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

Necessity is the mother of invention; the pandemic pushed us to adapt to remote-work environments in a short period of time and we learned how to be productive without printed documents and face-to-face negotiations. In the legal industry, the situation was quite challenging given the nature of our work – we were not able to stop the ongoing operations. As a manufacturer of electrical equipment that nurtures the Power Systems distributing energy to individual homes and factories, we had to make sure that operation was ongoing. During the pandemic, our legal team was in charge of keeping business running – offer submissions, closing contracts with suppliers and clients, and conducting a major M&A transaction.

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?

The first quality that I would like to mention is patience. There is no easy path to success; each little milestone will contribute to success. The second quality that I believe that will allow in-house lawyers to excel is the ability to know, adapt and understand the industry. Each industry has different requirements, and when lawyers liaise with other departments, we need to learn different perspectives and thought. Every business opportunity has its own risks; and therefore, the contract drafting must be tailor-made by detail-oriented lawyers. The main responsibility of in-house lawyers is to protect our company from any legal risks while providing right directions for them to move forward.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

Our job as legal counsel is protecting the company from unreasonable risks and training the business partners on how to do it from a contractual or legal perspective. I often comment that ‘saying no’ is easy and fast, but it does not solve the problem. It does not mean that as legal heads or counsel we need to say yes to everything, since probably we would be exposing the company to unreasonable risks, but what I have found important from my experience is to develop the ability to find alternative ways to solve issues.