Team size: Seven

How do you ensure the legal function supports business resilience during periods of uncertainty or disruption?

Business resilience starts with proximity to the business. In uncertain environments, legal teams must move beyond providing legal opinions and become active partners in decision-making. My approach is based on three principles: anticipation, prioritisation and collaboration.

Operating across a broad geographical scope means navigating different legal and regulatory regimes, economic conditions and geopolitical developments. To remain effective, my team continuously monitors legal and compliance risks while maintaining a close dialogue with business leaders. This allows us to identify emerging issues early and adapt our support accordingly.

Equally important is prioritisation. Resources are always finite, particularly during periods of disruption. We regularly reassess our priorities based on business impact and strategic relevance, ensuring that legal efforts are focused where they create the most value.

Finally, resilience is a team sport. I strongly believe in empowering people, promoting transparency and fostering cross-functional collaboration. When legal, compliance, finance, people & culture and commercial stakeholders work together around a shared objective, organisations become more agile and better equipped to navigate uncertainty.

What is the biggest shift you have seen in the role of General Counsel in the past five years, and how do you see it evolving further?

The biggest shift has been the expectation that General Counsel act not only as legal experts but as business leaders.

Today, legal expertise remains essential, but it is no longer enough. General Counsel are increasingly expected to understand markets, competitive dynamics, finance, investor expectations, marketing strategies and broader business trends. We are often involved much earlier in the decision-making process, helping shape strategic choices rather than simply assessing them from a legal perspective.

In my experience, the most effective GCs bring curiosity beyond the law. They are able to anticipate where markets are heading, understand how competitive landscapes are evolving and contribute meaningfully to discussions about growth, transformation and long-term value creation.

Looking ahead, I believe the role will become even more strategic. The successful General Counsel will be someone who combines legal judgement with commercial awareness, business acumen and a strong understanding of external market developments. The focus will increasingly be on influencing direction, enabling opportunities and helping organisations navigate change with confidence.

How do you see AI and automation reshaping the legal profession, and how are you leveraging technology in your own legal team?

AI is fundamentally changing how legal teams deliver value. While efficiency gains are important, I believe the greatest opportunity lies in improving scalability and knowledge sharing.

Within my team, we have started developing interactive legal modules aimed at business stakeholders. These short, practical tools address real-life challenges such as competition law compliance, distributor management, termination of distribution agreements or market-entry assessments. They complement traditional training programmes by providing on-demand guidance that is more engaging and easier to deploy across large and geographically dispersed organisations.

By leveraging technology in this way, we can reach a much broader audience while ensuring consistency of legal messaging and reducing time spent answering repetitive questions. This allows lawyers to dedicate more time to strategic projects, complex transactions and business partnering activities. Ultimately, I do not believe AI will replace lawyers. It will empower those who embrace technology to become more proactive, more accessible and more closely aligned with business needs.