Event Report

Thursday 24th November saw The Legal 500’s managing director David Goulthorpe, head of sales for Asia Ben Lovell and GC Powerlist editor-in-chief Joe Boswell appear at Le Méridien Kuala Lumpur to oversee the GC Summit Malaysia 2022, a project which has been many months in the making and surpassed all expectations. As well as being highly educational and practical for the more than 140 general counsel and other senior in-house lawyers who attended, we benefited from the high energy that our speakers provided throughout their sessions and the glorious weather and backdrop that the event took place in.

Our keynote speaker set the tone for proceedings. As always, we look to get a particularly well-regarded and dynamic speaker to fulfil this role, and this occasion was no exception. Ina Anzalna Shamsuddin of Malaysia Airlines spoke to several topics, among these how great it was to see old colleagues and friends from the Malaysian in-house legal community since our previous event.

Our first panel discussion, pre-emptive strikes in dispute resolution, was sponsored by Mohanadass Partnership and helmed by its authoritative but measured managing partner Mohanadass Kanagasabai. It was a panel with energy in abundance, which will be no surprise to anyone who has met the panellists before: Shalinee Fernandez of Ansell, Navrita Kaur of Microlink, Michael Yap of Tommy Thomas and Jonathan Gerard of Ken St. James.

Our next session, with Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership, saw the charismatic tax maestro S. Saravana Kumar take the stage alongside fellow Rosli Dahlan partner Ooi Bee Hong and in-house lawyers Faith Wong of Kuala Lumpur Kepong and Ida Suryati Ab. Rahim of IHH Healthcare. In his own effervescent style, Kumar led a conversation which had the audience thoroughly engaged and with truly practical insights into tax concerns provided by all contributors.

The Trowers & Hamlins panel, up next, covered sustainable finance, a topic of huge interest which was expertly served by a fantastic panel with diverse professional backgrounds: from the private practice world, moderator and international managing partner Abdulhaq Mohammed; from the in-house legal community, David Chiam Joy Yeow of QSR Brands (M) Holdings and Dalvin Kaur of Maybank; and from the corporate business sphere, Michele Kythe Lim of the Institute of Corporate Directors Malaysia

Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill’s panel, titled ‘Managing Data in a Data Driven Era’ included highly lauded contributions from LHA&G’s Chng Keng Lung and Teo Wai Sum, Su Puay Leng of Maxis Berhad Group and the always engaging Jeff Ong of Tricor Malaysia. Of Su Puay Leng’s comments on this panel, one attendee said: ‘I was particularly impressed by the sharing from Puay Leng Su, which was very applicable and easy-to-follow – something, I’m sure lawyers from all tiers and industries appreciated!’.

Our final session was moderated by The Legal 500’s Joe Boswell, and provided an opportunity for Donovan Cheah and Shawn Ho from Donovan & Ho to display their wide-ranging expertise in employment matters that has seen them shake up the Malaysian employment law scene.

It was a huge pleasure to have been able to assist our event partners in assembling such an impressive lineup of general counsel, and humbling to hear all the kind words from the GCs in attendance.

Shalinee Fernandez said of the GC Summit Malaysia:

‘It was hands down the best conference I’ve attended as an in-house counsel in Malaysia. And to be part of a great panel discussion on Pre-Emptive Strikes in Dispute Resolution with my co panelists was fantastic. Thank you to Ben Lovell, Joseph Boswell, David Goulthorpe and the entire The Legal 500 team. Looking forward to more of such events in the near future’.

We look forward to making this happen! Thank you to everyone in attendance, and to our event partners Mohanadass Partnership, Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership, Trowers & Hamlins, Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill and Donovan & Ho for making this such a wonderful event to be a part of.

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