Team size: 75

What are some of the most important cases your legal team has been involved in recently?

Since we are the legal team of a general trading house with six sections, we handle all important matters related to the business conducted globally by seven business divisions. We receive legal consultation at all phases of a project from the preliminary phase of an acquisition to the post PMI phase of the acquisition, so our legal staff handle cases not only at the time of project structuring but also on an ongoing basis. We have dealt with numerous matters within the past year, including a range of M&A, tender deals and dispute resolution in various industries and regions. In addition, three sections of our department deal with general compliance matters and import and export compliance matters, so we also cover all company-wide compliance matters other than regular business transactions.

When selecting an external law firm, how important is it to agree with your company’s values?

When selecting law firms, we naturally place importance on firms that respect our company’s values and make decisions and advice that are appropriate from our business perspective. It is also very important that a law firm understands our business model and risks we usually see in such model. In this sense, our department accepts secondee lawyers from several law firms, and through these secondments, we enhance the relationship with law firms which understand our value and goals. For a corporate legal department, it is very important to realise the interests of the company which includes having appropriate measures to prevent future risk realisation, as well as the perspective of the business department that executes projects. Therefore, we place importance on a law firm that can collaborate well with our department which plays an important role of balancing the above two aspects.

What do you think legal members in a company should do to build good relationships with law firms and other business partners?

I believe that it is all about having them understand our business and position properly and at the same time, understanding the other party’s position and background. Trust is always the foundation of a good relationship, so it is very important to try to understand each other’s position, and I think this is true not only for law firms but also for people in the business department with whom legal staff interact on a daily basis.

This is one of the reasons why our department encourages diversity. In our department, there are members from many backgrounds, such as mid-career hires (many with experience at law firms), foreign lawyers, seconded employees, and new graduates, and we believe that each of these members have their own strengths and influence each other in a positive way.