In the IHL seat
We are pleased to introduce Josh Dolan, Legal Counsel at Giacom for our IHL x Pannone guest interview. Giacom is a UK based IT and communications. It offers a comprehensive range of cloud, IT, comms and software services and is the leading digital platform for technology resellers. Having started his career with Pannone Corporate, we enjoyed catching up with Josh on everything since his move in-house. We asked Josh to start by telling us about his role and team at Giacom.
Josh Dolan
Legal Counsel, Giacom
Josh: I am the most junior in a five-strong team. We have our General Counsel, Head of Legal, two Senior Counsel roles and then me. It really means that you’re on the frontline and often fire-fighting. I deal with the legal inbox which covers the four main trading towers of mobile, connectivity, cloud and billing. The role involves anything from contract amendments and negotiations to disputes and employment. I also get involved in some co-sec work and customer services queries.
I had it drummed into me from my Pannone days that you need to be commercial in your advice to clients. It really is true. Anything more than 3 paragraphs isn’t going to be read by the CEO. So it is really important in my role that you take the detail and distil it into something really practical and succinct. You have to adapt to the business’s style
We asked Josh to talk us through his journey to becoming Legal Counsel at Giacom and how this differs to the time he has spent in private practice.
Josh: I started off my legal career training with a firm in Clitheroe which had a transport specialism. I qualified into quite a varied role with that firm. My practice there included commercial litigation, employment as well as competition matters. I really enjoyed that more generalist approach and I think that planted the seed of my enthusiasm for eventually landing an in-house role.
I did, however, spend more time in private practice, moving to Pannone for almost two years in the commercial litigation team.
I found that I missed some of the more generalist commercial queries and so I ultimately moved in-house to Giacom. With every move I have added to my personal growth, experience and development. I would like to think that I ‘stumbled with style’ into being an in-house lawyer and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.
I’m due to start at a new chapter with the in-house function of a global defence firm, something I’m very excited about and ultimately an opportunity I wouldn’t have found available had I not taken the steps to explore in-house roles.
We warned Josh that whilst we know it is impossible to sum up a typical day in the life of an in-house lawyer; we were going to ask him anyway…
Josh: As cliché as it sounds, no day is the same, certainly not in my role. I am responsible for our legal inbox, which manages both internal and external queries, and so that keeps us very busy! It is a job in itself to assess the urgency of the queries and how they are best addressed.
I also deal directly with senior stakeholders and inevitably urgent work will crop up which derails any to-do-list. You can never plan because something will always happen. It is what I love about the job though.
As a hot topic and given that Giacom is a technology and communications business, we asked Josh whether AI has a role to play in the legal team yet.
Josh: We don’t use AI significantly at the moment. We have for some years had access to corporate co-pilot and the legal team is currently testing a case management system with built in AI to review contracts and streamline processes. We are mindful, however, not to rely too heavily on AI. The human review and that commercial frame of reference will always be important, but we are looking at how AI can help us to better manage time, and enable us to focus on strategic work.
We went on to ask what Josh thinks are the biggest challenges are to face in-house lawyers currently, and whether AI plays a role in that. Josh agreed and certainly that industry wise, it is the changes in technology and AI, and the resulting regulation changes that inevitable follow.
Josh: It is also the use of AI by our partners. We are seeing more and more that AI is being used by partners in contract negotiations and that wider commercial points are overlooked or become sticking points. AI won’t always pick up on the fact that a clause is non-negotiable because a supplier requires a flow down provision or the clause implements a regulatory requirement. That can be very difficult and when you think about AI negotiating against AI, where does that end up? It is far quicker to just pick up the phone but that is disappearing with over reliance on AI. AI conversations can be much more artificial than the intelligent.
With a varied career between private practice and in-house, we asked Josh to tell us about an achievement or challenge that stands out to him.
Josh: The transition from private practice to in-house, the style and pace has been a welcome challenge and I suppose it has been an achievement to make that move. The pace is incredible in-house and the questions are often urgent. I have just really enjoyed that transition of learning how to communicate in-house and how you want your external lawyers to communicate with you, so that you can distribute that message to your stakeholders. I have to give credit to my previous employers that have all helped to guide and shape the steps I have taken in my career.
We always love to understand what makes our IHL seat interviewees tick, outside of work, and we asked Josh what else he would be doing if he hadn’t followed the same career path.
Josh: I am currently in the middle of a renovation project on my house which is in need of some serious TLC. I have taught myself to do a lot of the work, including plastering, and have been thoroughly enjoying it, so I think I would choose to be in a trade purely so we could move the renovation project along a little faster. Having recently cut through an internal water pipe and having to deal with the fall out of that, perhaps I should look to being a plumber, I’ll know the how to fix it – not that I plan to go cutting through anymore pipes, one was enough!
As is customary for our in the IHL seat interviewees, we asked for Josh to provide us with a “ring walk” song to sign off his interview…
Josh: I have a 6-week old daughter so right now, given my lack of sleep I think it would be only apt to have Insomnia by Faithless as my ring walk song!
Since interviewing Josh he has moved onto a new opportunity, and we wish him all the very best in this new role!
In the IHL seat
We are pleased to introduce Josh Dolan, Legal Counsel at Giacom for our IHL x Pannone guest interview. Giacom is a UK based IT and communications. It offers a comprehensive range of cloud, IT, comms and software services and is the leading digital platform for technology resellers.
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