Team size: Seven

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most?

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) will have an impact by reducing the number of required in-house lawyers. I doubt that the AI will eliminate the role of in-house lawyers, but it will reduce the required number through helping to automate routine daily tasks, especially those tasks with minimal risks. For example, the use of AI to draft agreements will lead to reducing the required number of counsels, as the counsel role will focus on reviewing the draft produced by the AI, rather than drafting the document itself. Even though many counsels rely on existing templates/boilerplate clauses, the drafting remains a time-consuming task. On the other hand, hopefully, the AI will help to avoid the inconsistency and contradiction we find in some agreements and will definitely reduce the volume of typographical mistakes which exists in most of the documents.

What is a cause, business related or otherwise, that you care about, and why?

There is a quote by Baron de Montesquieu: “Law should be like death, which spares no one”. This mean that laws should be enforced on all people without any discrimination. So, the cause I really care about is “the proper enforcement of laws”. It is, in my view, the key element to have a flourishing community. You may have the best laws ever but if they are not well enforced then they will not benefit anyone at all.

What would you say are the unique qualities required to be successful as an in-house lawyer in your industry?

To be a successful in-house lawyer, you must be able to make balance between the legal requirements and the business needs. This cannot be achieved without diving into the businesses operations to understand the processes and the logic behind them. By not making the required balance, you will be providing solutions from your ivory tower which are not doable from business/commercial aspects.

What can law firms do to improve their service to the legal department?

Law firms need to work on having more understanding of their client’s business model and needs before providing their advice or drafting the requested documents/agreements. It is always a challenge with most law firms that they provide you with an “off the shelf” template and they do minor changes to tick the box based on your request. However, the final deliverables are usually not fit for the purpose and in-house lawyers end up with redoing the job again.