Austin So Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, StoneMor Partners StoneMor is the nation's second-largest deathcare provider, with 300 cemeteries and 100 funeral homes in 27 states and Puerto Rico. StoneMor went public in 2004, but it did not have any in-house attorneys for 12 years. When So joined StoneMor in July 2016, he immediately set aggressive goals for 2017, which turned out to be an extremely challenging year for the company. So's goals included building an in-house legal department from scratch; appropriately shifting work to the in-house legal department; reducing legal spend and claim payouts; taking on oversight of underperforming and problematic departments; and developing a plan to achieve full compliance with the various laws and regulations in the deathcare industry. So achieved every one of these goals in 2017, overcoming what he describes as “10 years' worth of crises in a single year” within the company. By mid-2017, So had in place an eight-person legal department that covered every aspect of the company's legal needs and ultimately achieved a drastic reduction in StoneMor's legal spend for the year. What do you view as your most important function as general counsel at your company? What was your proudest professional achievement in 2017? What was your biggest professional challenge in 2017? What's the one piece of advice you would give someone when dealing with a crisis? What is the most effective time management tool or technique your team uses?