What are the most important attributes of the modern GC and what advice would you give to those aspiring to be an in-house lawyer?

First and foremost, a modern GC needs to be a trusted strategic business partner. They need to understand the business’ strategic goals, speak the language of ops and finance, and tailor legal advice to what the business is trying to achieve. Being solutions orientated and taking a pragmatic approach to risk where appropriate are also important attributes. Delivering this with integrity and through effective communication goes without saying.

Second, possessing emotional intelligence. To be a dynamic leader, you need to understand the impact on people and how to get the best out of them, whether it’s your stakeholders or your team. A modern leader leads by example, acts with humility and mentors talent to cultivate a motivated, high-performing team.

Third, being agile and forward-thinking in mindset. We don’t live in a predictable world, so being able to embrace change and being ready to adapt to it is key. This includes being AI savvy. A modern GC also needs to be forward-thinking and curious, whether it’s approaching a problem with curiosity and staying open-minded to alternative solutions, actively seeking new ways to improve established processes, or embracing new tech.

The advice I would give to those aspiring to be an in-house lawyer is, it’s a great opportunity to really understand how a business works and to see how your advice helps to steer the company’s direction. You’re basically a business partner who happens to be a lawyer. You’ll be across a breadth of work, and you’ll need to be able to zoom out of the detail to understand the bigger picture of what the business is trying to achieve.

How do you use AI within your legal team to improve efficiency while maintaining quality, governance and integrity? How do you think AI will impact in-house legal functions more widely?

Probably similar to other legal teams, we are using AI to perform first-pass contract reviews against defined parameters, summarise lengthy documents, extract data points from documents for reporting, undertake legal research and to monitor regulatory updates. Beyond adopting tools, we have also been active in building them. Legal was one of the participating teams in Bally’s GenAI Hackathon, where we submitted two entries applying generative AI and automation to improve existing processes.

Legal was (and remains) a key stakeholder in establishing a company-wide AI governance framework so that AI can be used safely across the business. To maintain quality, governance and integrity within our team, we’ve established an AI use policy which sets out clear parameters of what AI can and can’t be used for.  We are also of the mindset that AI is a tool to aid us, not to replace our legal judgment, and that it can generate hallucinations so human oversight is essential. We make the decisions and remain accountable to the business for use of any AI output.

We safeguard personal data, intellectual property and sensitive business information by ensuring that only business approved AI tools are used and that no such input is put into public models.  We also don’t allow any third party to train their AI models using our input. We avoid using AI for anything that’s privileged.

More widely, I think AI will change the way in-house legal teams will work.  AI will be fully embedded into legal processes and workflows in one form or another, freeing lawyers to focus on more strategic work. Being proficient in use of AI (and doing so safely) will inevitably become a core competency comparable to using Microsoft tools such as Word or Outlook.

Have you had any particularly unique or defining experiences during your legal career? What has been your biggest career challenge or highlight?

The defining experience of my legal career was a rare and unexpected opportunity to work abroad, in Kuwait. I would say that it was my biggest career challenge and my biggest highlight.

It was a challenge because it took me out of my comfort zone in almost every way at once: my first international move, working and living abroad; my first move in-house after years in private practice, which I had no intention of leaving at the time; my first switch of sectors, from healthcare to retail (two very different worlds); my first experience of a region I had never visited; and my first major life decision made by taking a risk which would simultaneously impact my career and me personally. I accepted the role anyway, out of curiosity about the unknown and for the growth it promised professionally and personally.

It became my biggest highlight because it grew me. Beyond the cultural enrichment, I gained a perspective I could not have acquired any other way: how business can be done differently, with cultural nuance; how a problem can be approached and solved in more than one way; and the value of embracing colleagues’ and stakeholders’ alternative views, shaped by a different culture and experience. This is particularly important when being part of a global business. Above all, I learned to remain open-minded and receptive to different routes to a solution. I have applied that learning ever since: to approach every problem with curiosity rather than a fixed mindset, no matter how familiar the problem may appear to be. This is essential to creative thinking outside of the box.

Beyond your legal role, is there a cause or initiative you are especially passionate about?

I’m passionate about closing inequality gaps in the workplace. I am participating in Google’s POWER Programme as a Bally’s-nominated mentor. The POWER Programme is a brilliant mentoring initiative established by Google, designed to empower women and to advance their careers into leadership roles through mentoring, networking and workshops and leadership training.