Raluca Radu – GC Powerlist
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Benelux 2022

Consumer products

Raluca Radu

General counsel and co-founder | Fairphone and Lisi Foundation

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Benelux 2022

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Raluca Radu

General counsel and co-founder | Fairphone and Lisi Foundation

What are the most significant cases and transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Translating a sustainability-focused business model into legal practice is not simple, especially while working for the first tech company to create a fair smartphone. However, it has been an exhilarating journey!

We went from winning the UN Momentum for Change award for our first modular phone, the Fairphone two in 2015 to Fairphone three being listed on TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions and then launching the Fairphone four in 2021, which is the first e-waste neutral phone.

Ever since I joined Fairphone as its first legal counsel, it has been a long journey of beginnings as we raised the bar within the industry on sustainable supply chains, repairability and longevity. This meant building legal models for sustainable transitions without prior benchmarks, practice, or legislation.

In 2021, six years after launch, Fairphone two became the first phone to upgrade its operating system from Android five to ten, providing users an unprecedented seven years of support. Re-thinking contractual structures, navigating IP restrictions, and making use of open source to pull it off, was no small feat.

How do you feel the pandemic has changed the world of work for in-house counsel and the function of the general counsel?

During the pandemic, a lot has been written on changes within the legal profession; but little about the intensified search for meaning.

From the ‘Great Resignation,’ to dealing with loss, divisiveness, and the human aspects of the pandemic, how do we re-connect with the meaningful in the practice of law?

As general counsel, you are viewed as a compass by your team, your organisation, and the legal partners you work with. You owe it to them to be available to identify what is important, discover why it matters, and connect the dots.

What do you feel are the pros and cons of an in-house legal role compared to a private practice one?

When it comes to sustainability transitions, both in-house counsel and private practice lawyers’ struggle. For many, sustainability is a personal cause rather than a business matter.

European regulatory trends drove legal departments to categorise sustainability as ‘compliance’. I see law firms setting up CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) departments or a sustainability-focused practice. While this is encouraging progress, it is something companies have done for a while with questionable success. We should commit to outcomes that facilitate a more sustainable economy.

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