From Chance Email To Chief Counsel: Nithia Dory

What is your role?

I'm the manager of the international team in Tokyo. Most of our business is outbound. Our job is to manage the global assets, both in terms of acquiring new assets or disposing of old assets or maintaining the current projects. I'm responsible for making sure that the team is always ready to help provide strategic advice. I have to not only manage downwards, but upwards in terms of reporting and making sure that the internal stakeholders are all kept in the loop at the right time. There are many deals ongoing, and there may be disputes, so we need to make sure that everyone's connected.

The most interesting part of the job is working at a higher level, seeing what's happening and acting as the middle person between the decision makers and the legal team. There is plenty of strategic analysis. The nature of the business, oil and gas, means that it is invariably more than a legal question that we are considering, there is always the broader business context.