About

‘Being involved in complex cross border transactions have sharpened my focus as a legal professional in that transactions are not merely a matter of legalities but require knowledge and understanding of the interplay of disciplines such as finance, human resources and operations of a business. I have learnt to appreciate the value add brought to the team by these professionals’, says Bernard Liew, associate general counsel of Aveva Group and an in-house legal specialist in the information technology sector, having had prior senior experience with Flextronics where he led a team of ‘top-notch legal professionals of various post-qualification experiences ranging from eight to 15 years’. He provides an example of the work he did to improve the abilities of his team here: ‘At Flextronics, I created a database that contained the regulatory and necessary information of some 300 subsidiaries in the Asia Pacific region. This allowed easy and quick access to information to the legal team as well as finance during audit periods. I also created a template for use by HR setting out the requirements of disciplining and dismissing employees in China and was later expanded to other jurisdictions in Asia Pacific’. On the role of the general counsel, Liew believes that a more generalist approach is required by those looking to achieve greatness in the profession. ‘The role of the general counsel has evolved from a legal watchdog to one who is a business partner to the business’, he says. ‘I believe to be a successful general counsel, one has to be trusted by the business, versatile and have the ability to enable the business whilst at the same time providing a first in class professional, ethical and on-time service to the company’.