About

Suraj Singh is a lawyer who has climbed every step of the in-house career ladder. He started as an assistant manager and, over the years, rose to become the manager, senior manager, deputy general manager and finally, as the head of legal department of some of the best multinational companies of the world. In fact, he started as a litigation lawyer before donning purely in-house roles, and practiced extensively in the civil courts and high courts. This experience helped him understand the actual working of the courts in India, and helps him use the external law firm mentality effectively. One of the important changes he has made to the working of the legal department is the adoption of technology, whether for contract review or for replacing paper-based records with electronic ones. The e-archiving system that he implemented helps the team retrieve and leverage the historical knowledge effectively in providing the legal support to its partners and to address many challenges faced by the law departments. He also developed robust “business continuity”’ planning for the legal department. Another important change was the implementation “dawn raid” guidelines in the company to address any unannounced inspection or visit by authorities or police. These guidelines implemented across the company by the legal department helps the company manage any such visits without causing interruptions to the business and ensure that the legal department handles issues before they become too big to manage. On the nature of his role, Singh says, ‘the in-house counsel today works in an office environment where [the] business utilises cutting edge technology to produce results. This change in my perception towards technology has helped me “stay relevant” and also become much more productive by using the new tools and devices supported by information and communication technology’.