Team size:    20

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crises, and how does your legal strategy align with the broader business strategy to ensure organisational resilience?

As a large multinational company, we are always trying to strike the right balance between control and flexibility. We operate in 15 markets in Asia, which vary in size, business lines, legal systems and local business norms. At the same time, we have global policies and standards which must be adhered to. The resulting tension is unavoidable, but not unmanageable.

As a legal team, we try to embed our local Heads of Legal into their country and business unit leadership teams and empower them to achieve commercial outcomes within the applicable delegations of authority. At the same time, we maintain solid line reporting within the Legal function, ensuring a degree of independence from the business so that risks can be aired and escalated freely within the function.

It is neither possible nor optimal to manage every crisis from Regional HQ. Our team members are usually best positioned to understand both the details and context of most local crises. Instead, we try to focus on embedding strong values with clear expectations of conduct and a culture of openness. In other words, we want our leaders and team members to know what ‘good’ looks like, and then give them the necessary backing to achieve it.

Our key to ensuring organisational resilience has been minimising employee turnover within the Legal function. Talent retention can be particularly challenging in Asia, and we don’t have unlimited resources. So we try to do everything we can to ensure that our team members find purpose, challenge, balance, support and development potential in their roles. We have been very successful at retaining our legal talent in recent years, and in promoting from within when vacancies arise. If you aren’t giving your employees a good reason to show up to work every day, they will leave. 

Do you have a cause, business-related or otherwise, that you are passionate about?

In my spare time, I am a competitive ultramarathon runner. I am a 4-time winner of Hong Kong’s Oxfam Trailwalker 100km race (2018, 2021, 2023, 2024), and have competed twice for Team Canada at the world trail running championships. I was recently named Endurance Asia’s 2024 Male Athlete of the Year.  Instead of being a distraction from my legal career, my running helps keep me healthy, balanced and disciplined. To fit the necessary training into my schedule, I typically run-commute to and from the office every day. (Thankfully, our building has shower facilities.)