Team size: 30

How can general counsel foster a corporate culture that supports ESG principles and compliance across all levels of the organisation?

For me, creating a culture that truly supports ESG and compliance begins with translating expectations into something people can use in their day-to-day work. This includes the board’s expectations, certainly, but also my own, for how we show professionalism at Condor, take responsibility, and make decisions. I do not see ESG and compliance as a separate universe; they are part of how we run a good business. To make that real, we rely on clear, accessible guidance built with legal design: simple wording, intuitive steps, and tools that reduce hesitation rather than create it.

Just as important is how we work together as a team. Within Legal, we openly discuss what these expectations mean, how they should be framed, and where they intersect with the material issues of the company. I want every legal professional to have a voice when we align on expectations and when we draft or implement guidelines that apply company-wide. These are not “compliance documents”; they influence business behavior, decision quality, and how people across Condor experience the legal function. When my team contributes actively, the end result is more grounded, more practical, and far better received.

Collaboration across the organisation is where culture takes shape. Our structured governance with Sustainability, HR, Procurement, Operations, and Finance gives us discipline, but informal exchanges add humanity. Over lunches and open discussions, colleagues tell me candidly what helps them and what overwhelms them. These conversations make me a better GC—they bring nuance, reveal gaps, and make it possible to tailor our guidance so it supports rather than burdens. Over time, I’ve seen that people engage more when they feel heard, when the expectations are understandable, and when they trust that Legal is building something with them, not for them.

AI has been taken seriously as a potentially revolutionary technological change in the legal world for a number of years now. Has it had a meaningful impact in how your legal team works in this time?

Yes. Over the last two years, AI has changed our work at Condor profoundly. The shift is not theoretical; it is visible every day. Tasks that previously consumed disproportionate time, structuring regulatory content, drafting baseline texts, preparing summaries, or conducting comparisons, are now handled within minutes. This frees up significant cognitive capacity and allows my legal professionals to focus on where their judgment is most needed: shaping strategy, supporting operational decisions, and managing risk in a way that reflects Condor’s specific realities.

AI has also changed how we work as a team. It has pushed us to examine our processes, challenge habits, and articulate more clearly what level of quality and depth we expect from ourselves. These internal conversations have strengthened our culture of openness and continuous improvement. They also make it easier to integrate AI responsibly, coordinated with IT, Data Protection, and Compliance.

Our expectations toward external counsel have changed as well. We now expect them to use AI to increase efficiency, especially for summaries, initial analyses, or document comparisons. I no longer want to receive long, ‘neutral’ summaries that add little value. What matters is their experience, perspective, and risk assessment. AI should accelerate their preparatory work so they can focus on what we actually need: sharp advice, clear positioning, and precise recommendations tailored to our situation. This shift has already improved the quality and speed of our external partnerships.

In a highly regulated, operationally complex environment like aviation, clarity and velocity matter. AI enables us to deliver both, without compromising thoughtfulness. It has not replaced our expertise; it has amplified it.