An interview with Suresh Patel, Legal Advisor at Girmiti Software Pvt Ltd in India.
What has been the most defining moment of your career as an in-house lawyer so far?
The most defining moment of my career as an in-house lawyer so far has been my involvement in a big ticket matter wherein I was involved in a de-merger of a separate joint venture entity, wherein a new joint venture company was set up with 50% stake from the parent company and 50% stake from the international partner and an entire business was spun off and hived off onto the JV company along with all the assets, liabilities, employees, manufacturing facilities, plant and machinery, etc.
The entire framework of the legal issues arising thereof was handled by me end to end along with the team of senior management, law firms and international partners.
In what ways do you see the role of the GC changing over the next 5–10 years?
Over the next 5-10 years, I envisage the GC having a say in decision making and being a member of the board of directors where the GC will decide on business issues, risks, and adapting to the business dynamics that would be prevalent at that point of time. Going forward the business environment is going to be complex and challenging with various regulations and restrictions being imposed by the government authorities.
World order and dynamics of business will continue to evolve with challenging economic conditions and conflicts between nations at war.
How do you foster innovation and agility within your legal team?
I believe in autonomy and delegation of legal tasks within the organisational framework. Clarity in the roles of each member of the legal team is to be defined and put in place. This would ensure that there are no gaps in the legal team and the team would perform and excel in line with the requirements.
To foster innovation and agility within the team, complete freedom of work needs to be given with bare minimal supervision as this would help the team to adapt well and deliver.
What qualities do you believe distinguish truly impactful GCs from good ones?
The qualities that a truly impactful GC needs to have are knowledge of law and regulations, business and commercial acumen, leadership qualities and skills, excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
Above all, a truly impactful GC needs to have the following attributes: honesty, compassion, transparent integrity, clean image, being passionate about the job and role, and truthful to the top brass of the company.
How do you balance the pressures of your role with personal well-being and resilience?
To balance the pressures of the role with personal well-being and resilience, I have learnt the art of being detached from work and do not let the work pressure stress me out and, after being in the legal profession for more than 3 decades, the work pressure, deadlines, stress is just another day at the office. One learns to take them in one’s stride, day in and day out.
I also try not to be emotionally attached to the work. For me, unless an arrest warrant is issued to the top brass of the company, its business as usual for other routine legal and commercial issues.
If you could change one perception about the in-house legal profession, what would it be?
One perception about the in-house legal profession is that it is treated as a cost centre and an overhead to the organisation and sometimes a necessary evil to have.
I want to change this perception to being a business enabler and risk mitigation and if the legal role is used in a diligent manner, it can be a profit centre to the organisation. All commercial/legal contracts are vetted by the legal team to highlight and flag off the potential risks upfront before sign off and sometimes if the transaction is not profitable or viable legal will be first to red flag it.
