Category: Poland

Artur Chrzanowski is the Head of Legal of EIFFAGE Polska. Prior to joining EIFFAGE in 2016, he was a Senior Associate with Magnusson in Warsaw for one year. Earlier still, he was Head of Legal at Metro Properties, Legal Section Manager of the A1 Motorway Project at Skanska, an attorney-at-law with the Kronospan Group, and a lawyer with Kompania Piwowarska. In the process, he has served in managerial roles as a compliance officer and as a member of various company management and supervisory boards.

CEELM:  How would you define the role of a General Counsel today, and how do you believe it’s been evolving over the past few years?

ARTUR: Today the GC’s role is sort of a “legal business partner” to the management board and company. I thought about this change in the role in the last few years and I perceive it as being transformed in a reactive manner to the fact that we are active players in the company and are deeply involved in daily business issues. Today, more than in the past, we are recognized as business partners rather than just as lawyers.

CEELM: What are the distinctions in your mind between the two – the “traditional” lawyer versus the “legal business partner”?

ARTUR: I’d say the distinction is twofold. First, I see us in a position of going out to other functions proactively and approaching them with conversations about either risks or opportunities for the company from our legal perspective. That is in contrast to the old-school approach of just sitting in your office and waiting for people to knock on your door to get answers. 

Second, there are noticeable differences in the actual scope of the communications and opinions offered. I feel those are evolving more towards comprehensive input; not just legal topics but also taking into account the business needs and perspectives of the company.

CEELM:: What do you feel has been driving these changes?

ARTUR: I see both external and internal forces. Speaking from the perspective of the Polish market, there are at least three broad aspects that I believe are influencing this change. The first is the external element of increasingly comprehensive and complex legislation. This complexity obviously adds pressure on business people in terms of how business is conducted. 

Second, again as an external factor, are the market demands on a company. I believe competition is increasing across the board and this competitive mindset is increasing the demands on the role of the General Counsel.

Third, internally speaking, I sense an increasing expectation from the business side that the GC add value from a business angle as well, and no longer just from a legal one. 

CEELM: Drawing from the second factor you highlighted, how can – and how should – a GC add to the competitiveness of a company?

ARTUR: The most obvious way is comfort and ease of mind. The better GC you have and the more business-oriented he/she is, the more comfortable a company can be in identifying and leveraging creative solutions to enhance a business case. Another way a GC can add value is by gaining and then putting to good use experience gained in organizations tackling the same problems from different angles – whether it be a matter of employing best practices learned in other organizations or, even more useful, applying the perspectives of companies playing complementary roles in the same sector. For example, when looking at real estate-related questions, a GC can add true value if he/she has learned to analyze them while working with an investor, with a property manager, with a construction company, and so on, and then understanding the positioning that each type of a company takes and why. 

CEELM: You mentioned internal expectations. Is that also reflected in decision-making involvement? Do you see more and more GCs included in the boards of companies?

ARTUR: I see many of my GC colleagues on boards. I would not say its common just yet, but it no longer is exceptional. Secondly, GCs are increasingly invited into various corporate bodies such as executive committees. These are not necessarily formalized in to the companies’ codes – they are not regulated or demanded by law – but they are created out of the internal needs of the company and they group the top-level managers of the companies. These bodies are not conducting the company itself of course – that’s what the board is there for – but they have a strong influence on how the company is carrying out its business and how it is growing, and they support the board in implementing its resolutions. Third, decisions are not made only on the basis of purely legal opinions produced by the legal team and then passed over to the board. Rather, GCs are deeply involved in the decision-making conversations directly.

CEELM: And in what ways are the GCs themselves evolving given this set-up?

ARTUR: The opportunity for GCs to grow with these expectations is most definitely there. I feel there is quite some room for development on the business side though – both when it comes to support for the managers but also in respect to the running of the in-house legal team. Growth of a GC is linked to that of his/her colleagues in the legal function, so we need to make sure we offer a platform for that as well. 

CEELM: How do these translate in practice?

ARTUR: At first glance comprehensiveness rather than specificity – a kind of “feasibility study.” It’s about knowing, not always in detail, but in general, not only the legal answer to questions raised but also the right business answer, the best ready-to-use practical tool. 

At the same time, an approach that gives the legal team more space for self-development is critical. In the past it was overly-simplified and the GC was the only one representing the legal matters of the company. Of course, you still have a ‘Head of’, but there is more and more space to have other members grow. Both from the increased complexity of internal needs but also because people seek it more than in the past. It also comes from a limited-resources perspective. Having only one interlocutor can create bottlenecks – there is simply no time for one person to answer all the questions. There is thus a natural trend to spread responsibility across the team.

All other expectations that applied in the past stand, of course. Negotiation skills are still as critical as they were in the past, for example, so these need to be considered as add-ons to the skills and approaches that a GC needs to factor into his or her evolution.

CEELM: What’s on the horizon regarding the future evolution of the GC role in your view? What things do you foresee will make your lives easier or more difficult in the future?

ARTUR: I think the factors depend greatly on the sector. For a construction company, for example, the important topic at the moment in Poland is the tension on the prices market – when it comes to workforce, materials, etc., prices are getting higher and higher and that influences the work of the GC as well. I think it depends on the stability of the sector a lot at the end of the day – if we are looking forward to continued growth on the back of stabilizing prices or not is a huge question mark that will shape our work greatly. 

Beyond that, I think it is simply a matter of embracing the fact that the future will bring constant change to the role of a General Counsel as we continue to move away from purely legal advice and take on the role of business/legal advisors to our boards and managers.  

This Article was originally published in Issue 6.3 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, you can subscribe here.

Dentons’ creates a pilot mindfulness program to address law firm stress.

In this quickly-shrinking world, with production and the global economy growing at unprecedented rates, lawyers are increasingly under the gun, expected to turn out top-quality work on matters often worth many millions of euros quickly, and without mistakes. Unsurprisingly, then, many law firms spent significant amounts each year to find ways of helping their lawyers alleviate and manage the resulting stress. 

Some at Dentons believes that, in mindfulness, the firm may have found a useful tool in this battle.

Mindfulness has been described as “the psychological process of bringing one’s attention to experiences occurring in the present moment, which one can develop through the practice of meditation and through other training.” And, at the end of 2018, in a creative attempt to help its lawyers deal with the stress that is part and parcel of the profession, Dentons implemented a unique mindfulness program to help participants from the firm manage and alleviate emotions and stress, develop business skills, raise emotional intelligence and self-awareness, and improve social skills and empathy. 

THE INNER CALL

For Dentons Partner Karina Furga-Dabrowska, who led the pilot program at the firm, practicing mindfulness is both a lifestyle and professionally fulfilling. She recalls that, before discovering the concept, she felt frustrated by the pressure she was facing. “I did not really manage my emotions properly,” she recalls, “and I kind of burnt out due to stress. So I was looking for tools to improve myself and gain missing skills.” Once discovered, mindfulness became an important part of her life. 

Her enthusiasm for the practice kindled, after a few years of practice Furga-Dabrowska become a teacher, and then completed a mindfulness-based cognitive therapy training in the United States. She is currently enrolled in an MBCT studies course at Oxford University’s Department of Psychiatry. 

MAKING IT HAPPEN

According to Furga-Dabrowska, the idea of conducting a mindfulness program at Dentons occurred to her in August 2018, and the NextMind program – which she developed specifically for a law firm environment, along with Chris Tamdjidi from the Kalapa Leadership Academy (which produces mindfulness programs for professional spaces) and the Oxford Mindfulness Center of the Psychiatry Department at the University of Oxford – kicked off two months later. 

The eight-week program attracted some 60 participants, divided into three groups: two in Dentons’ Warsaw office, and one of lawyers outside the Warsaw office whose classes were held by webinar. 

Furga-Dabrowska led all three groups every Friday, with Tamdjidi and fellow Kalapa Leadership Academy trainer Sophie Maclaren taking turns joining her.

The weekly two-hour sessions included education, practice, and open discussion. During these sessions, participants considered various topics, including theoretical neuro-scientific aspects of long-term stress, issues related to perfectionism, the social and business consequences of cognitive bias, and the risks related to multi-tasking, as well as imparting practical knowledge about ways to handle stress, relationships with clients, collaborate within the firm, empathy, and basic mindfulness tactics.

Still, although the leaders were able to guide participants in their development and help them find solutions, Furga-Dabrowska emphasizes that “it is all the participant’s own work and own mindfulness practice.” 

In addition, the program included a smartphone application and a knowledge platform with a particular focus on the legal profession, providing articles and videos on relevant subjects. Katherine Foran, Dentons Deputy Global Chief Legal Officer and Europe Director of Risk, one of the first at the firm to sign up for the classes, remembers that although she didn’t initially use the application (which comes with recommended exercises and daily reminders), she soon began to recognize its value. “Having this little alarm going on and pulling you back to focus on yourself is a great way to release pressure and refocus,” she says. Now, she adds, the application makes it possible for her to practice mindfulness anywhere and anytime. 

NOT ALL THAT FLUFFY 

Furga-Dabrowska is aware that some believe “mindfulness” is either a waste of time, or downright counter-productive, potentially making participants “softer,” but she rejects the accusations. “We are not losing an edge,” she says. “We are actually becoming even sharper and are able to find solutions quicker.” In addition, she says, “we also become kinder.” 

Foran is also dismissive of the suggestion that, as she characterizes it, mindfulness is something “warm and fluffy.” According to her, “I was interested in learning more about science and understanding the techniques of mindfulness.” Once introduced to the concept, she says, she discovered that mindfulness reflected a balance between science and logical thinking. Consequently, she says, “some of the newly-acquired techniques made me more focused and as a result more efficient.” 

Still, Furga-Dabrowska admits that those kinds of criticisms about mindfulness can make it difficult to promote the initiative – but she reports encountering an open-mindedness and dedication among those at Dentons who took the chance. “Participants were enthusiastic, and ready to look into their inner worlds to self-develop,” she smiles. “They showed trust to cover delicate and emotional issues.” As a result, she says, all participants, from junior lawyers up to partners, became comfortable speaking up.

Foran appreciated that opportunity. “Surrounded by a trusting environment,” she says, “people were willing to reveal a little bit more of their personal insecurities and talk about how they dealt with stressful situations. As a result, we all ended up learning not only from our trainers, but also from our own experiences, and helped each other to learn new techniques.”

Ultimately, Furga-Dabrowska is aware that “there were and will always be skeptical people in general, who are not ready or are not willing to change within themselves.” She’s not bothered by those who scorn the practice, however: “It just means that mindfulness is not for them.”

THE OUTCOME

To evaluate its usefulness, NextMind participants were asked to conduct a self-assessment of their well-being and stress levels both before and after the program. Participants reported an average reduction in stress of almost one third, Furga-Dabrowska says: A 75% improvement in social well-being, an 18% improvement in emotional well-being, and a 16% improvement in self-efficacy. 

Furga-Dabrowska says she was surprised and encouraged by the results. “I did not expect such an improvement,” she says. “We knew it would be better, but it was the end of the year – a particularly stressful period for lawyers – with time pressure and work load and much more, so we expected the results to be, perhaps, not quite so good.” 

And that’s not all. According to Furga-Dabrowska, as a result of the positive feedback, NextMind was made part of Dentons’ NextTalent global talent program that was launched in March 2019 during the firm’s global partner meeting in Cancun. NextTalent, which includes trainings on mindfulness, emotional intelligence, resilience, and cognitive bias, is designed to, in her words, “leverage insights from neuroscience, behavioral economics, and new technology that is powering the fourth industrial revolution.” As part of NextTalent, two global NextMind programs will be launched as webinars in September 2019: one for partners and one for global talent team members and other support professionals. In addition, she reports, in July 2019 Dentons will start training internal mindfulness teachers in Europe, including several participants of the pioneer program, who volunteered to become mindfulness ambassadors in their local offices and will be trained to become internal mindfulness trainers.

Of course, Furga-Dabrowska is aware that not all participants will continue employing the skills they learned in the NextMind program after its conclusion. “Everything is in people’s hands,” she says. “It depends on people, whether they will practice or not, but I am sure some skills will become part of participants’ second skin.”

And she believes that over time, mindfulness will become more popular in the legal environment. “We are simply pioneers in it,” she says, adding that many Australian and US law firms have already introduced mindfulness training for their lawyers, although “Europe is not so much open to it yet.” 

Katherine Foran, at least, is a convert. “We need to make use of all the tools that we have at our disposal that will help us,” she says. “Mindfulness seems to have potential as a useful and powerful tool.”

Ultimately, Furga-Dabrowska insists, mindfulness provides a great means to develop the emotional intelligence that she believes will reshape our future. “If you do not understand and do not listen to people, then you cannot develop close relationships. Our emotional intelligence will be crucial in the future.” She adds that in today’s legal market some firms are more traditional, while others are more comfortable trying new things. In her opinion, the choice is clear: “The future will belong to the firms which are more open.”

This Article was originally published in Issue 6.4 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, you can subscribe here.