Legal team size: 2 (myself included).

What country you are based in? Kenya, though my remit extends to the Client Coverage, Corporate and Investment Banking business across the East Africa cluster.

Looking forward, what trends do you foresee in the legal landscape over the next 5–10 years that companies should prepare for?

Digital disruption and automation, Artificial Intelligence, enhanced data privacy enforcement, sustainability and, especially in Africa, fast-paced regulatory changes. I sit on the Advisory Board of the African Corporate and Government Counsel Forum (ACGC); a first-of-its-kind report, following a comprehensive survey conducted by Afriwise and the ACGC amongst African GCs, offers well-considered insight as to the thoughts of in-house counsel across the continent on future trends.

Have you had any experiences during your career as a lawyer that stand out as particularly unique or interesting?

In one particular instance, I supported a senior business stakeholder in securing interventions at ministerial level to unlock a challenge on a land-related issue that was affecting the industry. I had to present the matter in a way that made it compelling for the minister to support the much-needed reform. I did this by applying business acumen over legal speak, highlighting the positive impact the required amendment would mean to investors and the economy more broadly.

This particular matter increased my visibility and earned me the reputation of being commercial, pragmatic, persistent and solution-oriented. It was one of the testimonials provided in support of my representing Standard Chartered globally in the Institute of International Finance Future Leaders Class of 2021.

How does your team contribute to the overall business strategy of the company?

We internalise our business strategy and customise our yearly objectives to align with our business stakeholders’, and the overall company’s, focus. Our work is then prioritised towards actively contributing towards achieving those business goals both within and beyond our legal mandate.

One of the ways we accomplish this is by constantly staying curious and acknowledging that we do not know it all despite the tag “learned friend”. We also closely engage our business colleagues to grow our intimate knowledge of the business we serve to become business fluent, so that we are able to both proactively influence and respond to our business colleagues’ needs from an informed perspective.

How are you bringing the legal department closer to your business colleagues?

We have asked to sit in on business segment sales meetings to actively support our business colleagues in structuring transactions right from the outset, rather than wait to sign off at the tail end; this can lead to the perception of the legal team as deal blockers, should a legal hurdle emerge at that late stage. This ‘get-in-early’ appreoach has earned us the reputation of being business enablers. It has also seen us increasingly roped into pan-bank, cross-functional brainstorming sessions at country leadership team level to explore new revenue streams, as we leverage our network to proactively support market disruption.

My team member Chris Engola Otyek and I have also been asked separately to speak with other departments in their stress management sessions. I am a certified mental health first aider and Chris is a fitness enthusiast, and our shared passion for wellbeing has helped us connect easily with our business colleagues; by being vulnerable and authentic, they find us relatable beyond the more formal work engagements.