Erin Abrams can remember a time when her employer, Via Transportation Inc., was excited to hit 500 rides in a day. Now, the New York-based transit-on-demand service has provided more than 30 million rides around the world. The service is similar to those of Uber Technologies Inc. or Lyft Inc., but puts more of a focus on commuters and shared rides.

Abrams has been general counsel for the startup for nearly four years. Her day-to-day experience leading a department of three lawyers and one paralegal at Via is much different than it was during the close to two years she spent working in-house as senior vice president and senior compliance officer in the control group of Citibank.

Reporter Stephanie Forshee recently caught up with Abrams to discuss what's driving growth at the company and how the legal department is keeping up.

Corporate Counsel: How does startup life compare to working in the corporate banking world?

Erin Abrams: I liked my job before, but at Citi, I didn't feel as passionately about the product as I do here. Here, I'm really on a mission.

CC: What's the best part of your job?

EA: I love the diversity of my day. I could start out the morning negotiating a major commercial partnership, then have a meeting with outside counsel, followed by an afternoon preparing for a meeting with our regulators. Now that Via is a global company, I've had the opportunity to delve into comparative legal issues around the world, from advertising laws in the Netherlands to public transit regulations in Singapore. I love that my job allows me to continue to learn new areas of the law.

One of the things that's really unique for me is that I feel like I am a lawyer-plus. I am not just viewed as legal, but I have a seat at the executive table.

CC: Has that always been the case for you at Via?

EA: For me, it's been that way since the beginning because I was brought on so early when it was a much smaller table.

CC: What has it been like to develop Via's legal department and will it grow much more?

EA: One thing that's interesting is that our legal team is made up of all women. It's something that just sort of happened, but Via in general has a lot of women. I think that is very unique, especially in the tech industry. And, yes, we are in a high-growth phase. We are especially keen to find a head of legal for our European joint venture with Daimler, ViaVan, through which we've recently expanded to Amsterdam and London.