What are the main qualities you need to be successful as an in-house lawyer, as opposed to a private practice one?

There are two main aspects: you have to be brave, and you have to be efficient. You will not have the opportunity and time to investigate every question in great detail, so you have to take risks, or advise on the risk-taking process in an unsure environment where you will never have 100% of the information you need to hand. In a law firm, usually anyway, people come to you when it is already very late in the process, so you have to work with what you have. But on the in-house side, you have the possibility to create your environment, which is the key to success.

We are not paid by the hour, so it is not an advantage to take too long, or to take too many resources. You have to be very precise and efficient in your daily tasks. Those are probably the two aspects that, for me, are the main differences.

Do you think the world of business has changed for good since the pandemic?

Even before the Covid and Ukraine crises, we were coming out of the of the US-China trade war. What we will see is a major impact on how we in Europe see our industries. We are now seeing large investments in Europe which had not been seen for a long time. The Russia-Ukraine war, these ongoing trade wars and the pandemic will increase the pace of change. I do think there will be some changes to our daily work environment that will stay, such as hybrid working. While we in our company have been doing hybrid working for some time, many other companies see it as a new development and so this could be a major change.