly when accounting for multiple jurisdictions. In particular, I developed practical guardrails governing the use of AI-enabled meeting transcription and summarisation tools, helping to minimise the legal risks associated with the creation, storage and use of verbatim meeting records.

Alongside these larger projects, I support a broad range of complex insurance, commercial and technology matters across multiple jurisdictions. This has included advising on multinational insurance programmes, policy wordings, distribution models, key technology contracts and regulatory/sanctions developments affecting the insurance market. A key aspect of my role is helping the business navigate novel or evolving legal issues while remaining focused on commercial objectives and customer outcomes. I enjoy working closely with business stakeholders to find pragmatic solutions that appropriately balance legal risk with business opportunity.

What has been particularly rewarding throughout these projects is the opportunity to act as a trusted adviser to different functions and teams. Many of the most complex challenges faced by organisations today sit at the intersection of legal, regulatory, operational and commercial considerations. By developing strong relationships with stakeholders across the business and focusing on practical, solutions-oriented advice, I have been able to help drive projects forward and contribute to outcomes that support both the business and its governance objectives.

The common thread across all of these initiatives has been the opportunity to demonstrate that an in-house legal team can add value far beyond managing legal risk. By partnering closely with the business, supporting innovation and helping establish effective governance frameworks, legal can play an important role in enabling sustainable growth and organisational resilience.

What key trends should in-house counsel be monitoring over the coming months?

AI will remain a major focus for in-house counsel over the coming months, with the piloting and use of AI ramping up across the insurance industry. In-house lawyers will increasingly be asked not only whether AI can be used, but how it can be used responsibly and in line with our regulatory obligations. This requires a focus on governance, accountability, data protection, intellectual property, confidentiality, model output risk and oversight. The challenge for legal teams is to enable innovation whilst ensuring that appropriate guardrails and governance structures keep pace with technological developments. It will also be interesting to see how the role of the in-house lawyer will evolve with the use of AI – it will be more important than ever for us to add value with commercial and strategic input along with our legal assessments.

A second key trend is the increasing scrutiny of governance, operational resilience and third-party risk. We, like other organisations, are dependent on technology suppliers, service providers and outsourced arrangements, which creates new challenges around oversight and accountability. In-house counsel are playing an increasingly important role in helping businesses understand and manage these risks through governance frameworks, contractual protections and regulatory engagement.

Finally, businesses like ours continue to operate in a global environment shaped by geopolitical uncertainty and rapidly evolving regulation. In-house lawyers must remain on top of developments in areas like sanctions, both at a legislative level and court judgment level, to ensure their businesses are protected and they are in compliance at all times. Similarly, regulatory divergence across jurisdictions is vital to monitor at this time – what is fine for one jurisdiction will not be fine for another, and we must be aware of that when we are doing business in multiple jurisdictions.

What are the most important attributes of the modern in-house counsel and what advice would you give to those aspiring to be an in-house lawyer?

The modern in-house lawyer must combine strong legal expertise with commercial nous, curiousity and sound judgement. While technical legal knowledge remains essential, the in-house lawyer must have a focus on the business objectives to ensure that their advice is based on the full picture and not just a legal question in a vacuum.

Strong communication and presentation skills are also important. Firstly, we must always feel able to speak up in meetings to share our thoughts. Secondly, we work with colleagues from a wide range of disciplines and need to be able to explain complex legal issues clearly and concisely to different audiences. In my experience, building trusted relationships across a business enables legal teams to become involved earlier in decision-making and to make a more meaningful contribution to strategic projects from the get-go.

My advice to aspiring in-house lawyers would be to develop an understanding of the business alongside your legal skills. Take every opportunity to learn how different functions operate, ask questions and be curious about the challenges faced by your stakeholders. A senior colleague once told me: “Bring me solutions, not problems!” This has stayed with me, and I think in-house lawyers must remember that they need to come with a solution to the problem they have identified.

The pace of change facing organisations today also means that the ability to adapt is increasingly important. Whether responding to technological innovation, regulatory change or shifting market conditions, successful in-house counsel must be comfortable navigating issues that may not have clear precedents or established answers. We must ourselves be open to innovating and that will be critical to the continued success of in-house counsel.