From general counsel to chief executive
A recent panel discussion held by the Law Society’s In-house and Public Sector Committee was wide-ranging in scope and relevance. Mary Hallissey reports
This year’s In-house and Public Sector Committee panel discussion at Blackhall Place on 1 May heard that a trend for lawyers to run large organisations is emerging.
An attendee suggested that, in the US, there is a strong culture of general counsel moving to high-level chief executive roles, whereas in Europe, accountants traditionally take the reins.
That pattern may be changing, however. Davinia Conlan told the discussion that she took on the role of country head for Citi in Ireland a year ago, after 17 years as an in-house banking lawyer.
Citi was the first US financial institution to open its doors in Ireland almost 60 years ago, Conlan explained, and the bank now employs almost 3,000 people here. Over the years, its presence in Ireland has expanded, and Dublin is now the headquarters for Citibank Europe plc.
Citi also has a large operations and technology centre in Dublin, which supports its businesses and clients around the world.
Conlan described her career in banking as a junior lawyer during the challenging era of the global financial crash. She believes that having a background as an in-house lawyer has been helpful to her country-head role, noting the need for familiarity and understanding of corporate governance and regulation.
Her in-house role had also allowed her to develop a broad network across Citi globally, and an in-depth understanding of the organisation.
One aspect of the country-head role that’s new to her is the level of interaction she now has with Citi’s clients. Conlan discussed how she has been spending a lot more time with Citi’s clients across multiple industries, which has given her a different vantage point.
She sees the organisation, too, through the clients’ eyes and has gained a better understanding of what they require. Her role means that Conlan is the face and voice of the company in Ireland.
She discussed how an individual’s communication style is an important factor in how they lead. “As a leader, you must be very mindful of the shadow you cast across an organisation,” she commented.
Route into Coimisiún na Meán
Niamh Hodnett (online safety commissioner, Coimisiún na Meán) described the route into her current role, starting with an undergraduate degree in law and German.
Hodnett worked in general practice, at the European Commission, with An Post, Matheson, and ComReg – all of which gave her a great deal of litigation experience, as well as managerial opportunities. She also worked as chief legal and regulatory officer at the National Lottery, and was head of regulatory affairs at Three Ireland.
“I learnt from both legal and non-legal managers,” she said, adding that understanding a business involved building stakeholder relationships.
Hodnett undertook executive training at the Irish Management Institute to add strategic and budgeting perspective to her legal expertise. She also studied for a Law Society Diploma in Judicial and Legal Decision-Making, which has been a useful grounding for robust decision-making.
She described the challenges of building out a full staff cohort in Coimisiún na Meán, and moving premises to accommodate growing numbers, all while forming an important new organisation.
“Make sure you have a support structure in place as you take on a leadership role,” Hodnett suggested, “with positive energy behind you.”
The public profile and nature of the role necessitates her representing the organisation both inside and out – and standing by hard decisions.
Agent of understanding
Amy Ball (business transformation leader, PWC) told the attendees that artificial intelligence (AI) could enable businesses to deliver faster solutions at a lower cost.
AI will be the next big disruptor of the PWC client business model, she pointed out, but the firm looks at AI, end-to-end. It has developed a responsible-use toolkit, audit controls, and a generative AI business centre, together with Microsoft.
AI tools can also be used to crunch data to establish trends and, therefore, represents a better-value proposition and an enhanced service for clients, Ball added.
The discussion also heard from Tom Heerey (assistant general counsel at Microsoft) about the opportunities for lawyers to harness the benefits of generative AI technology in their organisations and for their clients.
He gave a demonstration to show the potential of this new technology to help with tasks such as taking minutes, notes, and follow-up actions from meetings; creating legal advice notes; and summarising policies or other documents. It can even interact with documents to obtain insights and help with general knowledge management, and can be used to help understand and manage regulatory compliance.
Heerey added that AI was not simply another software tool, but rather would change entirely the way we interact with knowledge. Technology companies needed to be deliberate in building in principles and guardrails in the new technology, and to address incoming regulations, he advised.
Microsoft ‘Copilot’ is used by its legal department for knowledge management, to share and find information, and to read and find trends and irregularities in contracting documents, he explained.
Using AI is the first step in such work, and it generates drafts and templates to which personal style can be added. He reminded the audience that ‘GenAI’ can make practices more efficient and really help with bulk and repetitive tasks.
His final point was to reassure the group that solicitors still had an important role in adding value, giving advice, balancing risks, and offering perspective and judgement for their clients.
Upsurge in use
John O’Donovan (deputy director ICT at the National Treasury Management Agency) said that generative AI could be helpful in query handling and in creating commentary and analysis – but it did require ‘heavy lifting’ on the part of the person using it.
The legal software ‘Harvey AI’ is trained to go deep into contracts and look at nuances, create executive summaries, and translate into other languages, the discussion heard. Generative AI could even translate speakers, while mimicking their own accents.
O’Donovan added that conversational language, allied with an increase in computing power and large amounts of data used to train AI, had led to a huge upsurge in use.
Generative AI could also be useful in sifting through security data to highlight suspicious activity, he said. However, there was a danger for firms in holding on to information for longer than was necessary, which could pose challenges for AI in terms of providing correct responses, he concluded.
Mary Hallissey is a journalist with the Law Society Gazette.
EXPERTISE AND LEADERSHIP
Welcoming attendees, Law Society President Barry MacCarthy said that to work as an in-house solicitor was ever-changing, challenging and exciting.
“The Law Society is committed to providing supports to this important segment of the profession, comprising approximately one-quarter of the Law Society’s membership,” he said.
The In-house and Public Sector Committee was formed in recognition of the different perspectives and requirements of in-house solicitors, who are bound by the same professional and ethical standards that apply in private practice.
The 25-strong committee aims to represent the views and promote the interests of in-house solicitors in the private and public sectors. It also supports the Law Society in the exercise of its representative, educational, and regulatory roles – and sets up tailored training – such as this panel discussion.
The committee also assists with the production of relevant practice notes and submissions. It communicates through articles in the Gazette and eZine, as well as its section on the Law Society’s website, the president said.
Alison Bradshaw (chair of the In-house and Public Sector Committee, and head of credit legal services at AIB) introduced the speakers. The agenda for the event was chosen to reflect topical issues through the themes of profile, expertise, and leadership, in line with the committee’s current strategy.