In a recent discussion, Simon Levene, Senior Director & Deputy General Counsel at SitusAMC, highlighted the crucial role of the European legal team in driving the company’s global strategy. He emphasised the value of a global approach, where team members from different regions collaborate, ensuring alignment and transparency across business lines. This strategy, according to Simon, enhances operational efficiency and fosters a broader range of experiences for the team.
Simon also discussed the challenges of navigating diverse regulatory landscapes across Europe, India, and APAC. He stressed the importance of understanding both current and future regulations, such as the Indian DPDP Act, and how close collaboration with compliance teams ensures effective risk management. Simon also shared insights on fostering innovation within the legal department, mentioning the recent implementation of a legal front door within ADO, which has improved management information and streamlined legal operations.
Charlotte Johnstone: How important is the European legal team in executing the SitusAMC European Legal strategy, and the company’s broader objectives?
Simon Levene: Great question. SitusAMC places great emphasis on developing and promoting its staff and in legal we are proud to work as a ‘global legal team’. We have members in the UK, Germany, India and across the US. A strategy is nothing without the people within it. Being able to flex in and out people from a wider global team as work requires is important. It also means people get access to a broader range of work. Everyone in the team is different and understanding what experiences people want from their work and careers is important.
Our strategy works by cascading down goals and projects, and this enables our accountability and transparency. The strategy is split across business lines and globally to ensure the wider global legal stream is streamlined and working to the same objectives. Regular catch ups with direct reports ensure any issues or concerns are addressed as required.
Charlotte Johnstone: How do you find navigating the diverse regulatory landscapes, as well as cultural differences, between your responsibilities across Europe, India and the APAC region?
Simon Levene: It is an important job and one of the key risks the business faces. The team immerses themselves in the business to understand what each business line is doing in each jurisdiction.
Often, new regulations only partly touch the business and the key is being able to digest this and advise commercially. It involves working closely with the business and the SitusAMC Compliance Team. It can be split into two parts;
1- Understanding the current regulatory landscape and how it impacts us and our clients and what we need to do to ensure we are compliant. A good example is ESG and understanding each client approaches it differently. It is great seeing SitusAMC place ESG at the heart of business strategy.
2- Understanding future regulations coming down the road. An example is the Indian DPDP Act.
We monitor the above in a variety of ways: law firm alerts, journal subscriptions, privacy-focused subscriptions and alerts, attending seminars etc. If you cover the above, you can put yourself in a great position to protect the business.
Charlotte Johnstone: With experience across both private practice and in-house, how has your transition from private practice informed your approach to providing innovative legal counsel within SitusAMC?
Simon Levene: I have been at SitusAMC for almost 6 years now. Prior to joining SitusAMC I had done two secondments. These were helpful but moving from private practice was a steep learning curve. No two in-house roles are the same. Every organisation is different. Different objectives, concerns, pinch points etc. My biggest advice for anyone moving is to (subject to any immediate issues which need addressing), to try and take 3 to 6 months to immerse yourself in the business, speak to people of all levels, and truly understand concerns and issues before trying to implement any major strategy changes etc.
Charlotte Johnstone: Drawing from your background across real estate, financial services, private equity and technology, how would you advise others to go about fostering a culture of innovation within the legal department? Are there specific examples of innovative approaches or technologies you’ve implemented within your current role?
Simon Levene: Collaborate and build and foster relationships.
Collaborate – collaboration within the legal department, across the organisation, clients, with your peers in private practice and industry.
Build relationships – one of the best pieces of advice I was told as a junior lawyer is to foster relationships and grow with them. You never know where they will lead. Your network and reputation are so important.
At SitusAMC we have recently implemented a legal front door within ADO, and this has improved Management Information for both the C suite and also for discussions with business leaders. You get a clear understanding of what people are working on business wise and also where potential issues could be.
AI seems to be a ‘buzz’ word currently on the legal circuit. We are watching this with interest. By doing little bits of housekeeping now, you can prepare for the advances that are going to come. MS environment, making sure all documents are readable, having them in an organised structure etc.
On technology, there are a lot of tools out there and you need to cut through the sales talk and work out what the key points are for your legal department as every business and department have different pinch points. As a PE owned business, we need to have information on business lines easily and readily available in case of sales or questions and being able to have AI or tools to assist this is game changing and will reduce a lot of work for the junior members of the team.
Simon Levene will be speaking in London at LegalTechTalk on 26-27th June 2025.
Read full LegalTech Diaries Volume 5: https://www.legaltech-talk.com/legaltechdiaries/volume-5/
