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

Beyond the core responsibilities of advising on legal and secretarial matters, managing litigation, drafting agreements, and ensuring compliance, the team has been engaged in tracking and adapting to a wave of evolving regulations. Whether it’s data protection, sustainability, or corporate governance, staying ahead of these changes has been critical. Additionally, assessing the impact of geopolitical developments and international trade policies on the enterprise has added another layer of complexity. The team has also been engaged in exploring various digital tools, improving processes and workflows to make the legal function more futuristic and efficient. Personally, I have been heavily engaged in managing JV related transactions, corporate and board governance, and anti-trust issues.  Also, improving the way we evaluate and manage risk internally and making the approach more harmonised and holistic has been an important priority for me this year.  

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

We live in an ambiguous world, and it is important for us to consistently do multiple scenarios building to identify possible legal risks and associated outcomes. This helps us be prepared for a situation which may arise and have contingency plans in place, be it a Plan B or even a Plan C. Constantly evaluating risks, both at an enterprise and functional level is imperative to ensure that mitigation strategies can be activated swiftly during a crisis. Staying attuned to evolving regulatory policies and geopolitical dynamics is also a strategic necessity for any organisation aiming to remain resilient and responsive.

What factors influence your team’s decision to use external legal services versus handling matters in-house, and what criteria are used to evaluate their performance?

I am a strong proponent of the in-house legal and secretarial teams doing most of the work and our default mode, therefore, is to manage most of the work internally, leveraging our deep understanding of the business, our strategic priorities, internal policies as well as governance and risk frameworks. We usually reach out for external advice for a niche regulatory matter where we may need specialist advise, a high-stake M&A transaction, or litigation. Quality of service, responsiveness and adhering to agreed timelines, pragmatic as well as legally sound advice, cost effectiveness, strong ethical practices as well as their diversity, equity and inclusion policies are some of the important parameters that we use for evaluating the performance of our external counsels.

Looking forward, what trends do you foresee in the legal landscape over the next 5–10 years that companies should prepare for?

The legal landscape is undergoing constant evolution, driven by societal shifts and technological advancements. There is a clear trend toward the future having more stringent compliance frameworks, regulatory changes as well as new laws and policies, particularly in areas like data privacy, artificial intelligence, digitisation, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, in-country sourcing, and international trade.  The expansion of the gig economy would also necessitate an adaptation in labour and employment laws and workplace practices to reflect the changing nature of work and non-traditional employment models. Constant risk assessments and partnering with business in building resilient, forward-looking mitigation strategies would be a critical need in coming years. The in-house legal counsel would therefore need to not just understand the laws, but also be actively engaged in risk management, strategic policy analysis and insights, as well as the cross-border complexities inherent in any transaction.