Maria Passemard, John Lewis

In-house lawyers might not be thought of as the saviours of the high street, but decisions they make can be crucial in helping prepare retailers for impending economic problems.

So says John Lewis's head of legal operations Maria Passemard, who believes changes within legal departments are able to arm retailers in the fight against the kinds of challenges they have not seen for decades.

She points to ailing household names Mothercare and House of Fraser as examples of the recent turmoil in retail, which she describes as "carnage on the high street".

"In order to survive, we have to deal with things like our supply chain, and respond to consumers' different shopping habits," she says. "As a result, we're looking to reduce our property portfolio."

She explains that John Lewis's legal team is becoming more present within the institution's management structure and explains its focus is on "adding value rather than churning contract after contract".

"There's an element of being less of a lawyer, but more both a lawyer and business adviser. It's a delicate balance for any in-house lawyer to achieve. It's a long process, but John Lewis is getting there. We're already seeing changes, as we're being invited to meetings we weren't before."

Part of the team's changes have happened after it carried out a survey asking different parts of the business what they thought of the legal team, which garnered some "difficult feedback which we needed to hear".

"We needed to be more visible and less technical," she adds.

"We're doing everything we can to make sure we're as effective as we can be. We are also adapting the way in which we use our law firms, in terms of getting more bang for our buck."

Speaking ahead of her panel discussion place at Women, Influence & Power in Law's first U.K. event this week, Passemard says that at John Lewis, she is the only person doing legal operations but that all in-house teams should consider the way their operations are managed.

"It's important because in order for lawyers to be business savvy and focus on legal advice, you need somebody to really drive that transformation. GCs and lawyers are busy, so unless you have a legal operation team to make sure the team is effective and efficient, it won't happen."

In terms of next steps, Passemard says John Lewis is "definitely trying to bed down new ways of working", but adds they'll know more when they conduct a second survey. She admits that progress "will take time" as it's a culture change too.

Maria Passermard will be speaking at this year's Women, Influence & Power in Law UK conference, which will take place on November 19-21, 2019. Having built the event in the U.S. to a large size, the event is being brought across to London for female-only in-house and private practice lawyers to come together over a few days to discuss the biggest issues in today's legal market. For more information see here.