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Chan Hoe, general manager of the legal department of Toyota Motor Asia Pacific, emphasises the versatility and specialist jurisdictional expertise of his eight-person team. ‘My department covers a broad range of markets – most of the major markets in Southeast Asia and South Asia’, he explains, ‘and to truly emphasise the use of Toyota’s international local expertise in this regional legal office, we have assembled a team in Singapore not only comprising the core local Singaporean team members but team members from our major markets in Indonesia, Thailand and India. These foreign team members occupy what we call the foreign desks, and are local legal experts who lend their expertise and knowledge of their home countries to the regional office in Singapore. The effect of such an arrangement is an exceptional level of diversity and collective wealth of knowledge’. The implementation of this arrangement, which allows unparalleled flexibility and impact when dealing with the challenges posed by this diverse area of operations, is credited by Hoe as a major innovation in the department and a great success. Alongside him, deputy general manager Dipti Jauhar and managing coordinator Kazuhiko Hattori, both highly experienced lawyers, came in for particular praise. The team maintains an exceptionally strong collective ethos based around strong leadership and equally strong camaraderie. ‘With strong leadership, periodic social gatherings and a healthy sense of humour and a natural team spirit has evolved. The team members are serious and dedicated about their work, yet are able to take a step back and marvel at the opportunities available to them. I feel that this team spirit is the result of a team that works and plays together’, Hoe concludes.