An interview with Joanne Ross, Group General Counsel at Kerry in Ireland.
How would you describe the state of the GC Community in your region? How has it changed since you first moved in-house?
Things have definitely changed a lot since I moved in-house (20 years ago). At that time there were relatively few in-house lawyers and a very misguided perception that you should only consider it if you weren’t quite “making it” in private practice! I was doing really well in M&A at a top tier firm and I remember a few partners being quite horrified that I had decided to leave a bright future to go in-house! Nowadays there is a pool of extremely competent in-house lawyers in Ireland and that pool is growing year on year, however I would describe the “community” as a little ad hoc, with most networking opportunities organised by law firms which means you only get access to the other in-house lawyers who instruct that particular law firm.
Why is expanding your network important to you? What kinds of connections or discussions would be most valuable to you?
You always learn something when you take the time to engage with other in-house lawyers – this is particularly at gatherings that are carefully organised and targeted at other lawyers at the same seniority level as myself in a similar scale of global organisation (i.e. PLC Group GC, in my case), which are really rare.
What do you want to achieve by collaborating with other GCs and senior in-house lawyers? Are there specific topics, challenges, or experiences you’d like to share or learn more about?
