Team size: five

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

Our parent company in Japan has been acquiring many other affiliates globally recently. Therefore, we are going through a huge reorganisation exercise, revamping and rebranding the business in different jurisdictions. This process involves identifying companies that will operate, amalgamation exercise and transfer of the business to consolidate operations in certain jurisdictions. With many subsidiaries and affiliates in the Asia Pacific region, our team is focused on implementing the latest structure per our ultimate parent company’s directions.

On top of this, our team also ensures that our day-to-day business is carried out without any disruption. This includes client-facing deals, vendor-facing agreements, corporate secretarial and compliance. Our team members are based in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the UK. We have not met each other physically, except those based in Singapore. However, we constantly interact via email, Teams and WhatsApp messenger.

Running the reorganisation exercise and day-to-day business in parallel can be very challenging. I have been working from home since 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The initial stage was challenging as I had to balance my work and personal life. It was just after my maternity leave. Being a new mom and responsible for multiple tasks at work took a toll on my mental health. However, my superior made it possible for me to go through the process smoothly. Flexible working hours helped me a lot. Also, having supportive teammates and colleagues navigated me through the entire process.

Despite all these challenges, support from family and colleagues has made the smooth journey sailing. During this time, I was also shortlisted as a finalist in the in-house legal counsel of the year 2022 by Asian Legal Business.

As we enter the next decade, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

Technology savvy with relevant legal knowledge will be very helpful to navigate our career in this turbulent business environment. The needs of corporations are currently evolving. They do not need legal counsel to tell them, ‘you cannot do this and that’. They appreciate the input that will, instead, help them to beat the barrier and run the business. They need a business partner with relevant legal knowledge. We cannot foresee what challenges we will face; therefore, it is prudent to upgrade ourselves with modern technology that will aid our business.