Event information
The role of general counsel and senior in-house legal advisors is constantly evolving to meet the rapidly changing demands of organisations in today’s business world. In addition to overseeing the day-to-day legal challenges affecting the business and managing legal staff, in-house lawyers are expected to diversify their service offering in order to overcome a growing list of commercial challenges. Whether it is managing internal investigations, defending their company in cross-border disputes, handling complex data or adapting to the shifting trends in M&A, the required skillset of the profession is developing at an exponential rate.
Building on our many successful recent events in The Lion City, The Legal 500’s GC Summit Singapore invites the most esteemed in-house counsel from the country’s most prolific companies to discuss their changing roles as in-house leaders and the challenges, issues and opportunities they are set to face in 2023 and beyond. Between comprehensive panel discussions, presentations and the opportunity to meet and engage with fellow in-house counsel, GC Summit Singapore promises to be a practical, forward-looking event bringing together the region’s top legal minds.
Agenda
8.15am–8.50am Arrival & Registration
8.50am–9.00am Welcome & Opening Remarks
- Joe Boswell, global editor, The Powerlist Series, The Legal 500
- Lily Tsen, general counsel, Asia Pacific, Amcor Flexibles
9.00am–9.50am Creating an ESG roadmap: reporting and disclosure obligations to minimise regulatory risk; and opportunities in 2023 and beyond
- Dr Joseph Chun, partner, Shook Lin & Bok LLP (Moderator)
- Dalvin Kaur, regional head of legal, Maybank Investment Banking Group
- Marika Stocker, associate director, Sustainable Finance Solutions
- Wan Kwong Weng, group chief corporate officer, Mapletree
- Jaclyn Yeo, senior vice president (chief sustainability office), DBS Bank
9.50am–10.40am Managing International Disputes
In this session, attendees will hear from an esteemed line up of speakers, covering themes ranging from the options for resolving international disputes, issues of forum and jurisdiction, interim reliefs, common challenges and practical tips in the management of international disputes. This panel will provide valuable insights on how companies can prepare to face and mitigate the risks in potential cross-border disputes.
- Professor Yip Man, professor of law; associate dean (faculty matters & research), Yong Pung How School of Law, SMU (Moderator)
- Una Khng, director, Helmsman LLC Singapore
- Delphine Ho, independent arbitrator and mediator, The Arbitration Chambers
- Natasha Sulaiman, vice president, legal and compliance, Singapore Airlines
- Shawn Chen, general counsel, Southeast Asia, Deloitte
10.40am–10.55am Coffee Break
10.55am–11.45am Placing the focus on Corporate Governance
- Nandakumar (Kumar) Ponniya, partner, Baker McKenzie
- Yoshiaki Muto, partner, Baker McKenzie
- Piyush Gupta, senior corporate counsel, Singapore Airlines
- Jasreen Singh, group general counsel & board secretary, dwp
- Eileen Wong, managing director and head of legal, Singapore Branch Crédit Agricole CIB
- Jacelyn Chan, senior director, legal (APAC), foodpanda
11.45am–12.35pm Managing Partners in Discussion: Practical perspectives from regional Managing Partners across Southeast Asia
- Audray Souche, regional managing partner, DFDL
- Mark Fraser, managing partner, Frasers Law Company
- Kudun Sukhumananda, founding partner, Kudun and Partners
- Shirin Tang, managing partner, Singapore, Morrison Foerster
- Joe Boswell, global editor, The Powerlist Series, The Legal 500 (moderator)
12.35pm–1.15pm Networking lunch
Speakers
Nandakumar (Kumar) Ponniya, partner, Baker McKenzie
Nandakumar (Kumar) Ponniya heads the Dispute Resolution Practice of Baker & McKenzie in the Asia-Pacific.
He is widely acclaimed in international arbitration and cross-border litigation, with particular expertise in the areas of construction, technology, energy and financial services. His practice includes dealing with disputes arising from corporate and commercial matters, and managing multi-jurisdictional restructuring and insolvency. With over 25 years’ experience, Kumar has handled disputes and matters across various industry sectors and jurisdictions, serving clients in Asia and beyond.
Kumar is recognised for his expertise in Construction by Chambers Asia Pacific, and also listed as a leading international arbitration lawyer in the Legal 500 Asia Pacific, as well as named a Litigation Star in the Benchmark Litigation Asia Pacific. Chambers Asia Pacific – quotes “the ‘well respected’ Nandakumar Ponniya for having led commercial and investment arbitrations and notes that he “stands out for his quickness and perspicacity”. He has also been described by clients as being “intellectually sharp and street smart” (Legal 500) and “extremely technically proficient and commercially savvy” (Chambers Global). He has also been listed in the Guide to the World’s Leading Experts in Commercial Arbitration.
Una Khng, director, Helmsman LLC Singapore
Lily Tsen, general counsel, Asia Pacific, Amcor Flexibles
Joe Boswell, global editor - The Powerlist Series, The Legal 500
Joe Boswell has been a part of The Legal 500’s editorial team, specialising on the in-house legal community, for more than seven years. He now heads The Powerlist team, acting as chief editor for the over 40 separate editions of the GC Powerlist series which serve as The Legal 500’s flagship title celebrating the world’s top in-house counsel, as well as Global Editor for The Legal 500’s Private Practice Powerlist Series.
During the course of researching for the GC Powerlist series, Boswell has interviewed a vast number of world-renowned general counsel, chief legal officers, and legal directors about overcoming the challenges they face, their legal innovations, and how they see the general counsel role progressing in coming years. As well as this, he is a regular speaker at Legal 500 summits, roundtables, award ceremonies and other events, and often writes in-depth reports on business and legal issues.
Boswell is an alumnus of both the University of Sussex in The United Kingdom and the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in The Netherlands.
Yoshiaki Muto, partner, Baker McKenzie
Yoshiaki Muto has more than 30 years’ experience handling matters related to international disputes and corporate compliance, especially cross-border matters. He is currently head of the Dispute Resolution Group at the Firm’s Tokyo office and a member of the Firm’s Asia Pacific Dispute Resolution Group Regional Steering Committee. Yoshiaki is also chair of the International Legal Service Promotion Centre, vice chair of the International Relations and Strategy Council, and a member of the Registered Foreign Lawyers & International Legal Practice Committee and the SME Outbound Legal Support Working Group of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.
He regularly advises clients on crisis and risk management, corporate transactions and general corporate and commercial matters in high-risk areas. Yoshiaki has particular expertise and represents a number of clients in the information technology and commerce businesses, the health care, medical device and pharmaceutical industries and the defense sector.
He is a recommended dispute resolution practitioner in Japan by PLC Which Lawyer and Global Counsel 3000, and has been recognized as a leading individual in the dispute resolution and crisis management categories by Asia Pacific Legal 500 and Chambers Asia Pacific.
Natasha Sulaiman, vice president, legal and compliance, Singapore Airlines
Natasha leads a team of highly motivated lawyers who advise on a wide array of legal and regulatory compliance issues at Singapore Airlines. Before joining Singapore Airlines, she practised as a disputes lawyer at Drew & Napier and Morgan Lewis Stamford. She is listed in The Legal 500’s GC Powerlist: Southeast Asia 2022, and was a top 3 finalist in the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association’s Chief Legal Officer Awards 2022. Natasha holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the National University of Singapore.
Professor Yip Man, professor of law; associate dean (faculty matters & research), Yong Pung How School of Law, SMU
Yip Man is a Professor of Law in Singapore Management University, Yong Pung How School of Law. She is presently the Associate Dean (Faculty Matters & Research) and prior to taking this role, she was the Academic Director of the SMU Centre for Commercial Law in Asia. Her principal research interests are in private law, private international law and dispute resolution.
Her work has been cited by the Singapore Court of Appeal, the Singapore High Court, and the High Court of England and Wales, as well as in international treatises and speeches of judicial figures. She is a member of the Singapore Team in the Joint Experts (China-Singapore) appointed by Ministry of Law to study the feasibility of co-developing a dispute resolution mechanism. Her latest publication includes a co-authored monograph on Singapore Private International Law: Commercial Issues and Practice (Oxford University Press, 2023).
Delphine Ho, independent arbitrator and mediator, The Arbitration Chambers
Ms Delphine Ho is a full-time independent arbitrator and mediator, with 20 years of experience as counsel, in the Singapore courts, and in an arbitral institution. She has been appointed in arbitrations as president, co-arbitrator and sole arbitrator, and has experience with both ad hoc and institutional arbitrations.
Delphine’s disputes expertise spans various sectors and industries, including construction and infrastructure, shareholder and JV, energy, commodities, transportation and technology.
Immediately prior to joining The Arbitration Chambers, Delphine was the Registrar of the Singapore International Centre and had oversight of the administration of thousands of arbitration cases filed with the SIAC and conducted under the SIAC Arbitration Rules, UNCITRAL Rules and other institutional rules.
Outside of her practice, Delphine teaches international arbitration at various levels, including developing advanced level arbitrator training programmes with the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators.
Audray Souche, regional managing partner, DFDL
Dr Joseph Chun, partner, Shook Lin & Bok LLP
Dalvin Kaur, regional head of legal, Maybank Investment Banking Group
A member of the bank’s global leadership and strategy team and global financial & risk leadership team, Dalvin Kaur is the Head, Legal – Global Banking, Group Corporate & Legal Services and the Regional Head of Legal Maybank Investment Bank Group. She joined Maybank in 2013 as Regional Head Legal, MIBG, and has more than 24 years of experience in the legal industry, first qualifying in Albar & Partners, Malaysia. She then spent 14 years in London, in global law firms in Allen & Overy and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, primarily in Structured Finance, subsequently in-house investment banking advisory with Credit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, London, Director, Legal in Structured Credit Markets, Securitisation, Distressed Assets and Islamic Derivatives.
Upon her return to Asia, Kaur has successfully transformed the in-house legal function from a traditional in-house legal function to a team of business counsel, demonstrating value add and providing strategic, solution driven legal advice, across investment banking product areas including litigation.
Marika Stocker, associate director, Sustainable Financial Solutions, Sustainalytics
Marika is an Associate Director for Sustainable Finance Solutions at Sustainalytics. She is primarily responsible for covering ASEAN companies on ESG Risk Ratings, Sustainable Finance Transactions, ESG Supply Chain and Impact Reporting.
Marika has 10 years of working experience in investment banking, consulting, and intergovernmental organisations. Before joining Sustainalytics, she worked at the UN Global Compact in Singapore advocating the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for corporate sustainability. In 2020 she has co-authored a report on how to close the SDG financing gap in ASEAN.
Previously, Marika’s career has been spent as a DCM Bonds Originator in Vienna, Frankfurt and London at different European banks where she managed client portfolios in APAC, North America and Europe.
Marika holds a Double Degree for a Master of Science from INSEEC Paris and a Master of Arts in Economics (with Distinction). Most recently she undertook the Advanced Certificate in Sustainability and Sustainable Business at the Singapore Management University (SMU).
Wan Kwong Weng, group chief corporate officer, Mapletree
Mr Wan is responsible for all of legal, compliance, corporate secretarial, human resource as well as corporate communications and administration matters across all business units and countries. He is also the Joint Company Secretary of Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd and the four Mapletree REIT Managers.
Prior to joining Mapletree as General Counsel in 2009, Mr Wan was Group General Counsel – Asia at Infineon Technologies for seven years, where he was a key member of its Asia-Pacific management team. He started his career as a litigation lawyer with one of the oldest law firms in Singapore, Wee Swee Teow & Co., and was subsequently with the Corporate & Commercial/Private Equity practice group of Baker & McKenzie in Singapore and Sydney.
Mr Wan is called to the Singapore Bar, where he was awarded the Justice FA Chua Memorial Prize, and is also on the Rolls of Solicitors (England & Wales). He was conferred the Public Service Medal (PBM) in 2012 and Public Service Star (BBM) in 2017.
Mr Wan is also appointed as a Member of the Valuation Review Board since 2019. In addition, he is a Secretary/Member of the SMU Advisory Board for the Real Estate Programme.
Jaclyn Yeo, senior vice president (chief sustainability office), DBS Bank
Jaclyn Yeo is a sustainability practitioner at DBS Bank, with a background in engineering, science, and research. Jaclyn started her career as an Environmental Engineer, before pivoting to a Risk Researcher at the Centre for Risk Studies within the Cambridge Judge Business School in the United Kingdom. Upon returning to Singapore, she joined Marsh & McLennan and supported the setting up of the Asia Pacific Risk Centre, an inaugural risk research institute in Asia Pacific that provided insights and analyses to government leaders and corporate executives. She is now a senior member of the bank’s Chief Sustainability Office, leading and supporting sustainability opportunities and sustainability-related disclosure efforts across the group. Jaclyn holds a Masters of Science (MSc) in Environmental Engineering from the National University of Singapore and a Masters of Philosophy (MPhil) in Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge, the United Kingdom.
Piyush Gupta, senior corporate counsel, Singapore Airlines
Piyush is an experienced corporate lawyer with more than two decades of experience, both as an in-house counsel as well as a private practitioner. Piyush has advised clients on the full range of matters covering aviation, corporate finance, corporate regulatory, competition and FCPA/anti-bribery matters in senior advisory capacities across Asia.
Mark Fraser, managing partner, Frasers Law Company
Mark has been advising clients on transactions in Vietnam since 1994. In 2004, he founded Frasers Law Company, the first law firm to obtain a foreign law company licence in Vietnam.In the 20+ years that Mark has been based in Vietnam, Mark’s practice has focused on corporate matters, especially mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance, restructuring and insolvency, commercial real estate transactions, and infrastructure projects. This involves debt and equity structuring of investment projects and the preparation and negotiation of documents. Mark has been involved in numerous power generation, water treatment, road tollway, telecommunications, and oil and gas projects in various jurisdictions within Asia and has advised on a plethora of Vietnamese matters in the banking and finance, corporate and commercial, infrastructure, capital markets, property development and dispute resolution areas.
Mark’s international legal expertise and in-depth knowledge of Vietnam, as much from a legal perspective as commercially, are well renowned, and he is ranked as a top tier lawyer practising in Vietnam by publications such as The Legal 500 Asia Pacific.
Shawn Chen, general counsel, Southeast Asia, Deloitte
Shawn Chen is a partner in the Reputation and Risk Group, Deloitte Southeast Asia (SEA), which has oversight over risk matters impacting the Deloitte brand.He is the General Counsel for SEA and leads a team of lawyers in Deloitte SEA’s Office of the General Counsel (SEA OGC) to supervise and manage legal risk matters across SEA; SEA OGC plans and executes initiatives in the areas of disputes, crisis management and investigations, governance, corporate affairs and regulatory compliance, contracting and inorganic growth.In Deloitte Asia-Pacific, Shawn is the Inorganic Growth Capability Leader and oversees proprietary mergers and acquisitions for the Asia-Pacific firm.Prior to joining Deloitte, Shawn worked in private equity and was a capital markets partner in a top-tier Singapore practice, advising on capital markets transactions and corporate regulatory compliance.He is an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore (2000) and is on the Roll of Solicitors, England and Wales (2004). His first degree was a Bachelor of Laws, National University of Singapore (1999), and he holds a Master of Professional Accounting from the School of Accounting, Singapore Management University (2019).
Kudun Sukhumananda, founding partner, Kudun and Partners
Kudun Sukhumananda is the founding partner of Kudun and Partners, established in 2015. With a wealth of experience gained throughout his career and a vision to develop a paradigm-shifting approach to legal offerings, the firm was incepted in 2015 to provide business solutions rather than just conventional legal services. Kudun is active in capital markets and securities including IPOs, debt securities offerings, stock exchange listings as well as mergers & acquisitions (including the acquisition and disposal of equity interest in public listed companies), banking & finance, projects and energy for both domestic and cross-border transactions. Kudun regularly lectures on partnership and company law, bankruptcy and insolvency law, and investment law at local universities in Thailand. His expertise has been recognized through numerous accolades, including consecutive recognition as one of Thailand’s Top 100 lawyers by Asian Business Law Journal, highly regarded practitioner for DCM, ECM and Corporate M&A by IFLR1000 and Commended External Counsel of the Year by In-house Community Counsel. Kudun graduated with a Bachelor of Law from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, and a Master of Law from Columbia University School of Law in the USA.
Jasreen Singh, group general counsel & board secretary, dwp
Eileen Wong, managing director and head of legal, Singapore Branch Crédit Agricole CIB
Shirin Tang, managing partner, Singapore, Morrison Foerster
Shirin Tang is the Managing Partner of Morrison Foerster Singapore. She has over 20 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions and private equity transactions across Asia and the U.S., including the formation of capital raising platforms, joint ventures and club deals, portfolio restructuring and exits.
Shirin is ranked as “The Elite” for Corporate/M&A by Chambers Asia-Pacific, a Leading Individual for Corporate/M&A in Singapore by Chambers Global, The Legal 500 and Best Lawyers, a Notable Practitioner for Private Equity/M&A by the IFLR 1000 and a Global Leader and a National Leader (Southeast Asia) in M&A by Who’s Who Legal. Best Lawyers recently named Shirin their 2024 Lawyer of the Year (Singapore) for Mergers & Acquisitions.
In addition to her practice, she also sits on the firm’s Executive Committee, Women’s Strategy Committee, and Mental Health Steering Committee, through which she makes a significant contribution to developing the firm’s overall business and strategy, as well as its market-leading diversity and well-being initiatives
Jacelyn Chan, senior director, legal (APAC), foodpanda
In association with...
Shook Lin & Bok is a leading Singapore law firm with a unique appreciation of the complex legal and regulatory challenges faced by enterprises in Singapore and the rest of Asia. A hallmark of our success is the depth and breadth of our cross-border experience and relationships.
Our partners, associates and foreign lawyers have diverse legal education and language capabilities, having qualified in many jurisdictions, including Singapore, the United Kingdom, India and the People’s Republic of China.
We have established ourselves as the law firm of choice for inbound and outbound investments within Asia, with a particularly strong and successful focus on China and India.
Helmsman LLC (“Helmsman”) is a leading multi-disciplinary law firm servicing clients and partners in Asia, Greater China and further afield. Helmsman started as a dedicated shipping and commodities specialist practice and has grown to include practices such as commercial disputes, employment, and corporate, banking and finance.
The firm routinely acts for clients in varied and high value commercial transactions and disputes across the world from their offices in Singapore and Hong Kong. The breadth of experience and deep expertise of their lawyers makes them the counsel of choice for the biggest corporations and industry stakeholders across the world.
Helmsman LLC are well known for their user-friendly approach, and penchant for ‘plain practical advice’. Helmsman LLC is more than a law firm with only award – winning lawyers who represents in court, arbitration or mediation. The firm believes that knowing the letter of the law is one. But being able to apply the law in a way that gets the results is another, more valuable skill in its entirety.
Baker McKenzie delivers integrated solutions to complex challenges.
Complex business challenges require an integrated response across different markets, sectors and areas of law. Baker McKenzie’s client solutions provide seamless advice, underpinned by deep practice and sector expertise as well as first-rate local market knowledge. Across more than 70 offices globally, Baker McKenzie works alongside our clients to deliver solutions for a connected world.
DFDL established a permanent presence in Bangkok in November 2005 to better service its growing client base in Thailand, especially related to Thai-based financial institutions and businesses investing in the region. Since then, DFDL has expanded and established distinct real estate, banking and finance, corporate and commercial, energy, mining and infrastructure, tax, labor law, commercial litigation and arbitration practice groups. The firm is consistently ranked as a “Leading Law Firm” in The Legal 500’s annual Asia Pacific research, alongside its other regional offices.
Frasers Law Company (Frasers) is the premier independent commercial law firm in Vietnam. Through an integrated team of international and local lawyers, we deliver top-notch legal advice on Vietnamese law matters to an international standard. We are the trusted advisor of choice by leading international and Vietnamese companies in relation to their business and investments in Vietnam and have consistently been recognised as being in the top tier of law firms in Vietnam by leading independent guides to law firms such as The Legal 500.
Frasers is the first law firm to receive a foreign law company licence in Vietnam, and we continue to uphold our position as a progressive leader in Vietnam’s rapidly developing legal arena. We are a diverse and multilingual law firm, and through the collective skills and experience of our team, we are able to cater to each of our client’s specific legal needs, whether they relate to Vietnamese and/or international law issues. The firm is culturally diverse and benefits from the integrated and cutting-edge expertise of its team of local and expatriate lawyers. Frasers understands the legal, commercial, political and regulatory issues that affect businesses in Vietnam, and aims to provide comprehensive legal services to assist clients navigate these complex issues and achieve outstanding business outcomes.
As businesses today face a constantly evolving environment, a paradigm-shifting approach to legal advice is required. Founded in 2015, Kudun and Partners is a modern and award-winning full-service law firm led by some of South East Asia’s most accomplished lawyers from a desire to provide more commercially minded and creative legal advice to our clients. Since inception, we have attracted many lawyers from various large international firms and representing various entities on transactions in Thailand and throughout Southeast Asia.
Clients value our responsiveness and distinctly commercial attitude, as well as our passion for developing forward-thinking, innovative strategies and solutions that respond to their unique business needs. In only six years since our inception, we have been awarded the highly coveted Thailand Law Firm of the Year by The Legal 500 Southeast Asia Awards 2020/2021, a reflection of the firm’s commitment to deliver work that exceeds expectations and raise industry standards.
Our distinguished team of 17 partners and over 50 associates provides exceptional and unparalleled services in a wide range of practice areas, including capital markets, corporate and M&A, dispute resolution, foreign direct investment, projects and energy, real estate, restructuring and insolvency, data privacy and protection, TMT and tax. Members of our team are not only bilingual, but also fluent in languages such as Chinese, Korean, and Bahasa Malaysia. Kudun and Partners is the exclusive member representing Thailand in the World Services Group, one of the most prominent and largest networks of independent law firms in the world.
With approximately 1,000 lawyers in 18 offices, Morrison Foerster (MoFo) is a preeminent global law firm dedicated to delivering business-oriented results to clients across the United States, Asia and Europe. Dynamic technology and life science companies, large financial institutions, private funds, private equity and venture capital firms, leading consumer product companies and other market leaders come to MoFo for knowledge, innovation and business aptitude. MoFo handles some of the world’s largest cross-border transactions and resolves major disputes across multiple jurisdictions. The firm has a long-standing commitment to diversity, pro bono work and social justice.