I am overall responsible for regulatory, secretarial, and legal function and strategy for Xerox in India and APAC. As part of my job I advise the executive staff and Board on complicated legal matters in addition to overseeing efforts to proactively identify and mitigate legal risk exposure and litigation cost. I lead a team of lawyers and Company secretaries and support the operational legal work of the company. As a part of the management team I lead many executive initiatives and committees to name a few – ‘India chapter of Women’s Alliance for Diversity’ and ‘Sexual harassment’.
Another important part of my job is to identify, nurture and retain the right skilled people internally or externally working with law firms, for the right job to support businesses in different geographies.
It has been a very enriching journey that helped me continuously grow as a person and as a professional. Over 10 years back I took over as head legal at British Oxygen and since then I have had a privilege of leading legal teams of companies like Aricent, Microsoft and now Xerox. Being General Counsel of companies with multi country operations, has given me an insight and understanding of issues being faced by businesses across many countries.
I have spent a big part of my career with technology companies and have developed deep insights and understanding of legal issues emanating out of tech-advancements and disruptions. Needless to say that a job in such an environment is a very demanding and exciting at the same time. There are no “easy “ days, as you could be dealing with variety of things from risk mitigation, stakeholder management, people’s issues, litigation, Executive meetings, advisory to cost analysis and at times you deal with all of them in one day.
India is at the threshold of realizing its business potential, new laws are being passed, regulations relaxed with increased use of IT in governance. All this makes it quite exciting for one to be a part of it.
Technology is pushing business innovation, and legal frame work is continuously evolving to keep pace. The new ways of doing business are creating new risks and that is resulting in proliferation of new laws and a much more intensified Regulatory environment. This creates complexities making GC’s role more prominent and critical than ever.
The role of GC in such an environment is no longer restricted to providing support, it has become integral to business continuity and growth. The GC’s role has evolved beyond being a traditional legal head in charge of transactions, litigation, resource utilization, cost reductions and legal outsourcing. A GC’s role has now become more of a business partner, strategic thinker, corporate governance gatekeeper and a trusted business advisor. On one hand GC is a partner to business and on the other hand GC is a guardian of its reputation and integrity. For example earlier legal team would come right at the end to help with sound documentation and more as support function but now the legal is involved in the initial stages of decision making and strategy building. In fact new business initiatives need GCs involvement right in the beginning. Business savvy GCs provide out of box solutions and innovative ideas keeping compliance at the heart of the solution. Today’s GC wears many hats, be it overseeing the corporate governance, or being an advisor to the Board or being strategic advisor to business in addition to the traditional deliverables.
Another important role that GCs play in some organizations is government relations as they are preferred by organizations in view of their understanding of the antibribery and FCPA concerns and risks.
Whilst GCs have to be technically sound, they also need to have strong communication and interpersonal skills, in particular have the ability to establish open and trusted relationships. This is what differentiates a strategic business advisor from a risk advisor. This combined with the ability to spot, recruit and nurture talent makes for an effective leader.
Each day brings new challenges, some new grounds to cover and new solutions to find. A few that I can think of are keeping pace with the changing laws and aligning strategies to stay compliant, keeping an eye on the corporate governance at the same time supporting business initiatives, managing diverse stakeholders and developing capabilities internally as well as externally to provide legal support to business.
Identifying the cost effective law firms and then finding the right resources within law firms for the relevant job and always trying to get more for less. And doing all this staying well within budget.
It is really important that the law firms and the in-house legal teams have a common/shared perspective of being partners as against being customers and service providers. Both must understand and respect the unique aspect each contributes to the overall legal advisory being business perspective on one hand and expert technical view on the other.
Both need to invest time and energy in strengthening the partnership and understanding the constraints and aids of the other. From our perspective, legal teams feel comfortable with firms who understand their company business or at least invest in understanding their business, their priorities and constraints. Internal teams naturally gravitate towards firms which give straight and clear business like advice as against a 100 page long opinions with no clear guidance or clarity on the issue.
GC’s have to keep up with the changing laws and judicial pronouncements relevant to their business to be effective. There are many tools one can choose from, for e.g. Online updates, web casts, relevant law firm updates, periodicals, legal magazines like Witness, seminars and conferences etc. The technology has also made it easy to now access information albeit the key is to limit this access to relevant information only. Besides this there are knowledge and discussion platforms like WhatsApp groups of similarly placed lawyers and GCs.
If a person wants to make a career as an inhouse counsel, they should start with identifying the industry they want to work in. For e.g., IT, Services, FMCG, Financial Services or any other industry. Once this is established, I would recommend getting their internship within companies in the chosen sector to get a feel of the job while they are still studying. Then when ready to work post qualification, one must work with a law firm for initial couple of years to get on the job training and an induction to the profession. Whilst working for law firm try and learn every aspect of the profession because as an in house counsel you are expected to work on the entire spectrum of legal work be it litigation strategy, advisory, compliance, corporate governance, regulatory and contract negotiations.
Career as an in house counsel has become very dynamic. To be more impactful and to succeed it is not just about the technical skills any more, it is also about influencing the business stakeholders, asking the right questions and developing business capabilities and acumen.
Last but not the least being disciplined and staying focused helps not just in initial stages of your career but at any stage of your life. On important aspect of being disciplined and leading a healthy professional life is giving adequate time, importance and attention to all aspects of your life being your physical and mental health, your family & friends and learning as a person and as a professional giving constant stimulant to your mind and person.
On a lighter note make sure Yoga or some sort of exercise is an integral part of your daily routine to balance the side effects of this consuming and vibrant profession you have chosen.
Favourite Gadget – iPhone 6
Favourite App – iTunes/In Shorts /Law Torch
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Favourite Writing Instrument – Mont Blanc
Favourite Holiday Destination – Australia or any beach destination
Favourite Cuisine – Chinese & French food
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