Hong Kong 2025
Supported by the Association of Corporate Counsel
Senior Vice President, General Counsel Asia Pacific | Colgate-Palmolive
Global Head of Legal & General Counsel Asia Pacific | Allianz Global Investors
Chief Compliance Officer, General Manager & Head of Legal & Compliance Department | Shanghai Pudong Development Bank
Executive Director Legal and Compliance, General Counsel | The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Regional General Counsel, Asia & Middle East | G4S
Chief Compliance Officer and Head of Legal and Compliance | China International Capital Corporation
Chief legal and compliance officer and strategic investment director | China Wantian Holdings
General Counsel, Board Secretary, Chief Compliance Officer | COSCO SHIPPING Ports
Group General Counsel and Group Chief Sustainability Officer | Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX)
Global Tax and Legal Services Director, Risk & Quality | PwC
General Counsel and Company Secretary | Melco International Development Limited
Director-General Counsel and Company Secretary | Hang Lung Properties
Senior Deputy Group General Counsel | China Resources Holdings
Asia Pacific and Greater China general counsel | Ernst & Young
Managing counsel, Asia Pacific | McKinsey & Company
Legal and company secretarial manager | Henderson Land Development
HEAD OF LEGAL AND COMPANY SECRETARY | The Hong Kong and China Gas Company
General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer | IEIT SYSTEMS Co., Ltd
Group general counsel, head of compliance | CK Hutchison Holdings
Vice President and Group General Counsel - APAC | Allegis Group
Head of Legal for Great Eagle Company Group | Great Eagle
Executive director and general counsel, APAC and EMEA | Lenovo
Rembert commenced his legal career with leading law firms in New Zealand and Australia, before arriving in Hong Kong in 1997 and working as a solicitor with Hong Kong law...
Senior Managing Director & General Counsel Asia Pacific | The Blackstone Group
Head of Global Markets Legal Asia Pacific | Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank
Principal Legal Advisor - Mainland China & International Business | MTR Corporation
On behalf of The Legal 500, I am delighted to introduce the GC Powerlist: Hong Kong 2025.
This edition celebrates general counsel and in-house legal teams who are shaping Hong Kong’s fast-moving legal and business landscape. Through our research, we discussed with professionals who are not only advising on legal matters but also making strategic decisions for the business.
Today’s general counsel are stepping well beyond traditional roles. In Hong Kong, they play a vital part in business planning, managing complex regulations, supporting digital transformation, and guiding organisations with their commercial awareness. The GC Powerlist: Hong Kong 2025 recognises those who combine legal expertise and leadership.
Winnie Ma, Director, General Counsel, and Company Secretary at Hang Lung Properties, shares her perspective:
‘As in-house advisors, we have a unique perspective when our own business is in crisis and can provide insights which even expert external counsel may not have.’
Her perspective reflects a broader shift across the region. As Lily Chan, Group General Counsel at Daniel Wellington, explains:
‘Due to the rapid changes in geopolitics, economic landscape and business operation environment, it is inevitable that we have to deal with unforeseen crises and instability on a regular basis. As the Group General Counsel, it is of paramount importance to play a leadership role in building and maintaining a robust compliance programme and risk management strategies.’
We are proud to present the GC Powerlist: Hong Kong 2025, a celebration of legal professionals who drive the future of corporate law, and whose work connects local insight with global impact.
Jones Day is proud to support the 2025 edition of the GC Powerlist Hong Kong and to celebrate the exceptional General Counsels recognized this year. Congratulations to each and every awardee for your impressive achievements and contributions to the corporate and legal ecosystems in Hong Kong.
It has been a privilege to work alongside many of you, and we are delighted to see your dedication recognized. In particular, we extend a special welcome to those of you who are first time nominees to the GC Powerlist Hong Kong. To the familiar faces who were in the previous editions, welcome back.
As Asia’s leading commercial hub, Hong Kong is a thriving international gateway into the Asian markets and home to the regional headquarters of the world’s premier business organisations. In this dynamic and globalized legal environment, General Counsels are pivotal leaders, guiding their organisations through constant change, both locally and internationally. As General Counsels, you are trusted advisors providing guidance beyond traditional legal consultation; you navigate intricate legal systems across multiple jurisdictions, and offer your unique perspectives and strategic solutions that lead your organisations through uncertainty. Your ability to adapt to the relentless pressures of ever evolving global issues not only enhances the resilience of your organisations but also positions them for sustainable growth.
At Jones Day, we understand the challenges you face. As one of the first US law firms to expand into Asia, we have witnessed firsthand the various economic and political cycles since the opening of our Hong Kong office in 1986. This long standing experience has equipped us to not only anticipate uncertainty but also partner with you to develop proactive strategies to thrive in any environment.
As one of the world’s largest and most geographically comprehensive law firms, Jones Day is synonymous with responsive and dedicated client service. Spread over five continents, Jones Day has 2,500 lawyers in 40 offices based in key cities and financial centres, working together as “One Firm Worldwide”, and providing our clients with seamless access to a full spectrum of practice areas. When client matters have an interdisciplinary dimension, we are proud to offer our unique blend of talent and service across specialties and jurisdictions.
Jones Day’s partners hold a core set of common values, with a unity of purpose in providing unparalleled service and quality to our clients, reflecting Jones Day’s deep-rooted set of shared professional values, which can be traced to our beginnings in 1893.
Our dedication to client service has not gone unnoticed. Jones Day is the only firm in the history of the BTI Consulting Group’s Client Service 30 to remain in the top 5 for all 23 years since BTI began publishing its results, which are based on unprompted responses from in-depth interviews with in-house legal counsel from Fortune 500 organisations. We are proud to offer an unparalleled level of commitment to our clients and look forward to continuing to cooperate with many of you.
We are honoured to celebrate the recognition of the General Counsels on their well-deserved inclusion in this 2025 edition of the GC Powerlist: Hong Kong. As we celebrate your recognition, let us also look ahead to the exciting possibilities that await us. Together, we as legal practitioners can make a meaningful difference in the communities we serve. We look forward to many more years of close partnership with each of you.
Legal 500 was proud to host the second edition of the GC Powerlist: East Africa 2025 in Nairobi, honouring the top General Counsel, Chief Legal Officers, Legal Directors, and senior in-house legal professionals across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda. This year’s reception brought together over 100 of the most influential and innovative corporate counsel from the region, and was an unrivalled success, cementing Legal 500’s role as the leading voice in recognising in-house legal excellence across Africa.
The evening was opened by Joe Boswell, lead editor of the GC Powerlist publication at Legal 500, who highlighted the growing prestige of the East Africa edition and the increasing challenge of selecting honourees from such a deep (and rapidly growing) pool of talent.
Guests were then treated to some particularly relevant insights from distinguished speakers. Rachel Musoke, Head of ENS Uganda, delivered a thoughtful welcome that reflected on the importance of collaboration between private practice and in-house teams. This was followed by a powerful keynote from Habil Waswani, Company Secretary & Director Legal Services and Regulatory Compliance at Kenya Airways, who shared reflections on leadership, regulatory stewardship, and the evolving role of corporate counsel in East Africa.
The highlight of the evening was the certificate ceremony, where this year’s honourees were formally recognised. Certificates were presented by senior representatives of ENS, including Désiré Kamanzi (Head of Rwanda), Rachel Musoke, Nigel Shaw (Head of Kenya), Donald Nyakairu (Executive, Uganda), Dieudonne Nzafashwanayo (Executive, Rwanda), Rahema Nakirya Ssemyalo (Executive, Uganda) and Binti Shah (Executive, Kenya) whose participation underlined the depth of the firm’s support for the GC Powerlist initiative.
The GC Powerlist: East Africa 2025 reaffirmed The Legal 500’s commitment to shining a spotlight on the region’s most talented in-house lawyers. With an even stronger field of candidates, this year’s edition stands as a powerful testament to the influence and expertise of East Africa’s legal leaders. Habil Waswani’s excellent speech, which got a raucous reception from those in the room, is reproduced below with his permission:
‘My name is Habil Waswani, and I have been an inhouse legal practitioner for the past 21 years in different sectors (having done law-firm practice for 2 years before that). Tt is indeed a true privilege and honour for me to be here tonight, surrounded by the sharpest legal minds and calmest crisis-handlers the East African corporate world has to offer.
First, let me thank the Legal 500 and ENSAfrica teams, for organising such a fantastic event and for bringing us together in such style. Congratulations to each of tonight’s honourees. You represent the very best of general counsel in this very dynamic corporate space the businesses we support operate in. Strategic, ethical, resilient, and, let’s be honest, often underappreciated leaders of industry.
I am so happy that this evening is not about contracts, or compliance checklists, or board packs. Tonight is about celebrating you, the people behind all of that. The steady hands guiding companies through complexities, uncertainties, and ensuring that the opportunities that lie within those difficult circumstances are lawfully realized.
We all know the role of GCs has evolved. We are no longer tucked away at the end of a corridor marked “Legal” or labelled the proverbial “cost centres”. These days, the GCs sit at the big table – helping drive corporate strategy, shaping desired culture, providing leadership and safeguarding business reputations. We have become indispensable partners to businesses, interpreters, navigators, protectors… and on some (many) days, therapists with law degrees. And yet, we mostly do it all so quietly. No victory laps, no press releases. Often, success for us means the expected disaster didn’t happen.
But tonight, we break that rule. Tonight, we raise a glass to the GCs who’ve blazed the trail courageously, with clarity, conviction, and tremendous resilience that only matches the expectations of the Leadership Guru John Maxwell when he said, “resilient leaders don’t wait for the storm to past — they learn to dance in the rain”. You have managed to balance growth and governance, risk and reward regularly. And, of course, always managed to deal with those 10pm messages: “Hey, just a quick question…Are you able to talk right now…?”
Let this evening serve as a reminder that you are not just experienced legal advisors. You are leaders — spear heads and enablers of execution — and without a doubt critical pillars of business strategy.
To all the honourees, congratulations once again for the well-deserved recognition. This is for the heavy lifting that you do, the standards you uphold, and the impact you make – quietly, consistently, and brilliantly so. You’ve earned this spotlight.
