Team size: 50

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

I once heard that you don’t plan on a crisis occurring, but you can prepare for it. Given the increasing levels of unpredictability and volatility in recent times, I believe it is incumbent upon legal counsel to remain vigilant and be aware of the shifting landscapes through regular risk mapping reviews, and to take appropriate measures, whether through conducting desktop exercises for black swan events or putting in place guidelines and protocols for dealing with regulatory changes.

While no amount of forecasting can fully prevent the need for fire-fighting, I believe that being proactive is the first step to building organizational resilience, so that when crises do occur, the organization can respond (or at a minimum have a predetermined checklist of action items, pitfalls and goals) rather than simply reacting.

Have you had any experiences during your career as a lawyer that stand out as particularly unique or interesting?

The opportunity to start and grow the Legal function at INPEX has been the highlight of my career.

In 2013, I was asked to start a legal department at Japan’s largest oil and gas exploration and development company that had over 60 projects in 20 countries, and no dedicated legal function in headquarters. With the full support of top senior management who understood the value of having a capable in-house legal team, over the last 12 years, we have grown in to a highly capable in-house team, comprised of over 50 lawyers across the globe, and we operate as one team under our philosophy of One Legal.

One Legal ensures that the legal function speaks as one voice to our business colleagues and senior management, and it enables us to leverage the strengths and subject matter expertise across our global network to support each other and our businesses.

Given the current geopolitical shifts and growing uncertainties around international free trade, has your company’s risk profile evolved, and are you taking measures to address these challenges?

Based on your experiences in the past year, are there any trends in the legal or business world that you are keeping an eye on that you think other in-house lawyers should be mindful of?

I believe that the growing use of AI and legal tech is an area that all in-house counsel should be mindful of, both in terms of it as a useful tool that can drive efficiencies, but also as a construct that requires appropriate guidelines and principles to ensure that issues of confidentiality, data security, accuracy, reliability and accountability are dealt with in a comprehensive and consistent manner.