Christos G. Georgiou, Senior Legal Associate at M.S. Security Group in Cyprus, reflects on building an in-house function from the ground up and why understanding both the business and its priorities early on is key to becoming an impactful GC.
What has been the most defining moment of your career as an in-house lawyer so far?
A defining moment in my professional career was certainly when I went from a litigation lawyer in a law firm to an in-house role as the sole and first in-house lawyer in a group of companies.
The switch from a pure legal role such as a litigation lawyer (where legal principles and procedures are fundamental) to a more practical, business-focused and results-oriented role, at the beginning, was challenging, since I had to adapt both the way I worked as well as the way I communicated with my employees and new non-lawyer colleagues.
Also, as the first in-house lawyer of a new legal department, I had to build everything from scratch, including, inter alia, the procedures, the administration, and the templates of the department.
However, this was a rewarding experience which taught me a lot and helped me evolve rapidly as a professional and as an individual.
How do you foster innovation and agility within your legal team?
My practical advice on how to foster innovation and agility within a legal team is simple: rotation. Give the opportunity to all members of your team (taking into account their level and experience of course) to have the chance to work on different projects from purely administrative tasks to complex transactions.
Specialisation in one field can be a trap which can hinder the development of both an individual and a team, so I would strongly advice all General Counsels, who manage a team, to rotate their team members in various tasks and not just stick them to one thing only.
This has a double benefit: both for the individual to be exposed to a wider field of legal tasks but also for the legal department itself to not be dependent on just one specialised colleague when it comes to a specific practice area.
What qualities do you believe distinguish truly impactful GCs from good ones?
To be distinguished and impactful, a GC must understand as quickly as possible two things once they get a new role: firstly, they must learn very well the sector the company is operating in and secondly, they must understand the goals and priorities of the organisation they are serving.
For the first part, you must have strong commercial awareness of your sector and to communicate directly with your non-lawyer colleagues, whether these are sales, hr, finance, operations, engineers, etc.
For the second, you must communicate clearly with the management of your organisation, so you will have a clear idea early on of the goals and priorities of the organisation, therefore enabling you to better guide and assist them in your role as a GC.
How do you balance the pressures of your role with personal wellbeing and resilience?
During my first years as an in-house lawyer, this was quite hard for me. I wanted to prove my worth to the organisation and to deliver the best results as soon as possible. However, this had a negative impact with my personal wellbeing and resilience
Nowadays, as a more experienced professional who can distinguish when a task is truly crucial and can handle multitasking better, I have set my boundaries and try to not neglect my time with loved-ones and for myself .
But, I just want to be clear: I don’t mean that a GC must not give 100% and go above and beyond. They should, but only if it is absolutely necessary to do so, not on an everyday basis!
If you could change one perception about the in-house legal profession, what would it be?
A misconception about the in-house legal profession I see very often, is that our role is purely administrative, meant to be just filling in forms and papers. However, the modern in-house lawyer is far from that!
The modern in-house lawyer is a strategic partner in the organisation in which they serve, contributing in both the long-term strategy of the organisation, as well as in its daily operations,
To sum up, the role of a modern in-house lawyer is no longer purely a legal role, but a hybrid role which requires knowledge in matters such as law, business, politics, finance, governance and operational know-how.
