Team size: 4

What are the projects that you are most proud of working on over the past 12 months?

Within my organisation, the operational model has been changing a lot recently. We are now working from regions, rather than as a country organisation. As a result, there is more distance between management and business. The size of the legal teams has also been adjusted. Over the last twelve months, we as a legal team have adapted and simplified many internal processes in this regard. In particular, the focus on Plug & Play and IT tools and AI has helped us with this. I am proud of the way we have managed this as a team.

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

After graduating, I worked as a lawyer for more than seven years, broadly within a real estate department. Then I transitioned to URW (formerly Rodamco). Having workd as the Director of Legal at URW for many years, I have witnessed the development of the Mall of the Netherlands in Leidschendam/Voorburg up to its completion. The redevelopment of shopping centre Leidsenhage (75 000m2 GLA) into Mall of the Netherlands (117 000 m2 GLA) started in 2008 with plan development, followed by initial agreements with the municipality in 2011. At that time, URW only had 19% of the co-ownership vote. After concluding agreements with the municipality and co-owners, zoning procedures, property acquisitions, construction and leasing of the retail units, the mall was finally completed in 2021 with 96% of the votes in the co-ownership. From both a business and a legal perspective, it is an incredibly interesting project, from which you can learn so much. Even in this project, the work of a lawyer always lingers. Due to ongoing construction litigations , we are still heavily involved.

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

My experience is that more and more is expected from legal departments, and the responsibility is increasing. In recent years, for example, due to COVID-19, inflation, GDPR and other directives, and sanctions against Russia, we have taken on a broader range of tasks. The legal department is nowadays involved in almost everything that is ongoing in the business. This makes the role interesting and challenging. At the same time, you often have to manage with the same number or fewer legal counsels. Therefore, it is more important to be open to innovative developments and legal tech.

What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?

As modern in-house counsel, it is important that you understand the business well and are involved in the important business projects. Ultimately, though, you need to understand the art of being able to stand back if necessary or possible. It is also important that you can assess whether or not risks are acceptable. A good relationship with a panel lawyers is key in order to be able to move quickly if necessary. What qualifies a mdoern in-house counsel… is a lot: a combination of good listening skills, sharpness, ownership, the ability to identify risks, adaptability, understanding political choices, the ability to explain legal texts simply, an understanding of legal tech, and so on…