Team size:    27

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?

Working through periods of instability and crises is a key part of leading the legal function.  Things are always changing, and new significant issues come up all the time.  Optimal management of the legal aspects requires a calm and measured approach, being as prepared as possible and having access to all relevant information as well as to key stakeholders, so that decisions can be made, and required actions taken, in the necessary timeframe. 

Our legal strategy is strongly aligned with the broader business strategy.  Each year when we set our goals, we frame them using the goals set at Group level as well as those set by each business unit and group function.  We also partner closely with the business so that we can adapt with them as things evolve in the ever-changing geopolitical and regulatory environment. The legal team has deep knowledge across our business and a holistic view of risks and issues and uses that to provide proactive strategic solution-orientated support across key projects, transactions, and operations to help achieve transformational and sustainable business growth.

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

A key attribute for success is being able to understand how different people think, their real objectives and their preferred interaction mode.  We get to work with a variety of people across the group with different backgrounds, cultures and drivers.  Each person has a preferred way of working and receiving and sharing information, being able to adapt how you work with each of them can enable more effective interactions and more successful communication. The more that in-house lawyers understand what is driving their clients and the business more generally, the better we are able to add value to the organisation.

How do you balance being a legal risk manager with being a strategic business enabler, and where do you see the biggest tensions?

To grow and transform a business, it needs to be able to take on an appropriate level of risk.  Understanding the risk appetite of the board and other key stakeholders is a must.  For the legal team, our role as legal risk managers requires us to identify and assess risks considering the organisations’ risk appetite and ensure that decision makers are fully informed of the risks and potential consequences. Transparency is fundamental. From a compliance perspective, there needs to be clear lines around what is illegal versus what is commercially risky.  At CLP, we embed this in our values where we look to do the right things in the right way.