You studied political science at Boston University, earned a Master’s degree at The London School of Economics and a J.D. at The University of Chicago; prior to that, you wanted to become an actor. Are there any skills from your time studying acting that you have found useful in your legal career?
The most useful skill I still leverage is storytelling because our brains are wired to tell stories. You can give someone all of the facts, but sometimes they just go in one ear and out the other. If you tell a story about the facts, that can be very powerful. In the in-house environment, you are trying to instill a culture of compliance and convey complex legal analyses in a language that is easily understood by a layperson or someone who may have other pressing matters on their plate. These are helpful skills in negotiations as well because storytelling forces you to think about the emotional and cultural context of the conversation you are having.
What were the biggest challenges during your time leading global teams at Coca-Cola, GSK and now Haleon?
While each of those roles presented very different sets of circumstances, both geographically and legally, there have been two common challenges throughout my time in these roles. The first is, how do you navigate those grey areas? What I mean by that is, while at a firm, you think that what you delivered to the company is the end product, but it is not. It is actually closer to the final mile of the supply chain, which is often the most challenging part of the journey. That “last mile” of legal advice needs to be married with the risk appetite of the company and its objectives. The company has to determine what is an appropriate level of risk to take on to achieve its goals, which a firm cannot do in quite the same way.
The second challenge is that organizing a legal department that can deliver services effectively is becoming ever more complicated in terms of process optimization, technology, talent, culture, mission, purpose, cost, and evaluating external partners, etc. There are so many elements that go into creating a well-functioning legal department—it is almost like running a business within a business. It is a fascinating part of the job which develops skills that can translate to any industry.
In a Law360 interview, you mentioned the AI campaign where Haleon collaborated with Microsoft and created a free app that reads product labels out loud when scanned. How were you involved in that project? How does AI change the legal landscape for you as a lawyer with these new inventions and campaigns?
My team was involved in that initiative, and there were many issues we had to consider. It was a rewarding task that allowed us to help Haleon fulfil its purpose, which is to provide better everyday health with humanity. Being able to read labels is a critical point of access for many people and the tool allows them to do that more easily.
I think AI is the defining question of our age. I am a member of The Futures Group, a council that advises the U.K. government on the future of technology in the U.K. legal space and, in particular, its relation to civil justice. I think AI will be transformative over the next 10 years—in terms of profound productivity changes that will enable us to focus on higher-value activity. But there are also concerning elements such as digesting and summarizing documents; is the technology analyzing and focusing on the correct parts? We also have to be sure that we don’t atrophy certain analytical skills that are very important for lawyers. But beyond these elements, there is tremendous potential.
What are the most rewarding parts of your role as General Counsel and Member of the Executive Committee at Haleon?
I love leading teams of people and working with brilliant colleagues. I look at it as being very similar to that of a coach of a professional sports team. If you are the coach of Manchester United, you are not on the field all the time, but you assemble the team, the strategy and, most importantly, provide the motivation. Being a part of developing a strategy and being co-accountable for the performance and achievements of a large company is incredibly rewarding.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge my love of operating the aforementioned “business within a business.” I enjoy that part of the work more than anything else—how do you optimize and run an effective in-house team; what does a healthy business look like; how do you measure it; and how do you keep evolving?
