About

‘Lawyering for a 21st century company looks very different from what we were taught in law school. It requires lawyers being entrenched in the business, standing shoulder to shoulder with the teams, and having a deep understanding of the issues that challenge the company – I call this guerrilla lawyering’. So says deputy general counsel and Asia Pacific legal team lead of Airbnb Darrell Chan, who himself is a prime example of the sort of modern in-house lawyer he is describing. Indeed, after serving as a private practice lawyer at the start of his career with Drew & Napier and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, he took what he called ‘a road less travelled’ by taking on a purely commercial role with fashion retail group F J Benjamin before becoming the general counsel of the company – he thrived in this role for a number of years, eventually leaving in 2012. A senior legal role with BASF was then followed by head of legal positions with Expedia and Discovery Communications before moving on to Airbnb in 2018; clearly Chan has had an extremely varied career with in terms of the roles he has taken on and the sectors in which his companies have operated. Now well established at Airbnb, Chan has been at the centre of some blockbuster transactions, of which he provides some more detail: ‘Airbnb has been closely working with the Japanese government over the past 3 years to implement the new law around short-term rentals, which came into effect in June 2018. The Japanese government has formally introduced this new form of short term rental accommodation to support its growth in tourist arrivals ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics’. He has also been at the forefront of a number of initiatives within the team, including a focus on career and leadership development, work-life balance and enhancing the speed and clarity of advice given. This fits in with his overall philosophy of in-house legal work. ‘Contrary to the flowery legalese taught in law school’, he explains, ‘communication has to be crisp, clear and concise with almost military precision’.