Team size: Three

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company’s values? Are you likely to reconsider what firms you work with based on this?

Engaging a legal firm to provide services is almost equivalent to choosing a business partner in a commercial transaction. Without the mutual understanding of each party’s needs, value, and expectation, it would be an uphill task to begin with immediately after the engagement. Usually, we will engage firms which we are familiar with, and which have good rapport in the past working experience. It saves time and energy and can achieve better outcome.

In general, what would you like to see change about the external law firms you use? 

I hope to see more strategy and all rounded advice from external lawyers, besides typical legal advice or drafting. It is ultimately an exercise of risk assessment in almost every business decision to be made, be it a litigation proceedings, corporate exercise, or commercial transactions. Hence, the external lawyer should factor into certain commercial aspects in rendering any legal advice, such that the legal advice would not be seen as a formality only or a barrier to the business. Further, there should be more transparency and flexibility in billings rather than a lump sum payment, to be consistent with the relevant stages of services provided.

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

Strong business acumen and keeping yourself up to date to the current legislation are always key to succeeding today’s in-house industry. It is the management’s expectation that an in-house lawyer should not only render legal advice; an in-house lawyer should understand the business, know the commercial and provide strategic advice to meet the business’ needs and requirements in addition to complying with the laws and mitigating the risk. Further, many organisations have started to rely on in-house team to support their day-to-day drafting contracts to reduce legal costs. Hence, drafting skills become a crucial skill for any in-house lawyer who wish to excel in this industry.