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

Most significantly, the teams, together with all other Unilever market teams and our corporate legal team have successfully organised the setup of our global Eketerra Tea business, its internal separation within Unilever to a new Division and then its agreement to be sold to CVC Capital Partners Fund VIII in November 2021 for €4.5bn. This was a true team effort across different legal teams.

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

The work of the in-house legal teams has certainly increased and become even more diverse over the course of the pandemic, specifically with the urgent need to guide and lead our businesses through complex, fast changes to the law and government guidance. Teams were successfully able to do this due to their deep knowledge of the business, taking a leading role in crisis management and helping cross functional teams ensure the business could continue to manufacture and sell critical products to our consumers including cleaning products, hand sanitisers and food products. This has demonstrated the agility and adaptability of the legal team and their role as trusted advisors to the business. Going forward it has cemented the importance of the role of the general counsel as a critical enabler and manager of crisis.

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

The pros of an in-house legal role are seeing your impact on the shape and direction of the company. The role of the in-house lawyer is far broader than purely as an advisor to the business. As an in-house lawyer you are part of the business and need to have a passion for this. The in-house lawyer needs to understand economics as well as be able to synthesise external trends and influences that could impact growth. In-house lawyers are empowered and accountable to take decisions. The in-house legal career path can take many directions including continuing to grow and develop as an expert, for example our expert privacy, competition law, intellectual property, supply chain and corporate legal teams, or you can diversify your experience being a master in contract drafting, negotiation, advising on disputes and corporate structuring. With all this upside there is no real downside in my view.