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

In the nine months since I joined Jabil, the legal and employment team have dealt with:

Labour and employment analyses of related policies and labour contracts in several jurisdictions to ensure compliance with new or amended labour and employment laws as well as employee privacy laws.

Creating and implementing templates and toolkits with training for stakeholders globally related to several labour and employment legal matters to arm them with tools to independently carry out their tasks and avoid litigation disputes.

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

Prepare for the crisis; it is better to be pro-active instead of having to take reactionary steps.

Research and stay ahead of legal and compliance aspects; get to know industry practices.

Listen and understand the business’ pain-points.

Communicate in the simplest manner.

Implement best practices and lessons learned from similar experiences.

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

In Malaysia, the general counsel’s role was viewed in narrow terms and seen as “policing” a company or business with legal rules and regulations. The expert legal knowledge of general counsel makes them uniquely qualified to explain the legal consequences of any action.

I believe that the role of a general counsel mainly involved highlighting legal risks from a strictly legal angle, mostly without recommendations or prescriptions. While this will not necessarily stop, the role will expand to being involved with a company’s branding, which comprises culture, profits, ESG and sustainability.

The role of the general counsel has expanded and will become more integral in coming years in Malaysia. As regulations change rapidly and the threat of litigation rises, general counsel has also increasingly become a member of top management teams who gets involved in legal matters and offers advice on business issues. They understand the business and serve as the go-to counsellor for CEOs and board members on points of law, ethics, global mobility issues, crisis management, public policies, corporate citizenship, and responsibilities.

The legal department under the general counsel’s leadership will partner with the business in achieving its strategic and business goals with pro-active, creative, and compliant advice while armed with the latest technology and knowledge.

How important is choosing to work with external lawyers who align with your company’s values? Are you likely to reconsider what firms you work with based on this?

Alignment with the company’s ethical values is a core, non-negotiable requirement for the external lawyers I work with. Furthermore, alignment with a company’s environmental, social and governance goals would also be ideal.