Not a Conclusion, But a Step on an On-Going Journey

Times have changed and the role of General Counsels in Europe has grown, similar to their American counterparts’. The Legal function, faced with the increasing importance of laws and regulations in a globalized world driven by fast-moving technology and innovation, has evolved from a reactive to a pro-active role.

One secret of game-changing players, be they individuals, movements or corporations, is to turn upside down what is taken for granted.

Liquid Legal Context

by Dr. Dierk Schindler, Dr. Roger Strathausen, Kai Jacob

Roux-Chenu and de Rocca-Serra tell an authentic and inspiring story about how Capgemini turned their legal department into a profit center. The step stones are straight forward, and it all starts with creating the prerequisites for innovation. The authors thereby deliver the practice proof point to what Tumasjan and Welpe have developed based on research: the co-creative enterprise as the foundation for entrepreneurial behavior.

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It is fascinating to find those individual concepts that often come towards us in isolation—or even diminished to buzzwords—in a direct business context. Diversity (in its many forms), internationality, mobility and breadth of background (non-lawyers!) create the innovative mix to get into aposition to succeed. A strong and well developed organization, clear goals and priorities and a clearly defined leader profile are the step stones to success and directly link into what Pauleau, Roquilly and Collard have established as a KPI-framework to develop a performance driven organization. Last but not least, legal technology as the enabler to scale, but also to connect legal to the other parts of the organization.

Another aspect that sticks out from the article is the emphasis on client feedback—internally and even externally. If the company culture is right and the leadership is strong, overcoming the fear of open and honest constructive feedback should be doable—specifically if in return you get direct input as to what works and what does not yet work. Is this not what we typically (have to) do to other departments as we guard the integrity of the business? Why not making feedback a mutual thing?

Von Alemann takes us all the way to a part of the legal industry that often gets overlooked—despite representing a very large part of the business: SME's, i.e.

Isabelle Roux-Chenu a Capgemini Corporate VP and former Group General Counsel, is Head of Group Com­mercial & Contract Management and Senior Advisor to the Group Chairman & CEO.

She founded and leads Women@Capgemini, the Group Gender Balance program.

A member of the New York and Paris Bars, she co-founded the Commission of the CAC 40 General Counsels, and is a member of the CPR European Execu­tive Board and a board member of Droit & Croissance.

In the renowned annual French Legal Trophies, she received three Gold Trophies successively for Group International Legal Team, Transactions and Innovation, and a Silver Trophy for Contract Management.

Elisa de Rocca-Serra is an Assistant General Counsel at Capgemini. She joined Capgemini Headquarters in 2008 and is today responsible for framework agreements with global clients. Specialized in international business law, she has more than 13 years' experience in the Information Technology industry. She started her career working for a software editor before joining the service industry. She is passionate about contributing to the promotion of the Legal function and on how to show the value and contri­bution that in-house lawyers can bring to their company growth.