Malaysia 2023
Supported by the Association of Corporate Counsel
Legal manager, indirect procurement AMEA | Kellogg Company
Group general manager, group legal and regulatory affairs | Media Prima
Director of legal affairs and general counsel | Asian Football Confederation
Head of legal, secretarial and corporate affairs division | Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings (PROLINTAS)
Group company secretary and head of corporate services | KNM Group
Head of legal and compliance - Malaysia | Airbus
Senior manager, legal and property management | Eco World
Head of legal, Malaysia, Australia and Philippines | OSRAM Opto Semiconductors
Legal and compliance | Panasonic Appliances Air-Conditioning Malaysia
Tan Ming Hong has spent 15 years as an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, handling dispute resolution matters from the first instance court to the supreme...
Assistant head division of corporate services | Penang Port
General counsel and chief strategy officer | OCR Group
Director, legal and compliance and company secretary | Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia
Senior vice president, group legal and group general counsel | Petronas
Senior general manager, legal, corporate secretarial and compliance | Malaysia Marine & Heavy Engineering Holdings
Associate general counsel - global labour and employment APAC | JABIL
Head, group legal, compliance and risk management | Warisan TC Holdings
Legal executive | Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings (PROLINTAS)
Chief legal officer and company secretary | AmGeneral Insurance
Executive director, general counsel, company secretary and head, corporate and support services | Khazanah Nasional
Vice President and general counsel, Asia Pacific | Emerson Automation Solutions
Assistant manager, legal | Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings (PROLINTAS)
Senior counsel, global operations | Ansell
A dedicated, experienced and well-regarded corporate counsel with close to 21 years of experience across a number of prominent companies in a diverse range of industry sectors. Shalinee Fernandez graduated...
Director of legal affairs and general counsel | Network Innovations
As one of the brightest lights on the Southeast Asia business scene, boasting some of the most prominent companies supported by highly qualified and distinguished legal teams, it is an honour to be able to launch this first-ever Malaysia-only edition of the GC Powerlist after so many years of the GC Powerlist being in circulation.
Through the Southeast Asia edition of the GC Powerlist, our research team has become well-acquainted with the hugely talented general counsel, chief legal officers and other high-ranking in-house legal leaders in Malaysia. What was excellent about this standalone Malaysia edition, however, was that we got to delve deeper into the in-house legal community of this wonderful market and speak to people we had not had the pleasure of interviewing before.
The results we, as always, extremely interesting, and gave light to a number of trends. Fintech and the new possibilities that it brings continues to loom large in the minds of many general counsel in Malaysia, but perhaps not quite as large as the spectre of AI. While some were sceptical of its benefits in recent years, many more are now looking towards it with great interest for the potential time-saving it heralds.
Congratulations to all the talented in-house lawyers who made it in to this first Malaysia- edition of the GC Powerlist series. From a long list of over 400 nominees, you are the highly qualified individuals who remain. We look forward to seeing how your careers progress going forward!
Joe Boswell
Global Editor, GC Powerlist Series
The Legal 500
The recent news that elite US firm Sullivan & Cromwell had apologised to a judge over AI hallucinations in a court filing prompted a collective wince from the legal profession.
But while some lawyers remain wary of AI, others are striking a more open-minded note, and at the LexisNexis AI Forum hosted this Wednesday (20 May) by Legal 500 and Legal Business, panelists argued that the risks are far outweighed by the opportunities.
Barbara Zapisetskaya, principal technology counsel at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, made the case that hallucinations and other potential pitfalls can be overcome with a shift in mindset.
‘What makes a difference,’ she said, ‘is empowering your lawyers to take responsibility for AI output – helping them become active AI operators, not just passive AI users. You have agency to decide whether you agree with the output or not.’
Zapisetskaya was among a line-up of leading in-house figures speaking on two panels, which covered everything from practical steps for AI implementation to the key decisions GCs need to be making in the coming months.
Financial Times general counsel Dan Guilford began by stressing the importance of building the right culture for AI adoption. In addition to proactively upskilling himself, Guilford talked about how he had implemented a voluntary weekly ‘show and tell’ meeting for team members to share successful use cases – or an exercise that became a gratifying measure of progress.
Other panelists discussed how increased in-house productivity is altering the dynamic with their external counsel.
While some see the use of AI by law firms as a precursor for reduced fees, Russell Davies, head of global operations for legal and compliance at Dentsu, said that faster results – however they are delivered – are something to be valued.
GSK assistant general counsel Anthony Kenny agreed, saying that while there was an expectation that external counsel would be utilising AI, the focus should be on the value of the output, rather than an overemphasis on identifying AI use as a justification to reduce fees.
Speaking on the second panel, MUFG EMEA general counsel James Morgan stressed the critical importance of education, noting that educating the C-suite on the advantages and risks of AI is just as important as enabling large in-house teams to use these tools.
Shanthini Satyendra, vice-chair of the AI Committee, Society for Computers & Law, CEO and founder of Manisain, offered a reminder of the importance of making the connection between tasks and the purpose behind them, extolling the virtues of identifying use cases for AI that can solve a meaningful problem.
Zapisetskaya concurred, adding that one of the most important tasks for GCs across the next six to twelve months is to create AI playbooks and templates, noting that ‘it is easy for lawyers to see problems – much harder for lawyers to see opportunities.’
There was also broad agreement among panellists that GCs should focus on upskilling their junior lawyers on AI, rather than – as some may expect – cutting back their workforce. As Satyendra summarised: ‘Some people are replacing human capital with AI without thinking about what’s required to make AI work. Retain your people and train them up.’
The panels were moderated by Emma Millington, head of the UK Lexis+ Finance Group, and LexisNexis director of segment management Stuart Greenhill.
