1. Hi Eoin, can you tell us a little about your role and journey into law? What excites you outside of work?
Well, I’m currently the APAC General Counsel at BNP Paribas, so I manage the legal function for BNP Paribas across the region and for all business lines. BNP Paribas has a footprint in 13 different markets in the region, so as you can imagine it’s an extraordinarily varied role and there is never a dull moment! I’ve been doing this role for a little over 4 years now but have been at BNP Paribas for close to 17 years, first in London but mostly in Hong Kong. However, both my journey into law and my life before becoming a lawyer are a bit on the unconventional side. I say this because I did a stint as a banker in London after I qualified but before joining BNP Paribas, and before I trained as a lawyer, I was a musician! Music has always played a big part in my life, and continues to do so, even if today it is more as a listener than a performer.
2. As a GC, what are some of the challenges that keep you up at night? How are you addressing them?
I firmly believe in not worrying about things you can’t control or influence. Therefore, I don’t spend sleepless nights mulling over geopolitical tensions or economic performance. But that still leaves plenty of topics which might disrupt my beauty sleep. Probably top of the list is the challenge of working in a sector where the complexity of the regulatory environment keeps on increasing and the task of staying on top of those regulations becomes ever more demanding. This is particularly the case given the number of different jurisdictions in which we operate and the cross-border nature of our business. We are now very systematic in the way we monitor, analyse, and implement regulatory change. Fortunately for me I have a top-quality team, so I know our regulatory risks are well managed. If I sleep well at night, it’s thanks to them.
3. What do you think about the use of LegalTech, data analytics and process optimisation to improve your legal department’s value?
There is no doubt that technology and smart use of data has the potential to transform the way we work as in-house lawyers. I have been a strong advocate for embracing new innovations or tools to help perform more routine tasks that can now be done at least as well (and possibly more accurately) by a computer. This opens up the possibility to unlock added value from the legal department, enabling lawyers to focus on those higher value tasks. I think this type of innovation is generally expected by businesses we serve and should be viewed as an opportunity rather than a threat. At BNP Paribas, we have already begun experimenting with Gen AI use cases and so far my conclusions would be that this has real potential to transform the way we work, but equally, there will always (for the foreseeable future) be a need for a human lawyer to overlay his or her judgment and knowledge on whatever is produced by the machine.
4. What trends do you expect to see in the legal services industry in the next 5 years?
I think so far, the gains from Generative AI in terms of in-house legal teams have been marginal, but I expect this will not be the case in 5 years. Of course, Gen AI and other technology developments raise many interesting and complex legal questions too, so it may well be that whatever time we save through the use of new technologies in our legal operations we simply redeploy into advising the businesses we support on mitigating the legal and regulatory risks inherent in such tools.
5. Where do you see NewLaw/ALSPs fitting in the matrix of your legal department?
For me, in such a rapidly changing business landscape, agility of resourcing is key. I have been trying to promote more transversality amongst our internal teams as part of this vision. But external resourcing is also an important part of the toolkit and the flexibility which NewLaw/ALSP firms provide is very valuable, particularly for project work where there can be a lot of legal heavy lifting which we are not resourced to do as part of our BAU.
6. Your favourite tune? And why?
As a former classical musician with a strong love of punk and indie rock, it’s hard to choose one tune. But if pushed I would say Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. There’s something about the elemental energy of the piece which really gets my adrenaline going. But if I’m short on time, I get a similar energy boost from Teenage Kicks by The Undertones!
KorumLegal is a boutique legal consultancy committed to providing value innovation in legal service delivery. The legal services industry is continuing to change with ‘NewLaw’ – and clients are seeking more innovative and cost-effective solutions without compromise on experience and quality
