What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Implementation of a whistleblowing line which included the preparation of the procurement process, the policies, supporting documents, promoting awareness and the management of the channel itself on a daily basis, receiving and answering the complaints and proceeding with investigations, whenever needed (the channel was audited by external auditors last years and we had zero nonconformities).

Design, implementation and definition of the enterprise risk management process – the team has assumed the risk management responsibility not only for the corporate risks but also for the coordination of the delivery risks, associated with the software development itself with direct interaction with the teams and with the agile and Scrum methodologies.

Preparation of around 700 job proposals and employment contracts during 2022.

Interaction with BMW AG for the definition of a reward for Critical Trenchworks’ employees in which concerns to the patents registration and “invention compensation” – this involves a deep understanding about intellectual law and the due legal safeguards.

Implementation of a third-party due diligence process at the company – both for applicants and suppliers – preparing the procurement process, the policies, supporting documents and implementing the required controls to make sure the process is being followed by the correspondent departments.

Support to the audits regarding security such as ISO 27001, ASPICE and TISAX, specifically in what concerns to the GDPR protection and the legal requirements – zero nonconformities pointed out.

Direct participation in the general meetings and with the shareholders as permanent member of the audit and compliance committee during which, as the CCO, I can freely interact with them (since these interactions take place without the presence of directors to ensure privacy, confidentiality and independence in the reporting of any issues)

Preparation and implementation of the new legal requirements about the anti-corruption plan strategy.

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company’s values? Are you likely to reconsider what firms you work with based on this?

It is Critical TechWorks’ policy to create all the necessary conditions for the creation of a feeling of belonging and, at the same time, a feeling of satisfaction with the levels of autonomy, investment in personal and professional development and material conditions granted with a view to increasing the personal and professional satisfaction of its employees.

At the moment, at Critical TechWorks, we do not engage with any supplier that does not share the same principles as we do at the company.

As we live in a fast-paced world today, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

At Critical TechWorks, we live in a company composed by around 2,300 people and 98% are engineers. We live technology on a daily basis and therefore the mindset developed in-house is aligned with a more practical way of thinking, solution oriented and less bureaucratic.

To make a difference as a successful legal team in this domain, the lawyers need to step out of their comfort zone and assume an agile mindset. Less is more: less writing, more doing, less philosophising, more getting hands dirty and sharply getting to the solutions within the shortest time-frame period possible.