Claudia Toussaint, Group General Counsel of Xylem.

CLAUDIA TOUSSAINT IS SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GENERAL COUN-sel and corporate secretary at Xylem Inc., based in Rye Brook, New York.

Toussaint graduated from UCLA and from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She also studied law for two years in Germany. She started her career at Morrison & Foerster, then worked at Sprint and eventually became a general counsel at a spin-off. She was also the general counsel at Barnes Group, and in 2014 became Xylem's general counsel.

Xylem is a global water technology company, providing products and services that move, treat, analyze and return water to the environment. Customers are utilities and companies that require water technology for industrial, commercial or residential applications.

LEGAL TEAM: The company's legal and compliance team has about 50 professionals. About half are attorneys. There are specialists in intellectual property and mergers and acquisitions. "All of our attorneys in the businesses are generalists, with a very strong focus on enabling and supporting the sales teams," Toussaint said. Beyond legal and compliance, Toussaint also oversees environmental health and safety, security and business continuity planning functions. She is also the executive sponsor for sustainability, and is executive sponsor for performance management, and an inclusion and diversity initiative.

"Most of our commercial, business and technology-related legal work is handled by our internal team because it benefits most from really knowing our businesses," Toussaint said.

OUTSIDE COUNSEL: The legal department uses outside counsel in areas where it does not have expertise or because of the location, Toussaint said. Outside counsel is also used for active litigation and often for internal investigations, as well as mergers and acquisitions, and global IP procurement.

"We use a broad range of firms, depending on the type and potential impact," she added. "Some of our law firms are general service providers and others are more focused niche players, particularly on the IP side."

TYPICAL DAY: "There really is not a typical day for me, but on most days, I spend time attending to board and strategic matters," Toussaint said. "I also participate in at least a couple of business meetings. … Some days, I am fully booked in business meetings. I also engage on a commercial matter or two in support of a team member somewhere around the globe. Also, something unexpected happens most days, whether a regulatory inquiry, a dispute, or a people concern."

PERSONAL: "I have an incredibly supportive and creative husband and a great, independently minded 19-year-old son who attends college," she said.

LAST BOOK READ: "The Culture Map" by Erin Meyer and "The Broken Ladder" by Keith Payne.

"Being a German native, I also typically read one book in German—I am currently reading 'Warte nicht auf bessere Zeiten,' Wolf Bierman's autobiography. He is a German singer/songwriter and a former dissident from East Germany," she said.

WHAT KEEPS HER UP AT NIGHT: "The water sector has historically been slow to change and reluctant to adapt to new technologies. The speed of change is definitely picking up dramatically," Toussaint said. "So, naturally, I worry about us not moving fast enough as a company and there being a disruptor around the corner, particularly on the digital side, that is able to scale faster and be more agile in its customer interactions." There are tensions, too, as lawyers "are expected to understand an ever-greater volume of laws and regulations and to advise on a significantly more diverse set of risks and stakeholder considerations," she said. "At the same time, we are seeing cost containment pressures. This tension is becoming increasingly hard to manage and invariably impacts morale and a sense of appropriate work-life balance for members in the function. I believe this tension can only be resolved in a sustainable manner with technology solutions and more diverse skills, which are neither obvious nor easy to implement, particularly in a smaller legal function. Today, in-house lawyers are expected to be great lawyers, but equally importantly great collaborators, change anticipators and culture-builders."