How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure organisational resilience?

Periods of instability or crisis require rapid comprehension, disciplined situational analysis and the ability to prioritise and manage several legal and operational issues simultaneously. Remaining calm and composed is essential, as emotional or reactive decision-making can obscure risks and limit the organisation’s available options.

Crises rarely affect one function in isolation. They typically require close collaboration across multiple functions within an organisation. Therefore, effective and continuous communication with other functions is key to ensuring the integration and alignment of the legal strategy with the broader business strategy of the organisation.

Establishing the facts quickly, identifying the immediate and longer-term legal exposures, and distinguishing between matters requiring urgent intervention and those that can be managed through ongoing monitoring is paramount when dealing with crises.

The legal team then works closely with the relevant stakeholders to develop practical mitigation measures that protect the organisation while preserving, as far as possible, its ability to operate and pursue its strategic objectives.

What is the most overlooked skill or mindset that today’s in-house lawyers need to succeed at the highest level?

The most underestimated mindset for an in-house lawyer is genuine commercial curiosity.

Business acumen is often discussed, but it should extend beyond understanding financial concepts or the organisation’s general strategy. It requires a sustained interest in how the business actually operates, how its products and services create value, what its customers and partners expect, and where its commercial pressures arise.

This is one of the principal distinctions between in-house lawyers and external counsel. An in-house lawyer should be able to place legal analysis within the organisation’s operational and strategic context and translate it into clear, practical and commercially meaningful advice.

Management rarely needs an abstract explanation of the law. It needs to understand the available options, the consequences of each option and how a particular risk can be managed without unnecessarily restricting the business.

At the highest level, success therefore requires moving beyond identifying legal risk. It requires judgement, curiosity and the ability to distinguish between risks that must be avoided, risks that can be mitigated and risks that the organisation may reasonably accept in pursuit of its objectives.

This enables the legal function to become a trusted business partner and an active contributor to strategy, rather than simply a control or approval function.