Team size:   Three

What are the most significant cases, projects or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?

Our organisation is still in the process of going through changes, so we are often brought in to try and find legal leverage to renegotiate contracts and projects relating to business transformation. One of the more important transactions I was involved with in the last year was the disposal of our Switzerland business which was a tough deal. During the last year the legal team was also involved in the disposal of our Pinetown Head Offices, the acquisition of our Pet Franchise business “Pet Storey” and the development of the franchise documents.

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

During times of crisis, it is important to reassure the business that you have a plan to deal with the legal elements of the issue, communicate it clearly and be ready to adapt. Keeping calm is key.

AI has been taken seriously as a potentially revolutionary technological change in the legal world for a number of years now. Has it had a meaningful impact in how your legal team works in this time?

Yes. I am cautious about simply onboarding every legal AI solution that is presented to me. It is important to identify what that product is intended to support and improve. Our business still prefers a personal touch, so we have not rolled out AI solutions that directly interact with our internal business partners however we are leveraging the ability of Microsoft Co-pilot to support our work turn around. Many of the contracts we review have a technology element- I have developed an AI-Agent using resources we have internally (commentary, draft agreements, clauses, check lists) to help us review and draft tech contracts which has worked very well.

What is a cause, business or otherwise, that you are passionate about? Why is this?  

Imparting legal knowledge to our business colleagues. Whilst some believe that it is a risk to allow our business partners to “think they are lawyers” the best interactions I have within our organisation are with individuals who take an interest in the law in their space and learn from our input for future issues.