Legal Director o t c e r i D l a g e L | Kingsignal
Guo Min
Legal Director o t c e r i D l a g e L | Kingsignal
Team size Five
What are the most significant cases, projects and/or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?
Over the past year, our team has played a crucial role in the following aspects. First, we successfully handled several cases related to non-compete agreements and misappropriation of company assets, effectively safeguarding our company’s legitimate interests. Second, we successfully recovered tens of millions of RMB in outstanding payments through legal means, which significantly contributed to securing our company’s cash flow. Third, we conducted in-depth research on the foreign investment policies of several countries, providing substantial support for the company’s “going global” strategy.
How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?
We address issues from the following perspectives: First, we maintain our team’s sensitivity to policy and international developments, continuously updating our professional expertise while referencing and learning from successful cases and experiences. Second, we prioritise proactive risk prevention by promptly identifying potential risks arising from international dynamics and geopolitical changes, and providing actionable recommendations. Third, we emphasise the effectiveness of our solutions, focusing on problem-solving rather than merely highlighting risks or presenting negative feedback. In other words, we complement problem identification with concrete solutions.
Based on your experiences in the past year, are there any trends in the legal or business world that you are keeping an eye on that you think other in-house lawyers should be mindful of?
Two trends demand our close attention. First is the increasing fragmentation of the regulatory landscape, particularly in digital and tech. Navigating differing regimes in China, the EU, the US, and elsewhere requires a move from rigid, one-size-fits-all compliance to agile, principles-based frameworks capable of adapting to multiple jurisdictions.
Second are the legal and ethical questions surrounding AI integration. Beyond the efficiency gains, in-house counsel must proactively engage with product and tech teams to establish ethical guidelines, accountability frameworks, and contractual safeguards for AI development and use to mitigate future liability and reputational risk.
AI has been taken seriously as a potentially revolutionary technological change in the legal world for a number of years now. Has it had a meaningful impact in how your legal team works in this time?
Absolutely. AI’s impact is tangible in two key areas. First, in “Intelligent Contract Management.” We deployed an AI-powered platform that automates the extraction and analysis of key clauses from our vast contract repository. This has slashed the time required for M&A due diligence and compliance audits from weeks to days.
Second, it augments our legal research capabilities. AI tools help us conduct preliminary case law and regulatory research, freeing up senior lawyers to focus on high-value strategic analysis and counseling. We maintain a “human-in-the-loop” model, however, where all AI outputs are rigorously reviewed by a qualified lawyer to ensure accuracy and nuance.