What are the most significant cases, projects or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?

Recently, we have supported on a wide range of matters. We provided legal support for building digital infrastructure for our e-commerce business across the region, ensuring robust legal frameworks to support growth. We also helped to establish new local assembly arrangements in various countries where we face increased local manufacture regulations. A major milestone was relocating our regional headquarters from Singapore to Bangkok, which involved extensive legal coordination. We have also provided comprehensive legal support on various transactions and financings, negotiated new authorised dealer and supplier agreements, and implemented strong IP protection measures. These efforts have helped to drive our business forward and ensure regulatory compliance.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience?

During periods of instability or crisis, I believe a legal team’s main focus should include the following 3 points: we need to continuously evaluate any new potential legal risks and their impact on the organisation; maintain frequent communication with key stakeholders within the organisation to check what legal support is needed and to ensure we tackle the risks identified and remain compliant; and, we should provide flexible and agile legal support adapted to the business’s evolving requirements during the period of instability or crisis.

What do you think are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel to possess?

Some of the key attributes a modern in-house counsel must possess are: adaptability, as we must respond to rapidly changing legal landscapes, business needs and technological advances; strong communication skills, essential for clearly explaining complex legal issues and giving advice to non-legal stakeholders; strategic thinking which allows us to match legal strategies with business objectives and to be problem-solvers; and ethical integrity, which ensures compliance and creates trust within the organisation.

How can general counsel foster a corporate culture that supports ESG principles and compliance across all levels of the organisation?

General counsels can help create a corporate culture supporting ESG principles by integrating ESG goals into the company’s core values. This can be achieved by regular communication and training on ESG principles and issues and collaborating with the company leadership teams to make sure that ESG criteria are included in decision-making processes. General counsels can also help to also monitor transparency and compliance on this topic through regular ESG audits and performance reports.