Team size: 16

Did the pandemic lead to a lasting increase in the interaction your legal team has with the strategic plans of the company?

Our team has always been aligned with the group’s strategy, which is well honed and understood. During the pandemic we ensured that we remained close as a team using technology. But, and more simply, EQ. This is important for any inhouse or external team.

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company’s values? 

The key decision in choice of external counsel is commercial nous, experience and passion for the subject matter, and a collaborative attitude. Collaboration is one of BW Group’s four values. We want to work with counsel that understand our vision and ethos – that is how we determine the best “fit” for our external partners.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most? Which have you found most useful in your legal team?

Artificial intelligence, in its approaches, is sure to, and should, to a degree, transform the legal profession and most areas of business and life. Predicting how though, in anything but the short-term, is really guesswork. The key general point is harnessing AI to make contract drafting, negotiation, the conduct of dispute resolution, and other legal activities more efficient, and cost effective.

In general, what would you like to see change about the external law firms you use?

A move away from the tyranny of charging predominately by reference to the chargeable hour, now an outdated concept, is long overdue. Building meaningful partnerships between external counsel and in-house teams, for example by secondments both ways (for example for our own trainees and outside counsel’s junior staff), specialist education and an element of public affairs expertise, is something I am keen on and have seen with the firms most close to us.

The unusual business environment created by the pandemic has been swiftly followed by other shocks. Are you now putting more emphasis on preparing for the unforeseen and, if so, what does this entail?

Monitoring upcoming legislative and regulatory changes and mapping those to business risk is a particular challenge as the regulatory landscape continues to proliferate and evolve in complexity. We are putting processes in place to meet this challenge.

What are some of the main legislative or regulatory changes that have impacted you?

In shipping and energy, the green agenda is paramount for obvious reasons. How we help the business manage our expensive and long-lasting assets in the light of this is quite a challenge. Also, in addition to ESG, for us, the “big four” compliance areas (anti-trust, sanctions, anti-bribery, and data protection) require constant attention, legal vigilance and real business understanding.