About

‘I have a passion for practising law but at the same time I see myself as an entrepreneur,’ says Rik Muilwijk. ‘Hence, being the general counsel of one of Asia’s most prominent investment firms is really the best of both worlds’. In his role at Navis Capital Partners, Muilwijk aims to combine legal, risk management and strategic advice simultaneously to offer a ‘holistic perspective’. In achieving this, he says, his background in both law and finance has been ‘invaluable’. Specialising in Asia buyouts, Navis manages funds worth $4bn collectively, and has one of the region’s largest private equity teams. Partner and investment committee member Muilwijk designed and implemented legal and compliance functions across all seven offices when he arrived with Navis in 2007. ‘The overriding goal was to ensure that the legal and compliance function could be seamlessly integrated into the firm’s investment processes and add value by managing the business risks,’ he explains, adding: ‘The benefit of building the legal and compliance function from scratch was that I could customize it to the firm’s needs.’ Like many in the industry, he admits the increased regulatory scrutiny has made his job more difficult. ‘This is generally a very good development, at least from my perspective,’ he says, ‘but requires a change in behaviour and conduct of the business people’. When it comes to outside counsel, Muilwijk has a firm preference for the ‘devil’s advocate’ approach. ‘Having the courage to disagree with your client and together create better solutions, to me, is a crucial attribute of a good legal practitioner’.