GC Spotlight: Jasmine Karimi on leading the legal and compliance team.

This month, we speak to the fabulous Jasmine Karimi. Jasmine leads the Legal and Compliance teams across Asia Pacific for FMC Corporation which is a NYSE listed agricultural science company.  

1. Hi Jasmine, tell us a little about your role and what excites you outside of work. 

I lead the Legal and Compliance teams across all Asia Pacific at FMC, which is one of the leading NYSE listed agricultural sciences companies that advances farming through innovative and sustainable crop protection technologies. Being in a highly regulated sector, the role requires navigating the diverse legal, compliance and regulatory regimes of the region, which are at varying levels of development. My role transcends legal advisory work to also being a business partner. I sit on the APAC Leadership Team and the Global Legal Leadership Team where strategic directions are mapped out collectively. In addition to legal and compliance work, the company enables me to bring my leadership to our various DEI initiatives. Outside of work, I’m passionate about giving back and in addition to serving as a mentor and advisor, I serve on the Boards of the American Chamber of Commerce and the ACC Singapore. There’s also a passion for running, the gym, reading, hosting friends at parties and travel (something I missed desperately during the pandemic). And of course, family time with my little one, who very adorably, keeps me on my toes!

2.  What do you think about the use of LegalTech, data analytics and process optimisation to improve your legal department's value (e.g. data relating to contracts, risk, tracking workflows, performance metrics, costs)? 

Data for the sake of data is pointless unless one can harness the benefits that metrics bring. With the incredible advances in technology, the legal profession must harness the benefits of LegalTech, data analytics and process optimization. I subscribe to the belief that what gets measured gets actioned and done. GC's should have access to metrics not just to demonstrate value but also to enable long range resource and risk mapping, which then informs the company’s strategic decisions and bottom line.

3.  What trends do you expect to see in the legal services industry in the next 5 years? 

Some trends I foresee are (I) greater prominence of the in-house legal profession as compared to private practice, (ii) more data driven decision making (even though lawyers may be slower to embrace LegalTech versus other industries), (iii) a slow shift in legal services delivery model from purely billable to value driven (iv) more CEO positions coming from the GC pipeline, (v) greater acceptance of the flexi working legal support segment and (vi) the rise of data privacy as part of every transaction, and an area that I encourage my team to be conversant in, to be fully able to bring negotiations to closure.

4.  Where do you see NewLaw/ ALSP fitting in the matrix of your legal department? 

An agile alternative solution is always a plus to have. Where providers can bring in a robust combination of technology and a client driven business offering versus the billable hours, the results will follow. We’ve relied on short term help via ALSP's in the past and are open to more in future, budget and needs dependent of course.

5. What change have you seen implemented in the workplace that fundamentally shifted your business and how? 

We’ve embraced more tech internally and spent a lot of time to embed the new way of working with our internal stakeholders. It’s still early days and we are looking forward to seeing greater efficiencies resulting from the shift, as well as freeing up the team to do more value-added work.

6.  Your favourite tune? And why?

Oh… not sure if I have one favourite – there are just too many. One that comes to mind is “Wind Beneath my Wings”. I laid both my parents to rest 11.5 months apart in 2021… and I know that I have been provided every opportunity to soar because of their unwavering support and belief in me. I also apply this song to reflect the support of my team… I can lead as APAC GC because they are the wind beneath my wings…