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Biggest personal issues for legal teams during COVID-19
The outbreak of coronavirus has spawned numerous challenges for in-house counsel. New research identifies the more prominent personal ones being tackled.
Jerome Doraisamy
In the wake of COVID-19, US-headquartered international law firm Morrison & Foerster surveyed 110 in-house general counsel from global corporations to understand how this unanticipated health crisis is impacting their businesses now and over the long-term and what they perceive to be their biggest business challenges over the next 12 to 24 months.
The most commonly-identified such challenge was “providing advice on unprecedented issues”, which is affecting 64.5 per cent of counsel during this time. It was closely followed by “making decisions in an uncertain environment” (55.5 per cent).
Traditional legal priorities normally reported as challenges in their roles are now much lower on their challenge list, M&F reported, with only 22.7 per cent of respondents saying focus on keeping transactions moving forward and 16.4 per cent reporting keeping their teams focused on strategic priorities were their top challenges.
Other prominent challenges identified by survey respondents included: “protecting the company from risk” (39.1 per cent), “supporting the business” (36.4 per cent), “managing a remote team” (27.3 per cent), “resolving issues that could cause reputation/financial damage” (26.4 per cent), and 12.7 per cent also identified “other” concerns.
The report also found that the pandemic is having a “significant impact” upon businesses across the board, and outlined the primary risks being seen by in-house counsel at this juncture.
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly. A former lawyer, he has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. He is also the host of all five shows under The Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network, and has overseen the brand's audio medium growth from 4,000 downloads per month to over 60,000 downloads per month, making The Lawyers Weekly Show the most popular industry-specific podcast in Australia. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of Minds Count.
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