About

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years?

At my previous company, we managed the establishment of a brand new business service centre, a merger with Media Markt in terms of electrical products and some other high-profile disputes and litigations. By nature, at my new company we manage complex and high-profile property constructions projects.

What changes have you made to the workings of the legal department during your time in your current role? How has that affected the wider company?

The most important thing is to establish a level of business acumen where all members of your team work shoulder-to-shoulder with the various business stakeholders. That is also the most significant difference between the role and work of an in-house counsel and of an external lawyer. The other point is about how you structure the team and how you organise the work of your people. The two methods what I have experienced are the following: Like at most of the international law firms, create so-called streams (practice groups) so that lawyers are specialised in the given legal area they are dealing with. The other method is that everyone is dealing with everything and the most relevant driver of delegation of the work is the seniority and capacity of your people.

What do you do personally to promote diversity and inclusion in your company? In your team?

When I hire someone into my team, the only thing that really matters is their capability and personality. Regarding “personality”, I mean that I always check how that person can be built into the existing team, how they can build good relationships both within the legal team and within the wider business. In terms of “capability” I mean how much experience and professional expertise that given candidate has in terms of the legal area where we need the support. My own experience is that personality is often more relevant than capability.

If you had to give advice to an aspiring in-house lawyer or GC what would it be and why?

Know your client! In terms of an in-house counsel it means that you should form an immanent part of the organisation, understand the various processes and relations and know what your colleagues need from you. If you do it, I am absolutely sure that your colleagues will appreciate it and will follow your advices.

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

Given I have worked both in a law firm and in companies as in-house counsel, I believe I can compare the two roles. Being an external lawyer and having, your own clients, and being the perfect professional expert in certain areas of the law is great. However, working closely with your colleagues, being part of a bigger organisation, fighting for the same goals, is an even more inspiring thing to do. Sometimes it is more challenging to know not only the pure legal stuff but also how the business operates, but I confidently believe that there is real beauty in it.

FOCUS ON… MAKING THE MOVE

It is a real honour for me participating again in The Legal 500’s GC Powerlist: Central and Eastern Europe.

The recent invite came in an exciting and changing time, given after 10 years at Tesco Hungary I moved to Hungary’s leading construction company, Market Construction, as legal director. As you can imagine, this was a big decision which ideally you make only a few times during your career. And what made me to make this big decision? Basically, the desire to further develop both my professional and my leadership skills.

Luckily, we are all different and therefore need for different inputs and challenges. There are people who love working at the same company, probably even in the same position for decades and there are others who constantly look for new challenges. I think, I am in between the two edges. My personal view is that it is invaluable to go through the hierarchy and gain experiences at one company but after 10 years I got to the point where I wanted to try myself elsewhere and sharpen my skills in another environment. It is obviously more difficult to start your internal positioning from the scratch and build your corporate network from zero, but I strongly believe that it can be very inspiring to know different sectors, legislations, colleagues and their working habits.

In light of the above, it is impossible to give ever true advice because it differs from person to person when people need for new inspirations, but what I can advise is that if you need that new challenges, be brave enough and make the big decision. There is a wise phrase in Hungary, according to which “there is no luck without courage” which is very true in such a situation.

On top of the above, being an in-house counsel should be very similar even in different corporate environments, especially if you compare it to an external legal role. When I hire new colleagues, I always ask them at interview – “what is the difference between being in-house and having an external legal role?”. My experience is that even if the candidate has not worked in an in-house role, they know and feel the difference. Whether the potential new colleague also knows how to become a good in-house counsel, it is obviously another question. What I see is that it is sometimes challenging for external lawyers to move into the “corporate world”, however, once they understand how to succeed in this environment, they start enjoying it. As an in-house lawyer, you will probably not have so much time to deal with purely legal matters, but I am sure that the close cooperation with your business stakeholders counterweight it.

Nevertheless, similarly to what I wrote in the above responses, it certainly varies person-by-person in which environment you find your own career path. The most important thing is that you enjoy doing your job and feel that you are an important part of the team in which you work.