Event information
The role of general counsel and senior in-house legal advisors is constantly evolving to meet the rapidly changing demands of organisations in today’s business world. In addition to overseeing the day-to-day legal challenges affecting the business and managing legal staff, in-house lawyers are expected to diversify their service offering in order to overcome a growing list of commercial challenges. Whether it is managing internal investigations, defending their company in cross-border disputes, handling complex data or adapting to the shifting trends in M&A, the required skillset of the profession is developing at an exponential rate.
The Legal 500’s GC Summit Thailand 2023 invites the most esteemed in-house counsel from the country’s most prolific companies, and leading practitioners to discuss their changing roles as in-house leaders and the challenges, issues and opportunities they are set to face in 2023 and beyond.
Between comprehensive panel discussions, presentations and the opportunity to meet and engage with fellow in-house counsel, GC Summit Thailand promises to be a practical, forward-looking event bringing together the region’s top legal minds.
Agenda
12.00pm – 1.00pm Light Lunch & Registration
1.00pm – 1.10pm Opening Remarks
The Legal 500’s GC Powerlist editor Joe Boswell will introduce the day’s festivities before handing over to our guest-of-honour, keynote speaker, Khun Wallaya Kaewrungruang, Chief legal and compliance officer at SCBX. Khun Wallaya is one of the most distinguished GCs in Thailand and will speak about some of the challenges and opportunities presently facing in-house counsel across the region.
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Wallaya Kaewrungruang, Chief legal and compliance officer, SCBX
- Joe Boswell, global editor – Powerlist Series, The Legal 500
1.10pm – 2.00pm Opportunity in complexity and volatility – getting deals done in Thailand
Serving as a comprehensive guide for in-house lawyers navigating the complexities of M&A transactions in Thailand, this session will see highly respected subject matter experts from SCL Nishimura & Asahi share insights on regulatory frameworks, risk mitigation strategies, and successful deal execution. Tailor-made for in-house lawyers in the country, the panel will focus on the unique challenges posed by Thailand’s dynamic business landscape and regulatory framework while warding off concerns of complexity and volatility. SCBX’s chief legal and compliance officer Wallaya Kaewrungruang will provide the in-house perspective, ensuring that the discussion remains as practical as possible at all times.
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Wallaya Kaewrungruang, chief legal and compliance officer, SCBX
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Jirapong Sriwat, co-managing partner, SCL Nishimura & Asahi
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Christopher Osborne, partner, SCL Nishimura & Asahi
- Masaki Noda, partner, Nishimura & Asahi
- Dr Vincent Siaw, executive vice president of legal and international projects, Thoresen Group
2.20pm – 3.10pm The impact of artificial intelligence on the legal world
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Kornjan Tangkrisanakajorn, partner, Thanathip & Partners
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Asst. Prof. Dr. Peerapat Chokesuwattanaskul, managing partner, VA Partners
- Asst. Prof. Dr. Chanita Wongviriyawong, co-founder and CEO, EATLAB
- Jeff Ong, head of legal, ASEAN Tricor Vistra
- James Evans, director of legal & external affairs, Linfox
3.10pm – 3.25pm Coffee Break
3.25pm – 4.15pm Managing international disputes
In this session, attendees will hear from an esteemed line up of speakers, covering themes ranging from the options for resolving international disputes, issues of forum and jurisdiction, interim reliefs, common challenges and practical tips in the management of international disputes.
This panel will provide valuable insights on how companies can prepare to face and mitigate the risks in potential cross-border disputes.
- Wynn Pakdeejit, managing partner and head of the dispute resolution practice group in Bangkok, Baker McKenzie
- Yada Yuwataepakorn, senior associate, Baker McKenzie, Bangkok
- Kawin (Kevin), Kanchanapairoj, director, global legal & compliance, finance/global legal & compliance, Pandora Production co., Ltd.
- Kanokrat Perngmark, general counsel, Kimberly-Clark Thailand
4.15pm – 5.05pm The in-house perspective – presented by The Thai-CCA
- Sahachai Wibuloutai, regional general counsel, PwC Mekong
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Chitanong Poomipark, chief legal officer, Dusit International
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Rugeradh Tungsupakul, head of legal, Lazada Thailand
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Visitsak Arunsuratpakdee, legal director & head of litigation department, True Corporation
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Maprang Sombatthai, legal director, LINE Company (Thailand)
5.10pm – 5.40pm Closing Fireside Chat
5.40pm – 7.00pm Networking Drinks and Canapés
Speakers
Wallaya Kaewrungruang, chief legal and compliance officer, SCBX
Joe Boswell, global editor - Powerlist Series, The Legal 500
Joe Boswell has been a part of The Legal 500’s editorial team, specialising on the in-house legal community, for more than seven years. He now heads The Powerlist team, acting as chief editor for the over 40 separate editions of the GC Powerlist series which serve as The Legal 500’s flagship title celebrating the world’s top in-house counsel, as well as Global Editor for The Legal 500’s Private Practice Powerlist Series.
During the course of researching for the GC Powerlist series, Boswell has interviewed a vast number of world-renowned general counsel, chief legal officers, and legal directors about overcoming the challenges they face, their legal innovations, and how they see the general counsel role progressing in coming years. As well as this, he is a regular speaker at Legal 500 summits, roundtables, award ceremonies and other events, and often writes in-depth reports on business and legal issues.
Boswell is an alumnus of both the University of Sussex in The United Kingdom and the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in The Netherlands.
Kornjan Tangkrisanakajorn, partner, Thanathip & Partners
Kornjan Tangkrisanakajorn has joined Thanathip & Partners in 2011 after receiving her LL.M. from the University of Southern California. Having more than 10 years of experiences with Thanathip & Partners, Kornjan has strong M&A track records in several industries, including power, education, healthcare, insurance, financial sectors. During the past years, she has pursued her focus on equity capital markets which stems from her involvements in a number of initial public offerings of property funds and REITs. Most recently, she has started to expand her practice to include fundraising of tech and startups.
Sahachai Wibuloutai, regional general counsel, PwC Mekong
Chitanong Poomipark, chief legal officer, Dusit International
Rugeradh Tungsupakul, head of legal, Lazada Thailand
Visitsak Arunsuratpakdee, legal director & head of litigation department, True Corporation
Maprang Sombatthai, legal director, LINE Company (Thailand)
Jirapong Sriwat, co-managing partner, SCL Nishimura
Jirapong is a corporate M&A/private equity partner and the co-managing partner of our Bangkok office, who has been recognized as: (i) one of Asia’s top 40 outstanding lawyers under the age of 40 by Thomson Reuters (Asian Legal Business); and (ii) one of Thailand’s top 100 lawyers by Asia Business Law Journal, based on independent research and nominations from in-house counsel and international firms.
He advises on a wide range of merger-and-acquisition transactions, joint ventures, foreign direct investments, general corporate, international corporate finance, and restructurings. His expertise is advising, structuring and leading complex transactions both within and outside of Thailand. He regularly represents, among others, Japanese, Thai and international investors, international investment banks, international private equity investors, hedge funds and international corporations and financial institutions. His main areas of practice include public and private mergers and acquisitions (takeover rules), legal due diligence, joint ventures, fund raising, listings, block trades, stock exchange and securities exchange related laws, restructuring of shareholdings and general corporate advice.
Christopher Osborne, partner, SCL Nishimura & Asahi
Chris has been based in Thailand since 2001 and has more than two decades of experience working alongside Thai lawyers on cross-border M&A and regulatory matters, providing international-level solutions to companies entering the Thai market. His clients include global companies investing or acquiring assets in Thailand and Thai companies engaging in cross-border transactions. He advises international and Thai companies on the development, sale, and acquisition of renewable energy projects in Thailand and across Asia.
His M&A practice has included private M&A, advising institutional and activist investors on SEC/SET reporting requirements and acquisition thresholds, and strategic shareholders on synergistic de-layering of listed group structures. His sector expertise for M&A includes manufacturing, TMT, logistics, renewable energy projects, and the service sector for both buy-side and sell-side, share and asset sale transaction structures. He has advised overseas law firms on the acquisition of Thai law firms.
Wynn Pakdeejit, managing partner and head of dispute resolution practice group, Baker McKenzie, Bangkok
Wynn is the Managing Partner and the Head of the Dispute Resolution Practice Group of Baker McKenzie, Bangkok office, and has previously served as the Head of the Asia Pacific Dispute Resolution Group of the Firm. He has almost 30 years’ experience in domestic and international litigation, where he has acted as lead counsel in many of the most significant cases and transactions in the region, handling complex commercial disputes, construction litigation and arbitration, tax and customs matters, compliance and anti-corruption cases and insolvency and debt restructuring proceedings. He is considered a market-leader in Thailand as evidenced by his continued recognition in the global market, Asia Pacific region and Thailand.
Yada Yuwataepakorn, senior associate, Baker McKenzie, Bangkok
Yada Yuwataepakorn joined Baker McKenzie’s Bangkok office in 2012 as a member of the Dispute Resolution Practice Group. With over eleven years of experience, she is highly skilled in various aspects of litigation, specializing in high-stakes commercial disputes, restructuring & insolvency, and navigating the legal implications arising from major incidents across Thailand under civil, criminal, and administrative law. Yada’s expertise extends to representing clients in diverse industry sectors, such as energy, oil & gas, financial institutions, securities companies, hotels, and multinational corporations.
Asst. Prof. Dr. Peerapat Chokesuwattanaskul, managing partner, VA Partners
Asst. Prof. Dr. Peerapat “Yok” Chokesuwattanaskul is a managing partner at VA Partners, a Law and Economics consultancy. Affiliated with Chulalongkorn University’s Law and Economics faculties, he teaches and works extensively in the intersections of law, economics, and technology, with an emphasis on Competition Law, Legal Analytics, AI Regulations, and Personal Data Protection. Beyond academia, Dr. Peerapat was a Data Scientist at Agoda, working on machine learning, experiment design, and statistical analysis. He also used to work in the government, notably with the Department of Trade Negotiations, playing key roles in Thailand-EFTA and Thailand-EU FTA negotiations. Dr. Peerapat holds an LLB from Chulalongkorn. He received two master’s degrees: one in International Economics and Finance from Chulalongkorn and another in Economics from Cambridge. Additionally, he possesses two doctorates in Business Administration from JDBA and Economics from Cambridge.
Jeff Ong, head of legal, ASEAN Tricor Vistra
Jeff Ong is leading the Legal function for the ASEAN region of Tricor Vistra. Prior to joining Tricor, he practiced as a dispute resolution lawyer at Cheah Teh & Su and served as a regulatory compliance manager in HSBC Bank Malaysia.
He has driven strategic initiatives to substantially improve the turnaround time on contract management, established a robust compliance framework for Tricor group, and streamlined the AML processes on customer due diligence, among other key strategic initiatives.
Asst. Prof. Dr. Chanita Wongviriyawong, co-founder and CEO, EATLAB
Asst. Prof. Dr. Chanita Wongviriyawong or Mint is a co-founder and CEO of EATLAB, an AI solution company for retail and food services industry. EATLAB produces solutions that help businesses cross-sell and upsell, while tracking their operation efficiency and frauds.
Prior to starting EATLAB, she was a former quantitative trader, and co-founded a startup, Matternet, while attending a program at Singularity University in Silicon Valley. Matternet is a commercial drone delivery network company that is currently serving UPS and WHO. Mint graduated with a PhD from MIT in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Political Science and Math, a master degree from MIT Media Lab, and a bachelor degree from Carnegie Mellon University with double minors in Robotics and Computer Science.
James Evans, director of legal & external affairs, Linfox
James Evans joined Linfox in 2014 as Director of Legal and External Affairs, reporting directly to the Linfox International Group Chief Executive Officer.
James has worked in Asia since 2004 and has significant experience in handling a wide range of legal matters and jurisdictions.
James is a qualified Solicitor of England & Wales and holds an LLB (Hons) from the University of Leeds and a Post Graduate qualification in Legal Practice from York College of Law.
Kawin (Kevin), Kanchanapairoj, director, global legal & compliance, finance/global legal & compliance, Pandora Production co., Ltd.
Kawin (Kevin) was an associate at a leading Southeast Asian regional law firm and specialized in litigation and intellectual property. He later shifted his career to in-house counsel working in several industries including venture capital, trading, and manufacturing. Currently, he is the head of legal and compliance team servicing crafting and supply function of Pandora Group which employs around 13,000 people in Thailand.
Kanokrat Perngmark, general counsel, Kimberly-Clark Thailand
Dr Vincent Siaw, executive vice president of legal and international projects, Thoresen Group
Dr Vincent Siaw has been a key name in the Thai maritime world for many years and is among the most respected in-house lawyers in the sector. Currently executive vice president, group legal and international projects at Thoresen Thai Agencies, where he has been since early 2021, he spent almost 16 years with Mermaid, where he performed various key roles including general counsel, head of strategy and corporate development, head of investor relations, business development director and company secretary. Before this, he worked as a lawyer both in private practice and in-house specializing in transnational corporate and commercial transactions.
Masaki Noda, partner, Nishimura & Asahi
Masaki Noda is a partner at Nishimura & Asahi, practicing corporate and M&A including mergers, acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, capital and business alliances, joint ventures, and going-private transaction by PE funds.
Among various types of M&A transactions, Masaki Noda has been advising on many complicated and sophisticated deals requiring structuring of various aspects, such as taxes and outbound and inbound cross-border transactions. Some major transactions he has advised on as lead counsel are the defense of Nippon Paint against a hostile acquisition attempt by Wuthelam Holdings in Singapore; the acquisition of equity interests in Post Advisory in the US by Nippon Life; Rakuten’s purchase of shares in Taiwan Rakuten from Presidential Group in Taiwan; the acquisition of shares in GA Telesis by Century Tokyo Leasing; Nippon Paint’s issuance of shares to Wuthelam Holdings in Singapore and purchase of equity interests in JVs from Wuthelamm Holdings in eight jurisdictions (China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Bangladesh).
In association with...
As of April 5, 2021, with the completion of the amalgamation of SCL Nishimura Group and our existing Bangkok office, the office is now known as SCL Nishimura & Asahi Ltd.
Founded in 2005, Thanathip & Partners is a boutique law firm, specialising in corporate finance, M&A, banking, and general commercial transactions. The firm are driven to excel in everything that they do, and have a proven track record in managing high-profile transactions for a number of leading corporate and financial institutions in Thailand and in several other jurisdictions.
Their highly-specialised team has in-depth understanding of legal issues in Thailand and are widely-recognised for their high standards of service, and their attention-to-detail. Thanathip and Partners has built a track record that proves its excellent reputation among marquee clients, and has consistently been acknowledged as a “leading firm” in The Legal 500’s annual Asia Pacific rankings.
As the leading international law firm in Thailand for over four decades, the Bangkok office of Baker McKenzie has been at the forefront of handling some of the most substantial transactions and complex legal matters in the Asia Pacific region. With extensive experience, the Firm is the trusted choice for Thai companies, multinational corporations, and financial institutions operating within the country. Being the largest law firm in Thailand, it offers a full range of legal services, spanning from routine corporate registrations to most complex cross-border M&A transactions. Clients benefit from the ability to assemble the right team for every legal matter. The dispute resolution lawyers excel in representing clients in both domestic and international litigation and arbitration, covering areas such as commercial disputes, insolvency, class actions, insurance claims, administrative law, labor disputes, antitrust cases, cross-border fraud, and enforcement of international financial instruments.
