Maria Dardai, Compliance Officer at MSC Cruises, looks at the upcoming Directive on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law.

Everyone has gone through, or more likely, still is going through particularly difficult times. That includes us, in-house lawyers, who have a perhaps more intimate relationship with their employers than others do. Thankfully, according to the more professional part of the Internet, quite a few of us managed to become better versions of ourselves.

Elena Gabdulkhaeva, Legal & Corporate Policy Director at Uniper Russia, reflects on the potential risks of combining the legal function with those of compliance and regulatory affairs.

Adriana Minovic, Group Head of Data Privacy and DPO at the Betsson Group, talks about the tension between the demands of different regulatory bodies from a use-of-data perspective.

Przemyslaw Witas, General Counsel at CEDC International, is directly involved in keeping a production line running during the COVID-19 Crisis.

Mark Erdelyi, Legal Director of Telenor Hungary, reports on the wide range of hurdles he and his team have had to overcome since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Proper vetting of business partners from a trade sanctions perspective is critical for companies selling to or procuring goods or services from Turkey, Russia, and China, according to Catalin Olarescu, Group Head of Sanctions at LafargeHolcim. He describes his approach to ensuring trade sanctions compliance.

Going beyond a purely legal role has been necessary for in-house lawyers for many years – but Stanimir Vlahov, Associate Counsel Bulgaria at Mondelez International, explains why the current COVID-19 outbreak has made this need even more pressing.

Peter Ban, Head of Legal and Compliance at E.ON Hungary, reflects on the value for GCs of immersing themselves in their company’s business.

The General Counsel role has been significantly transformed during the last decade – from being a mere business advisor and business partner to becoming part of the business. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that there is still significant space for change in the years ahead.