Team size: 10

What are the most significant cases, projects, or transactions that you and your legal team have recently been involved in?

As the company transitions from the construction phase to the operational phase of its flagship project, the legal department’s key achievements over the past year can be summarised in three main areas: dispute resolution, project finance, and compliance.

The first major area of focus has been dispute resolution. The legal team has played a central role in determining the most effective strategy for issuing Final Acceptance Certificates across the fourteen packages of the project. This has involved developing detailed claims strategies for management and the board, advising on performance bond reductions, preparing witnesses, and reviewing expert reports in relation to ongoing arbitration matters. In parallel, the team has led negotiations with multiple utility providers to secure amicable settlements and renegotiate existing agreements strategically. These efforts have delivered significant cost savings for the company while avoiding lengthy arbitration proceedings, demonstrating the value of proactive and pragmatic legal intervention.

The second key area has been project finance, particularly as the longstop date for Project Completion approaches. The legal department has provided critical support to the Finance and HSSE teams in fulfilling the company’s obligations under the Creditors’ Reliability Tests and ensuring compliance with biodiversity offset provisions required by the Project Finance Documentation and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standard 6. Additionally, following the introduction of Malaysia’s National Sustainability Reporting Framework on 24 September 2024, the company—classified as a large non-listed entity—must issue a sustainability report aligned with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) S1 and S2 by 2027. The legal department has committed to contributing to the drafting of this report and will oversee the sections relating to corporate governance, reinforcing its role as a strategic enabler of transparency and sustainability.

Finally, the third area of achievement lies in compliance management. The past year marked the first full implementation of the department’s compliance module within the electronic Governance, Risk, and Compliance (eGRC) system. This initiative has enabled the creation of a comprehensive legal register encompassing all relevant legislation, regulations, licenses, and permits. Centralising the compliance function under the legal department has presented challenges (particularly in ensuring that each departmental focal point consistently submits updates on non-compliance incidents and legislative changes) but it has also delivered substantial progress.

The system now allows for the uniform application of policies and procedures across the organisation, reducing the risk of inconsistencies and improving overall compliance maturity. Following one year of successful implementation, the legal department is now prepared to issue monthly compliance reports to management. These reports will detail observed non-compliances, corrective actions required, responsible departments and individuals, and timelines for resolution. This structured reporting process strengthens accountability, enhances transparency, and provides senior leadership with a clearer view of the company’s compliance performance and governance standards.

Through these three pillars, the legal department has demonstrated its pivotal role in ensuring operational stability, financial integrity, and regulatory excellence as the company enters a new phase of growth.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

To ensure the resilience of the organisation especially within periods of instability like the ones we are currently in, I believe it is essential to strengthen the governance and compliance, and it starts with ensuring the Directors and C-suite executives being regularly briefed on their fiduciary duties and legal implications of crisis scenarios. Internal policies must be updated to reflect current risks and regulatory expectations. Attention shall be given as well to the contractual resilience and force majeure and termination clauses shall be reviewed, scrutinised, and sometimes renegotiated to provide the company with flexibility and protection. Key suppliers and partners in particular shall be identified and the agreements entered into with them shall be analysed to assess the risk exposure and their enforceability under stress. Finally, anticipating disputes and getting ready for potential litigation or arbitration by reinforcing the contract management and in particular the collection of what will constitute later evidence essential to substantiate our claim is vital. This could not be done without an agile, business-oriented, and resilient legal team, which more than ever must be embedded in crisis management teams and business continuity planning.

General counsel often speak of the need to be strategic to reach the pinnacle of the profession. What does being strategic mean to you?

Being strategic for the legal function means moving from gatekeeper to navigator. Legal shall position itself as a partner that helps the business navigate uncertainties. It shall not only understand the business but also the strategy of the company to tailor the advice it provides. The legal function shall reinvent itself and become a risk function, which embedded into enterprise risk management framework, will contribute to risk identification, assessment, and mitigation. The role played by the General Counsel and her/his team to contribute to the risk reduction is often underestimated whereas we are playing a leading role by not only mapping legal risks across jurisdictions, business units and functions but also avoiding litigation costs, monitoring legislations and regulatory changes and implementing measures to ensure compliance. Legal Technologies to that extent, constitute a powerful tool, allowing us to put in place early warning systems to anticipate such legal and compliance threats. Such transformation of the legal function can occur only if it is strategic. The General Counsel must transform the legal function into a strategic risk function to elevate her/his role from reactive compliance to proactive value creation.

What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?

In today’s dynamic corporate environment, the role of in-house has evolved and the most effective legal leaders now operate at the intersection of law, technology, and business strategy. As such three attributes stand out as essential.

Beyond understanding how AI tools impact legal risk like data protection, algorithmic bias and intellectual property implications, in-house counsels must critically assess outputs generating by AI not just accept them. The ability to ask the right questions, challenge the AI generated information and spot nuance is more vital than ever.

In-house counsels are expected to provide advice commercially sound, not just technically correct. The best counsels understand the business model, revenue drivers and risk appetite of their organization. They make sure there is a strong cross-functional collaboration to co-create solutions not just review them. This requires both fluency in business language and a proactive posture. The times where in-house counsels’ contribution was limited to mitigate risks are over: they are expected to help unlock opportunities whether via structuring deals or navigating regulatory changes.

In a world of shifting regulations and real-time crises, counsels must pivot quickly without sacrificing judgment. Laws evolve, technologies disrupt, and industries transform. Staying ahead and cultivating a growth mindset are essential to remain agile. Because at the end, the ability to remain clear-headed and decisive in ambiguity will always be the defining trait that makes a good General Counsel a strategic anchor in the storm.