At the beginning of my career, I became a lawyer. A key reason for taking that
direction was that I have always believed that this profession along with the other
functions in legal systems plays a key role in the cohesion, balancing, and evolution
of societies. Even though I am today a CFO by heart, due to both my past and
present occupations, the nature of the legal function within corporations and beyond
is of high interest to me, especially because I see them changing. That is why I
count myself as part of the legal community as I share my thoughts here.
Yes, lawyers pursue the particular objectives of their clients, and yes, there are
many legal and professional boundary conditions—both for good reasons—but I
still believe there is quite some room for lawyers to actively shape how we serve our
clients and society at large. Much of that potential is still to be realized in particular
when it comes to the legal function in enterprises and organizations.
I therefore applaud how this book purports to lure legal professionals out of their
comfort zone. For me, the concept of liquid legal means dissolving the rigid
demarcation lines of what legal is and does. It is about bridging the gap between
on the one hand the legal, compliance, and risk management departments1 and on
the other hand all the adjacent functions in corporations, especially the customerfacing
ones.