Team size: Six

What are the most significant cases and transactions that you have been involved in over the past year?

Over the last 12 months, our company has further reinforced the commitment to expand our businesses in Vietnam with several new projects. This period would be characterised by challenges to foreign investors in Vietnam, including but not limited to changes in the country’s leadership and legislation, which have a sweeping impact on all businesses. These challenges signify the crucial contribution by our legal and compliance team members to the continuous expansion of the company, as well as exemplify the capabilities and expertise of our team members in coping with incoming challenges to enable a swift adaptation of the company’s businesses into the future.

Based on your experience, what is the key to collaborating successfully with business partners?

Open-minded discussion with business partners would in my view be vital for fruitful collaboration. Each of the business partners may have different views and concerns on the same business matter. In such situations, open-minded discussion is a must to enable all teams to work out together the solution for the interest of the company. And the steppingstone for such sessions of discussion is that you build up the momentum from the common values of the relevant business partners.

Are the effects of AI on the legal world overplayed, or underplayed?

In my view, the impact of AI on the legal world would currently be overplayed. Media reported several years ago that, in a test of reviewing contracts based on a standard template of terms and conditions, an AI system was on par with the top in a group of 20 experienced lawyers while outperforming the others. Together with the recent emergence in popularity of ChatGPT and other generative AI, it might lead to a prediction that AI-empowered robots would soon replace lawyers. However, AI also has its own limits, for example it would not be able to understand and sympathise with non-verbal emotions and concerns of human clients. AI may help in doing repetitive jobs such as legal research or contract review, to the extent that lawyers and in-house counsel can focus on providing more value-added advice to the clients, e.g., advising clients on pre-emptive measures to avoid disputes instead of merely advising on preparation for dispute settlement. Whether you are working in a law firm or an in-house legal department of a corporation, you should take advantage of technology development as your upgraded Swiss Army knife to better do your jobs.