Reena is a qualified lawyer with twenty years of experience in corporate, commercial and operational fields. Reena started as a practicing lawyer then switched to in-house for O&G company Sapura Energy which required leading and overseeing businesses located throughout APAC, Middle East, Europe, North and South America. Currently, she heads a legal team with AirAsia, the aviation arm of Capital A, and provides end-to-end support and close interaction with business operations and internal stakeholders on various legal issues related to operations, commercial, and corporate transactions and litigation.

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

In the first quarter of 2020 with the implementation of government-imposed measures, such as lockdowns, travel restrictions, and business closures, due to an attempt to curb covid-19, the group had to stop its fleet to reduce operating expenses. The travel restrictions had a significant impact on the demand for air travel causing the group to experience an unprecedented decline in revenue, as well as a decline in financial and non-financial assets, which triggered the criteria set out in accordance with Paragraph 8.04 and Paragraph 2.1(e) of Practice Note 17 of the Malaysian Primary Securities Market (PN17) of the Malaysian Bursarsa Market Requirements.

The group is currently implementing a proposed regularisation plan to streamline its financial situation. The legal team with the support of internal stakeholders, appointed auditors and external counsel to work on consultation deck to be presented to Bursa Malaysia Securities regarding the proposed plan as well as various due diligence efforts on all subsidiaries under the group to streamline its business.

The team have also recently been involved with the reviewing, advising, drafting, and negotiating on various consultations papers issued by, Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM), the local aviation regulators. We have worked on the amendments to the Malaysian Aviation Consumer Protection Code 2019 which will have a significant impact on airline business modalities; the application made by a competitive airline seeking an individual exemption under section 51 of the Malaysian Aviation Commission Act 2015 for a metal-neutral joint business partnership; and we have also partaken in discussions with the Hong Kong Competition Commission regarding the announcement of an investigation into Joint Business Proposals made by competitive airlines and filed submissions that mostly objected to the airline’s concerns about any liberalised competition market principles, antitrust laws, and anti-competitive aspects.

The team have also been dealing with tax recovery schemes, liaising with airport authorities and setting up branch offices worldwide for flights to operate.

What are some of the tips for dealing with a crisis?

This will depend on the gravity and magnitude of the crisis. However, it comes down to having the right communication channels, plans and transparency. For day-to-day operations, a practical tip I would advise is setting up a shared email group for the legal team. This serves as a single platform for communication, access to information, exchange of discussions and execution of plans to manage the crisis as one.

From a macro level, it is important for an organisation to have a crisis plan handbook and a robust crisis management team that is active, capable of strategising, communicating, collecting and disseminating data and information, and having experienced risk managers for support.

I would also advise that legal teams implement regular training and conduct mock trials of crisis control, as this will ensure that the organisation can anticipate, understand the gaps, action plans and information required for preparedness and that a well-represented crisis management team that is armed with the ability to make critical decisions.

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

I believe there to be several skills that corporate legal teams will need to possess if they wish to be successful in the modern in-house industry. Firstly, they must familiarise themselves with the organisation, its core values, business areas, people, challenges and knowledge of the decision-making process. They must understand organisational goals and how to achieve those goals. In-house counsel must stay visible, engaging and accessible to business partners and they must remain flexible to exploring different assignments.

Coporate legal teams must ensure they continue learning valuable skills to complement their existing skills to best serve the organisation. It is important that legal counsel can provide simple but practical solutions, while remaining firm in the justification of said solutions, while balancing risk and reward. Complicating things will not help business partners. Finally, I believe that you must remain grounded and have other activities in life to fulfil the soul. Life is about having purpose and balance.

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

Long gone are the days where the in-house lawyer was seen as just a gatekeeper or support to the organisation. Roles and importance are shifting, and in-house counsel must be seen as core contributors to the organisation, and this can only be achieved by having an agile mind-set. To drive synergy with business partners, in-house counsel must possess emotional intelligence supported by industry experience to understand the needs of business partners. It is important to dissect risk with an analytical, practical, and solution-oriented mindset, this is a trait that gives confidence to business partners and in turn brings a return on investment to the organisation.