Team size: Nine

Ralph Leung is Global Legal Director of the Aedas Group, one of the world’s leading architecture practices. Since joining Aedas in 2011 and assuming leadership of the global legal function in 2024, he has redefined the role of legal within the organisation —transforming it from a traditional support service into a commercially focused, strategically embedded function that directly contributes to value creation, risk management, and business performance.

Over the past 18 months, Ralph has driven a fundamental shift in how legal operates across the Group’s international footprint. His approach is characterised by early-stage engagement, systems thinking, and close alignment with finance and operational teams —ensuring that legal insight informs decision-making at the point where it matters most. This has strengthened governance, enhanced operational discipline, and materially improved the Group’s ability to manage risk at scale.

A defining achievement under his leadership is the design and execution of Aedas’ group-wide ESG programme, launched in mid-2025. Recognising ESG as a critical driver of long-term enterprise value, Ralph led the development of a comprehensive implementation framework that integrates ESG principles into governance structures, reporting processes, and daily operations—demonstrating clear alignment between legal oversight and sustainable business strategy.

Ralph’s impact is equally evident in his direct contribution to financial performance. By institutionalising legal involvement in project finance reviews and accounts receivable management, he has established a structured mechanism for early intervention —enabling the recovery of significant outstanding fees while preserving key client relationships. His pragmatic, commercially attuned dispute resolution strategies have further ensured that complex disputes are resolved efficiently, with minimal external cost and maximum alignment with the Group’s interests.

In parallel, Ralph has played a central role in guiding the Group’s adoption of in-house AI technologies. By embedding legal and compliance considerations — particularly in relation to data governance, intellectual property, and regulatory requirements — at the earliest stages, he has enabled responsible innovation while safeguarding the organisation against emerging risks.

Ralph’s effectiveness is underpinned by a distinctive cross-disciplinary background. With formal training in engineering and advanced academic qualifications in arbitration and dispute resolution, construction law, business administration, and accounting, he brings a rare combination of technical, commercial, and governance expertise to his role. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, he is regularly appointed as an arbitrator, adjudicator, and mediator by international institutions and serves as a dispute resolution advisor to public bodies in Hong Kong. He is active in academia and professional training and is a published author on negotiation and conflict management.

Ralph exemplifies the modern in-house legal leader: commercially astute, strategically influential, and integral to shaping resilient, future-ready organisations.

In an increasingly complex global environment, how are you helping your organisation navigate risk while still supporting growth?

Aedas has benefited from the integration of regional economies, which facilitates cross-border project opportunities contributing to over 50% of Aedas’ revenue in the past year. These opportunities have exposed Aedas to currency volatility, jurisdictional uncertainty, limited policy accessibility, and challenges in third-party funding, especially in developing economies. A robust corporate governance framework is key to growing a business amid an ever-evolving global environment, while cross-departmental collaboration is essential for ongoing business risk management.

Aedas corporate governance framework mandates legal scrutiny for medium and high-value projects. As Aedas’ de facto General Counsel, I lead the identification, mitigation, and continuous assessment of emerging risks across the full project lifecycle. New markets are assessed through local legal due diligence. Contract terms and payment structures are tailored by the Aedas Legal Team, taking into account jurisdictional uncertainties and currency risks. Cross-departmental collaboration is most effective when project risk profiles are regularly evaluated. I embed the Legal Team into routine collaboration with Finance and project teams through regular project health checks. This ensures early detection of jurisdictional, funding, and commercial risks.

How has the role of General Counsel evolved in recent years, and where do you see GCs creating the most value today?

The role of general counsel has evolved from a technical legal adviser to a strategic business leader who shapes organisational resilience and long-term value. Today, GCs must not only manage legal risk but also drive sustainable growth, embed governance discipline, and influence enterprise-wide decision-making.

At Aedas, I have led this transformation by repositioning the in-house legal function from a reactive cost centre to a proactive, value-generating partner. In a global, project-driven business where profitability is vulnerable to fee leakage, disputed variations, and disproportionate liability, I re-engineered our legal operating model to embed legal strategy throughout the project lifecycle. This includes institutionalising real-time collaboration with Finance and project teams to systematically track, assess, and recover outstanding fees — a commercial function rarely owned by traditional legal teams.

Beyond commercial protection, today’s GC must also champion organisational sustainability. Over the past year, I led the integration of ESG principles into operational protocols across multiple business units, establishing a clear roadmap and actionable standards. This work strengthens Aedas’ long‑term resilience and aligns the business with evolving stakeholder expectations.

In today’s environment, GCs create the most value by being architects of governance, catalysts for sustainable growth, and strategic partners who shape — not just safeguard —the business.

How has AI changed the legal function recently (including in the past year), and how are you approaching it within your team?

AI has rapidly elevated the legal function from manual support to a tech-enabled, insight-driven partner. I lead AI adoption in my team through a forward-looking, responsible framework. We consolidate institutional knowledge to craft high-quality training prompts and fine-tune Aedas’ in-house AI tools to reflect our policies, risk protocols, and business model, improving the accuracy and reliability of AI‑generated outputs. Most importantly, I led the development of the Group’s AI governance framework — embedding confidentiality, data security, regulatory compliance, and ethical safeguards — ensuring Aedas can innovate confidently, responsibly, and at scale.