Team size: 30

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

Over the past year, our team has handled several high-value and complex matters that have shaped both the business and our clients’ growth. Notably, we advised on a $30m convertible loan that was later converted into equity, as well as legal due diligence for a fundraising round of up to $80m. We also structured a cross-border joint venture, navigating foreign investment restrictions and intellectual property concerns.

In addition, we managed regulatory adaptation following amendments to Vietnam’s Law on Pharmacy in 2024 and licensing reforms. Our team developed a comprehensive compliance framework for licensing, distribution, and advertising, aligning internal processes with Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) standards. These projects underscore how our legal function has evolved into a strategic partner that supports growth while safeguarding compliance.

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

Resilience must be built in advance. We closely monitor draft laws, regulatory consultations, and early-stage notices to anticipate change and prepare management for multiple scenarios. To strengthen this, we have implemented AI-powered tools to automate compliance monitoring and document review, enabling faster detection of regulatory shifts and freeing the team for strategic work.

Importantly, I view resilience not only as risk management, but also as opportunity management-helping the organisation identify advantages that arise from regulatory change and positioning compliance as a competitive edge.

What does being strategic mean to you?

Being strategic as a General Counsel means integrating legal priorities with corporate strategy. It involves anticipating market and regulatory shifts, allocating resources where they create the most value, and translating legal complexity into actionable guidance for the Board and management. Strategic counsel is not a gatekeeper, but a partner-helping shape business outcomes and enabling sustainable success.

What are the most important attributes for a modern in-house counsel?

Today’s in-house counsel must combine legal expertise, integrity, and sound judgment with business acumen, agility, and communication skills. They need to simplify complexity, influence stakeholders, and embrace innovation, particularly technology and AI to deliver timely, strategic advice.

What trends should other in-house lawyers be mindful of?

Four stand out: digitalisation of governance and compliance through dashboards and real-time reporting; the responsible adoption of AI in research, monitoring, and contract management; ESG as a business imperative, driving investment flows and consumer trust; and cross-border data privacy and cybersecurity, which demand agility and global awareness.

What is the greatest innovation you have enacted in the past year?

We transformed our operations by adopting Notion to allocate, track, and monitor tasks, combined with AI tools for regulatory monitoring. This integration enhanced transparency, efficiency, and capacity, shifting our function from reactive compliance to proactive strategy – our most impactful innovation to date.