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

My organisation has a significant presence throughout Southeast Asia and has been involved in the acquisition of tower assets throughout the region. The most important deals we have been involved with have been the sale and leaseback transactions in both Indonesia and the Philippines. It is always interesting to work with my legal counterparts and stakeholders in these countries considering the different cultural norms and backgrounds we come from.

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

As has been the case for some time now, I expect that the way businesses operate, and the regulatory framework will become more complex in the next five to ten years. There will be more emphasis and regulation on data privacy and sovereignty; electronic transactions; competition; and trade restrictions. Furthermore, environmental, social & governance (ESG) factors will be on everyone’s minds as businesses become increasingly aware of their ESG impact.

The general counsel’s role will evolve in response to these needs, from advising on changing legal requirements related to ESG to shaping and implementing strategies and processes to ‘future proof’ the business from a legal perspective.

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?

I believe that AI will change the way the legal industry, not just the in-house team, performs its functions and delivers value. I would like to see how AI assists in drafting contracts and conducting legal research.

Even so, there is still room for improvement that can be worked on by current in-house legal teams, myself included. Rather than waiting for the wider use of AI in the legal industry, this may range from automated contracting to analytics. This largely then becomes a question of the organisation’s attitude towards technology and the ability to balance organisational needs and drive efficiency.

As we enter the next decade, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

It depends on where the organisation is at and its views toward technology to drive efficiency, corporate legal teams need an affinity for using new technology and software as part of their day-to-day. They will need a better understanding of business to institutionalise some legal processes that can be adopted by the organisation; and the ability to convey key insights and legal improvements by leveraging the previous two points. In-house legal counsel can be seen as more than just providing legal advice on contentious matters, they also need to drive efficiency by keeping costs down and extracting the best results, from both a legal and business perspective.