An interview with Sara Citterio, General Counsel at Trussardi in Italy.
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 moved in house some thirty years ago, the GC community in Italy was still rather small and dispersed. It has grown a lot over time, although as a profession the GC is still not so established in Italy and has no defined features even today. You could sit with ten people holding the role of GC in their organisations having different roles and range of responsibilities within every organisation. This rarely happens with more established roles, like CFOs for instance.
There are some associations (namely the newly established General Counsels Association) which are trying to promote the profession in Italy as a standard role with a well-defined role and set of responsibilities. There’s still a long way to go but given the complexities of today’s business context the support of a GC is becoming increasingly important in all business organisations.
Why is expanding your network important to you? What kinds of connections or discussions would be most valuable to you?
Networking is fundamental in our profession like in any other. Confronting with either professionals having a similar role in other jurisdictions as well as with other c-suite roles (CEOs, CFOs, CMOs etc.) helps immensely, as it gives a new perspective on how the profession is either executed in other countries (which is always a good starting point of reflection on how we see our profession in Italy) or it is perceived by other senior roles, and what they need from an effective GC is invaluable as it helps us deliver a better service for our companies.
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?
It’d be interesting to develop best practices, and discussions about topics of general interest (most recent legislations, challenges posed by the ever-changing geopolitical environment), but also in terms of the soft skills required to improve in our role as GCs.
The complexities that are increasing in today’s world require a GC which is always open to the world, and confrontation with colleagues from other countries gives a multi-faceted perspective which is nowadays fundamental to fully understand the legal implication of what is happening around the world, and could also help GCs to understand upcoming trends. This capability of predicting future complications is becoming rather important for a GC and I believe that the collaboration among the GC community could benefit everyone.
