What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

In 2022, our legal team played an extensive role in closing the retail business of ING Bank Philippines, while at the same time providing seamless full legal support to the rest of the bank unaffected by the closure. The legal team was heavily involved in the planning and execution stage of the closure, particularly on compliance with regulatory requirements, retirement of licenses, termination of contracts, closure of bank accounts, customer complaints handling, data protection issues, among others. For the first half of 2023, our legal department provided continuing support to the entire bank during the transition and easing back into the norm after a major restructuring change.

Looking forward, what technological advancements do you feel will impact the role of in-house legal teams in the future the most? Which have you found most useful in your legal team?

Legal data analytics are often overlooked but will have a very big impact on both administrative or management aspect of the legal team and in legal practice.

On the administrative or management side, data analytics tools will help legal teams analyse data (for instance expenditures, vendors, and scope of work of external counsels), which will allow legal teams to make data-driven decisions on matters such as team size, investments in legal technology, efficiency, engagement of external counsels, or management of external counsel costs, and benchmark internal data against data in the industry.

On the legal practice side, data analytics may be helpful, for instance, in analysing regulations or contract provisions in connection with breach or enforcement and benchmarking internal data against data in the industry.

As we live in a fast-paced world today, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

With the whole gamut of data and AI tools and resources increasingly becoming available in the legal industry, corporate legal teams should be able to interpret, analyse and make effective use of such data and AI tools in a way that adds value to the business. Therefore, critical thinking and analysis, complex problem solving, creativity, adaptability and ability to synthesise are necessary to adapt to fast-evolving business and legal landscape. Very important also are having a growth mindset and willingness to learn and innovate.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

In-house lawyers should always be relevant to their business partners. They should bring value by anticipating their needs and proactively providing timely insights, advice and solutions. Simply put, the legal team should help their business partners to succeed.