Tone of Trust to be Set at the Top to Lead the Change Says Anubhav Kapoor, Director of Legal Affairs - Ford (India)

Many Congratulations on featuring in BW Legal World’s General Counsel 100 list for the year 2020. We’d love to know about your journey so far, most memorable experiences, and your thoughts on receiving this Award. 

At the outset, I am grateful to the BW team for making me part of the BW legal world’s General Counsel list for the year 2020. I feel very happy being part of the elite list and thankful to all who have supported me to be here. I feel humbled thinking of all the sacrifices my family, my friends and colleagues have made that contributed in every step of the journey leading to the present recognition. I will eternally remain grateful to all my seniors and mentors who took the time and guided me throughout without which I would have been long lost in the myriad of real-world choices and complexities. This recognition on one hand makes me cherish what has been accomplished but also remind me of failures along the way and serve as a reminder of goals ahead.

Industry recognitions are important and provide an increased sense of belongingness to the legal & lawyer fraternity that we are part of. It’s an opportunity to listen to and get inspired by all our professional seniors and colleagues and learn from their experiences. Thanks to the BW team for providing the forum to do so.

What do you attribute your success to? What would you say has helped you emerge as a top General Counsel in your industry?

Open mind, positive attitude, inquisitiveness and hard work.

It’s been more than 28 years I have been in this profession and there has never been a dull day. I have only learnt new things with each passing day that has left me more experienced and enriched. Right from the start I was more attracted towards the business side of things and that probably explains my choice to be an in-house corporate lawyer. I was fortunate that I had the opportunity to work with many large corporates across many industries like manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, banking and food. This experience gave me a very wide exposure and an opportunity to understand different facets of law, for example how the same laws play out differently in different industries and how companies in different industries use them or not use them to grow and navigate through the complex business environment. It provided me with a very deep experience of understanding business policies, practices and processes and implement them.

What advice would you have for others who want to set off in a similar direction?

Stay inquisitive and stay positive.

It’s important that as a general counsel to rise to and master the challenge of balancing business and legal concerns. I feel GCs could play an even larger role to help the business grow. GCs should be familiar with the business challenges and ready to contribute to the company’s operations outside of the law department. Perhaps most important, I believe that GCs cannot make impartial, purely legalistic decisions from the sidelines. They must exercise judgment on risk and opportunity from the front, harmonizing legal insight with business acumen to help guide their company through the big decisions. It has always been my endeavour to try to be a business partner that can translate business strategy into a workable framework within our regulatory environment. Therefore, my advice would be to always try to use one’s legal expertise to add commercial value to the decision-making process rather than stifling it.

There is no dearth of opportunity and growth. However, one needs to approach it with an open mind and explore new areas. I think to be a successful GC one requires passion and strategic thinking. Positive attitude, execution excellence and leadership qualities give the confidence to the companies that GC will continue to be truthful to their mission and serve as professional partners to fuel their growth and lead them to success.

What is your in-house team size, and would you please allow us a little peek into your routine at work?

I like many other General Counsels am not just handling legal matters such as contracts, regulation and litigation but a key success factor is also balancing the concerns of both the business and of the law. Working for some of the best global companies I am constantly exposed to complex transactions like M&A, technology transfers & licensing, strategic cross border alliances, joint ventures to name a few. Handling such transactions over a period of time has made me deal with cross-cultural and integration issues and has helped me develop as a global manager. It has exposed me to different facets of law and practice in foreign countries. Indian economy is growing fast and there are significant challenges as well. Issues of regulatory complexity, delays, combined with frequent policy changes and corruption raise concern about getting business done. I continue to support and navigate through the complex business environment and play a strategic role by leading from the front for the companies that I have worked for.

As a GC I try my best to play a very important role to be the builder of the corporate culture. We as GC’s are in a unique position to set a tone of trust at the top and lead the change in mindset by communicating to various stakeholders including the Board, senior management employees, regulators, investors. I try to use my office to constructively help build an ethical culture and sets a high level of corporate conduct and governance. That makes me as a part of the senior management of the company both a protector and enabler of the company’s value. This balance is the fulcrum of my role as a GC today in the emerging economy and challenging business environment.

In what ways has your business sector/industry been impacted by the pandemic and the subsequent second wave? How long would it take for the industry to revive?

COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruption for businesses everywhere. Ours was no different and was affected by the pandemic and consequent government directives. As the sheer scale of COVID-19 unfolded we faced unprecedented challenges on every front—employees, customers, capital, insurance, supply chains, state and local government orders, reassessment of mission-critical demands and contracts—to name a few but the management team quickly came together and formed focused task forces to effectively handle the challenges as they developed. It goes without saying that the health and safety of our employees, associates and of the communities that we operate in continued to be our foremost concern. The company also went overboard to support its suppliers and contractors both financially and economically to help them sail through the tough times as a true partner.

What have been your key learnings as the legal gatekeepers of your company from the year past and what are your predictions for the future?

The pandemic crisis brought in challenges that were unique in many ways for the in-house counsels and pressure tested them in more than one way. The legal teams played a very crucial role in managing the legal compliances, undertaking contractual risk assessment & developing mitigation plans, tracking government lockdown notifications, and more; so as to enable more predictable business operations and in some companies, even enabling alternate strategic business opportunities. GC has been at the centre stage of this crisis as they were expected to handle all sorts of crisis scenarios with flexibility while also planning for the future. The uniqueness of this challenge was such that it was not only about interpreting the law correctly or about knowing your business but involved some of the ethical and moral dilemmas including the commitment of the corporates towards the communities in which they operated. I am pleased to say that our in-house legal team played a very important role during those discussions and came out with flying colours with many corporate leaders in our company acknowledging our contributions during the challenging pandemic period.

Any significant legislation or decision of the top court that has been a welcome change or has been rather mistimed in your opinion.

India is embracing a very fast-changing legislative regime. The new Consumer Protection Act has just come in; I think we will soon be embracing the new labour codes; we are hoping the privacy bills will be brought in soon. India could also be the first country in the world to bring in legislation in terms of personal and non-personal information as well. The emission norms, electrification in the automotive sector and products related compliances are moving at a very fast pace. However, one supreme court case that I feel was a landmark decision in recent times is where a Nine Judge Bench of the Supreme Court delivered a unanimous verdict in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy vs. Union of India and other connected matters, affirming that the Constitution of India guarantees to each individual a fundamental right to privacy. Supreme Court of India held unanimously that the right to privacy was a constitutionally protected right in India, as well as being incidental to other freedoms guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. This judgement has paved way for many legislative changes in recent times and will influence laws in India in times to come.