Join Keita de Souza, General Counsel at Rise, as she reflects on navigating burnout, leading through a company wind-down, and how practices like yoga and self-care help her stay clear-headed under pressure. She shares her journey from Big Law to in-house leadership and how embracing calm, confidence, and integrity has shaped her legal career.

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Key Insights

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1. Global Compliance Is About Context, Not Control

At Deel, where teams span over 100 countries, Keita’s job isn’t to enforce uniform rules — it’s to interpret context. “The trick isn’t memorizing laws — it’s understanding how they interact,” he says. Legal teams must build adaptable frameworks, not rigid templates. For global in-house teams, that means designing policies that empower local teams while keeping the core consistent.
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2. Remote-First Legal Teams Require Radical Trust

Deel’s legal team is as distributed as its product footprint. Keita shares that success comes down to asynchronous clarity: “Documentation is our superpower.” Instead of micromanaging, he focuses on setting clear expectations and measurable outcomes. “When you can’t see people working, trust has to be baked into the process,” he says.
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3. Build for Scale, Not Perfection

In fast-growing SaaS, perfectionism can paralyze. Keita advocates for pragmatic legal design — solving 80% of problems efficiently instead of chasing 100% certainty. “The goal isn’t to eliminate risk,” he says. “It’s to manage it so the business can move.” His mantra: ‘Done responsibly’ beats ‘done perfectly’ every time.
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4. The In-House Role Is Evolving from Gatekeeper to Guide

Keita believes modern in-house counsel must think like product managers — designing scalable, intuitive processes. “You’re not just answering questions; you’re building systems that answer them for you.” At Deel, this philosophy drives self-service workflows, automated contract templates, and legal education initiatives that empower non-legal teams to act confidently.
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5. Cultural Fluency Is the New Legal Superpower

With colleagues across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, Keita stresses the importance of cultural intelligence. “Compliance failures often start with communication failures.” Understanding tone, hierarchy, and regional nuance helps avoid friction and builds credibility across time zones. His tip: “Lead with curiosity — assume positive intent before you assume misalignment.”
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6. The Future of Global Legal Work

Looking ahead, Keita predicts that AI and automation will enable smaller legal teams to manage larger global footprints. But he warns: “AI won’t fix ambiguity — humans still need to make the calls.” For him, the future of global lawyering lies in balance — blending machine efficiency with human empathy.
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7. Closing Insight

“The future of global legal teams isn’t about control — it’s about clarity and connection.”

Keita’s playbook for GCs is simple: empower your teams, design scalable systems, and lead with empathy. In a borderless world, those who communicate clearly will always stay compliant.

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