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

I oversee the legal, compliance and recovery functions for our operations in Malaysia and Singapore. Although we were unable to operate from the office during the pandemic’s lockdowns and circuit breaker orders, we took the opportunity to implement significant improvements from a legal and compliance standpoint, tightening controls, reducing legal and compliance risks, making the contract management process more efficient, resetting our commercial contracts, improving the recovery process and ensuring that the ABAC and whistleblowing framework is running well. All these improvements are paying off today as we return to a hectic and challenging business environment post-pandemic.

What are some of your main tips for dealing with a crisis?

Over the past three years, we have dealt with several crisis situations and what we have established in these situations is a “whole team effort”. The team work closely together and know each other’s roles and strengths and execute according to established protocols. As a team, we assess the issue, measure the risk and take steps to resolve and mitigate. It requires a balanced and experienced team that works well together to resolve crisis situations. We also regularly conduct crisis simulation exercises to further refine our crisis response as a team.

How do you see the general counsel role evolving in Malaysia over the next five-ten years?

The role of the general counsel has evolved from that of a pure legal expert to that of being a trusted advisor to senior management and the board of directors. The expectation is to extend the role far beyond the legal arena to include sound assessments and perspectives on business and commercial strategies, corporate governance and reputation, compliance and risk assessment, reviews and investigations, ESG and more. This extended role requires agility and a keen interest to learn and grow in areas outside the law, and in turn this broadens the influence and impact of the general counsel in a company.