“I respond to changes and complexities by shifting from a primarily reactive, compliance-focused approach to a more proactive, strategic, and business-oriented one.”

An interview with Kristian Nico Calugay Acosta, General Counsel and Head of Legal at GUESS Group in Philippines.

What are the biggest external forces or trends currently shaping your role as General Counsel and how are you responding to them?

The biggest external trends that are currently shaping my role as a General Counsel are the rapid changes and complexities on the compliance and regulatory aspects of my role. These changes and complexities have yielded from various practice areas such as data privacy, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) initiatives, among others. As a general counsel, I respond to these changes and complexities by shifting from a primarily reactive, compliance-focused approach to a more proactive, strategic, and business-oriented one.

How are you balancing the increasing demands of legal risk management with the expectation to drive business value and strategic insight?

Balancing the increasing demands of legal risk management in order to drive business value and strategic insight requires the integration of legal considerations into strategic decision-making. To do this, a general counsel must understand his/her paramount role of proactively identifying and mitigating legal risks while simultaneously leveraging legal expertise to support business growth and innovation. And to attain success with this strategy, it is required to shift from reactive to proactive risk management, foster collaboration between legal and business teams, and utilise data-driven insights to inform both risk mitigation and strategic planning to transform legal from a cost centre into a strategic business partner. By proactively managing legal risks and integrating legal expertise into business strategy, companies can definitely minimise potential losses, protect their business reputations, and create competitive advantages in their respective industries. 

What’s one lesson or insight from your in-house journey that you wish you’d known earlier and would share with a fellow GC today?

A lesson which I wish I’d known earlier and would share with a fellow GC today is that an effective in-house lawyer is someone who does not only have a brilliant mind that thinks and a sharp tongue that speaks. To be an effective in-house lawyer, he/she must also have ears that listen and a heart that feels. If an in-house lawyer possess the required skills to think, speak, listen and feel, he/she will surely become a great legal partner and business enabler of his/her organisation.