Team size: 6

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

We have been busy with many fascinating activities, including negotiating high-profile sponsoring arrangements, rolling out our compliance regimes relating to product safety and sustainability, defending our intellectual property and other rights in high-profile litigation around the world and negotiating new credit lines.

What do you think sets you apart from other in-house counsel?

I received my legal education in Australia, I am qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales and I have spent most of my career in Austria. My time in private practice was spent both in finance and dispute resolution. This means that I have a good understanding of both common law and civil law legal systems and of both “front end” and “back end” legal work. I am also very familiar with the cultural differences that exist between businesses in the English-speaking world and Europe. This variety of experience is useful when working across global businesses and dealing with the broad range of legal issues that cross my desk each day. Advising businesspeople on complex legal issues in my second language (German) also adds to the fun!

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?

In the current business climate, legal departments must focus on providing the best possible legal assistance in the shortest possible time and at the lowest possible cost. One of the most effective ways to do this is to embrace the potential of artificial intelligence and legal tech. Whilst we all use tools like ChatGPT, DeepL and contract management systems in our day-to-day work, law is an area which demands a high degree of accuracy and attention to detail, and some tools are not yet adequate to the task. It is therefore likely that new tools will need to be developed and lawyers, especially in-house legal teams, should be involved in designing these tools to ensure that they are tailored to our needs. Whilst there is some concern amongst lawyers about the impact artificial intelligence will have on the legal profession, history and experience tell us that change is inevitable and that those who embrace change will have an advantage over those who stick their head in the sand whilst change takes place around them. The in-house legal teams that get involved in developing these new tools, and that are able to adopt them effectively and evolve with them, will help their businesses to achieve a competitive advantage over businesses that do not act fast enough.

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

Although it has become very unfashionable in recent months, I remain committed to principles of diversity, equality and inclusion, especially as it applies to the role of women in law. It is vital that we attract and retain the best people in the legal profession. The point of DEI initiatives it to find and support the best people, recognising that they may not look and sound like you. Implicit in the recent attacks on DEI initiatives in the legal and education sectors is the suggestion that comparatively wealthy, white men are always the best people, which was never the case.