An interview with Peter Ho, former General Counsel & Company Secretary at Tyman plc in the UK.
How would you describe the state of the GC Community in your region? How has it changed since you first moved in-house?
When I first moved in-house, the GC community was far less connected. Whereas I knew a few senior lawyers from my private practice career and on the other side of transactions or disputes, there were fewer opportunities to network on a regular basis. Nowadays, the GC/senior legal leader community is vibrant and meets frequently at forums such as “Crafty Counsel”, “The Economist GC Summit”, The Lawyer’s “Legal Leadership Club”, Legalweek’s “Global Leaders in Law”, “Workgroup Legal”, etc.
Why is expanding your network important to you? What kinds of connections or discussions would be most valuable to you?
It is important to me to build relationships with fellow professionals so that I stay abreast of how things work well in practice.
I particularly enjoy discussions that relate to the leadership of legal, compliance or governance teams to support business growth. Technological solutions are interesting only insofar as they are complementary to such growth.
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?
Other than sharing tips on how to help our businesses grow, I think that it’s also important for such networks to provide mutual support on work-life and ethical issues.
