Team size: 20

What impact did Brexit have on the financial Industry in Ireland?

Brexit has created a significant impact for the financial industry particularly with the hardened regulatory environment for cross border activities involving the UK. It will continue to be a key topic for Board and Management, and will remain an area of complexity for the legal profession as businesses seek to ensure operating models remain compliant with evolving regulatory regimes and expectations.

In what ways do you see the in-house legal role evolving in your region over the next few years?

In the coming years, the in-house legal role will face a heightened burden of new legislation and regulation. Examples include sustainability, ESG, climate change, digital assets as well as the impending Senior Executive Accountability Regime for regulated financial service providers in Ireland.

In-house teams will need to continue to evolve with new and more flexible working models both during- and post- pandemic, and an open-minded approach to the new ways of working and embracing the opportunities that digitalisation will bring will be required.

Ongoing initiatives to maintain the smooth management of remote teams, ongoing people development activities and promote team health well-being will be required.

As we enter the next decade, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

Lawyers will need to evolve their role beyond the pure management of legal risk by providing broader insights and offering a wider range of skills as part of their day-to-day work.

Helping business to deliver sustainable and effective corporate governance whilst managing legal compliance risks will become a given, and the need to provide increasingly targeted value add-activities beyond the traditional remit of core legal or contractual roles will be expected.

Flexibility, durability, adaptability and focusing on smart digital and automated solutions to improve process efficiency will be important, while businesses will expect better and more granular insights on future legal and regulatory trends in addition to the continued delivery of business focused solutions and core legal skills.