After several years in senior private practice roles in Brussels with Hogan Lovells and Gleiss Lutz, Thomas found his true purpose in an in-house position at the EMEA HQ of American manufacturer, Georgia-Pacific.
Over the next decade, Thomas’ career in corporate legal leadership would take him to Nike, Kimberley-Clark, The Kraft Heinz Company and Richemont across cities including Hilversum, London and Geneva.
Now settled in Switzerland Thomas, helps organisations scale their in-house legal functions, lectures on legal and leadership topics and teaches EU law at the Swiss School for International Relations.
Thomas recently authored Legal Leadership, A Practical Guide for Corporate Counsel (Globe Law and Business, 2026).
Is being a successful legal leader different from being a great lawyer?
No. I think leadership comes with the territory rather than being distinct from a responsible role. I spent two years in the military before studying law. There, your primary duty as an officer is to lead. It’s not enough to be the best navigator or rifleman. You must take care of - and responsibility for - people, resources and the mission.
In my first in-house legal role I headed a team of seven people. I saw leadership as my core responsibility alongside advising the business. One moment from my military experience illustrates the difference between inspiring a team and leading the team.
My commanding officer tasked me and my platoon with unloading ammunition off a lorry. This was a regular exercise, so I told my paratroopers that I wanted us to break the battalion's eight-minute time record. We all got on the lorry and started working at pace with me leading from the front. Then, I felt a tap on my shoulder and heard my commanding officer say, “Thomas, come to the bunker.” He told me we did a great job unloading the lorry, but when it came to leadership structure and putting the ammunition away in an orderly fashion, it was a mess.
He said, “I love your spirit, but to lead, you need to sit back and see the full picture.” My lesson from that was that you need wider vision and a proper plan. Don’t move at full speed in the wrong direction. Take a step back and lead rather than just drive and inspire.
What key mistakes do new legal leaders make?
I think there are three. The first mistake is to carry on as before and resist delegating. This way you become a bottleneck as more things come across your desk. It also leads to you losing oversight of what the team is doing.
The second mistake emerges when new leaders micromanage team members. This takes away decision-making authority from colleagues and puts pressure back on you to manage legal’s workload single-handedly. It causes frustration among the team and loss of agility across the department.
Thirdly, it’s a mistake to assume that what won you promotion gave you the skills to lead. As lawyers, we hate making decisions based on incomplete or contradicting information. We like to think things through, analyse and then formulate a considered response.
Leadership, however, requires decisiveness and the ability to form an opinion quickly. Until leaders make decisions, everything is on hold.
With all this in mind, I advise legal leaders not to paralyse themselves through fear of getting it wrong. As Matthew Syed argues in his book, Black Box Thinking, safety records in the aviation industry have evolved in no small part due to the information gleaned from black boxes. They provide the vital data for continuous learning and development. In sectors where black box technology is not present, advances in safety have progressed more slowly. Black Box Thinking teaches us that any business management failure can inform improvement in leadership.
How can in-house lawyers position themselves as strategic business partners?
Lawyers can contribute to strategy in two ways: growing the business and protecting the business.
We support growth by finding solutions to business problems, capturing opportunities as they arise, turning innovations and creations into assets and conquering new territories with performance contracts.
Protecting the business is about taking care of the organisation, its people and its brands. This means calling out non-compliance and excessive risk.
The way to achieve this is to build trust with the business, get a seat at the table and then advise the business by giving affirmative direction. We can support the whole business agenda with the toolkits we have.
How did the writing of Legal Leadership evolve?
I began by writing pieces about values, teamwork and strategy. From there it gained momentum with enough content to become a book about my journey in legal leadership.
I started to give it structure and build the wider work around my observations, my best practices and my mistakes and failures.
The writing process also led me to explore and research themes such as AI – how it works, why it hallucinates and what the safety concerns are. I then started using leadership techniques to address the potential challenges of AI.
What one idea would you like readers of Legal Leadership to adopt tomorrow?
The idea that leadership is both a responsibility and a journey. By responsibility I mean that a leadership mindset starts with a conscious decision and that you need to develop your individual style.
By journey, I mean that you won’t begin as the perfect leader. At times you may fail, but that’s okay if you learn from failures. Growing as a leader is your responsibility and you must be resilient on your journey.
What one piece of advice do you wish someone had given you earlier in your career?
Don’t underestimate the negative effects of internal and external politics in workplaces. As a leader, set the tone and say, "We are one team. We don't want politics. If there's something to discuss, let's put it on the table.”
How do you relax away from work?
I love to be outdoors. Here in Switzerland, we have the lake for the summer and the mountains for the winter. I like hiking, running and cycling. I try to stay fit and love spending time with family and friends.
Thomas's book, Legal Leadership - A Practical Guide for In-house Lawyers is available through Globe Law and Business.