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

With the borders re-opened, business recovery, and stronger customer demand for travelling and other products, Warisan TC Holdings and its group of companies has resumed its plans for the regional expansion of its travel business and product range – particularly its vehicle distributorship business.

To support the business expansion, the legal team is involved in the negotiation and finalisation of distribution and related agreements with overseas principals; and providing legal advice and reviewing agreements and documents to support regional expansion whether organically or through acquisition.

In the quest to achieve a net-zero economy by 2050, the Malaysian government has taken initiatives to urge businesses to embrace sustainability practices with a focus on climate-related risk and opportunities. The group, as a listed issuer, faces more stringent regulatory requirements, established to hasten sustainability governance, management, and reporting. Investors, bankers, customers, and employees of the group have also placed an increased importance in their decision-making process to ensure that their respective selected investees, customers, suppliers, and employers are sustainable in their businesses and operations.

The legal team has found itself at the forefront of driving the sustainability efforts of the group. They were involved in putting the sustainability framework in place, setting up the sustainability working group and working closely with business units and support functions to conduct material assessment on and prioritisation of the group’s sustainability matters. The legal team has also worked to identify the related risk and opportunities, and set the group’s sustainability strategy, goals, indicators, and targets, ensuring compliance with the amended Main Market Listing Requirement on sustainability, the Bursa Malaysia Sustainability Reporting Guide, and other relevant standards.

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

To succeed in the modern in-house industry, a corporate legal team must possess an inquisitive mind, foresight, embrace changes and adopt modern technology to stay relevant.

Strength in providing legal advice and drafting agreements alone is no longer sufficient; a corporate legal team must have business and financial astuteness to provide pragmatic and commercially viable advice that align with the organisation’s strategy, priorities, risks, and tolerance to maximum return within an acceptable risk level.

The corporate legal team must be versatile, effective, and ready to be stretched and transformed to cover more spectrum of work and support the business growth within a short period of time, using a controlled budget.

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

Possessing a good understanding of the business, operations, strategy, and priorities of the internal business partners and being able to listen and provide commercially viable solution are pivotal to building strong relationships with business partners.

Taking the approach of “working together for the betterment of the organisation” and not fault finding will gain trust and confidence from internal business partners over time. This will encourage them to share critical information and engage in-house lawyers in business initiatives at an early stage. Consequently, business goals and organisational risks can be better achieved and managed.