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

At 3M, our legal team weaves itself into the business and functions groups to support growth activities with unwavering integrity as trusted partners – guardians, prioritize resources to mitigate enterprise risks, evolve service delivery through transformation and knowledge sharing, and advance our culture and championing diversity, including services to communities.

As both the 3M general counsel for Southeast Asia (SEA) and Malaysia legal counsel, I am involved in matters of varying degree of complexity, which roles demand agility to:

(i) influence decision making as a member of the SEA leadership team and lead the most significant and complex projects in the region (SEA-wide restructuring projects, standardization of distributor agreement and e-commerce agreement, SEA handbook for directors and officers, sale and purchase of multi-million Ringgit property); and (ii) to provide on-ground country legal support (price increase, commercial contracts, labour and employment, antitrust, privacy, dispute resolution, corporate governance).

With the evolving dynamics of the business environment and the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), we understand that adding value demands more than providing legal advice. As in-house lawyer, we are mindful that soft skills, such as empathy, emotional intelligence, leadership skills, creativity and problem-solving skills, the ability to articulate and simplify, are core to our delivery of legal services to the organization. Legal services funnelled these core elements provide a more holistic and integrated solution that will help accelerate business growth and mitigate enterprise risk.

Our commitment to people, in the organisation and communities, is central to our 3M values. These values are embraced by 3M legal team and are reflected in the following:

(i) Providing training to our internal clients on relevant topics, such as antitrust, dawn raid, privacy, careful communication, brand/corporate identity, and etc. ensures that they are equipped to perform their roles effectively. The organization will reap the benefits of a trained and informed employee base (ii) Contributing back to the communities through our pro bono efforts. In the past five years, 3M partnered World Vision in a pro bono program in support of World Vision’s End Violence Against Children (“EVAC”) program. In 2022, 3M again partnered World Vision to work on an Asia legal guide on Anti Child Labour Legal Guide – EVAC. The objective is to empower and educate users as how to best navigate regulatory hurdles that may arise when assisting children affected by child labour in Australia, Mainland China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

As the world evolves, so it is with the role of in-house lawyers. The ability to connect the dots (intellectual) and to connect to people (emotional) will differentiate us from AI, add values for our stakeholders and to remain relevant as trusted business partners – guardians to the organisation.

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

(i) Get the right stakeholders involved. Depending on the crisis, the usual stakeholders are Managing Director (top management), government affairs, brands and communications, head of departments relevant to the crises. Where needed, obtain external counsel or PR agency support (ii) Escalate and communicate early. There may be legal requirements which requires the issue to be announced. Formulate appropriate external or internal communication or FAQ and they need to be set at the right tone (iii) Be a good colleague and collaborate well. Crisis management is a collective effort and not a solo display of ego.

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

(i) Be proactive in reaching out to clients. This can take the forms but one of the examples is providing training on relevant topics to clients/stakeholders. When clients come across a subject matter which training was previously provided, they will be able to associate that to the lawyer providing that training. This is one way to stay relevant and connected with clients. (ii) Be empathetic and listen. Understand that your clients are lay persons who do not have legal background. It is comforting for clients to know that we are here to help them solve their issues. (iii) Simplify legal concepts and translate into actionable steps. To be relevant to clients, we need to simplify legal concepts that can be easily understandable and practical for them to resolve their issues.