Team size: 20

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

On May 8, 2023, GCash, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mynt, experienced multiple deliberate phishing attempts which happened outside the GCash mobile application. Multiple users were affected including celebrities and political figures, which caused the dissatisfaction to go viral. This not only drew the attention of the public, but of various government agencies and political figures.

During this time, the legal group was highly involved in all aspects of decision-making, ensuring that no further reputational damage, among others, would be sustained by the company due to the growing public sentiment. The team was directly involved with mitigating measures such as meeting up with various figures to provide them with a walkthrough of what happened and explaining to them the steps proactively taken by the company to prevent the same incident in the future.

As we live in a fast-paced world today, what skills will a corporate legal team need to succeed in the modern in-house industry?

For the past few years, the industry has evolved and has become more competitive. In-house counsels are no longer working under the same expectations as they were in the past. While technical knowledge is still valued, I have observed that apart from hard skills, soft skills are indispensable in propelling one’s career in the right direction.

Having the right emotional intelligence, agility, and flexibility allows the corporate legal team to build more successful relationships, not only within the team and the company, but even externally. Additionally, a corporate legal team, to succeed in a fast-paced world, should be savvy, innovative, and decisive, to keep up with the developments and expectations of the business.

Why are in-house lawyers well-placed to drive change in their organisations?

In-house counsel are placed at the heart of any corporation. A corporation’s legal department ensures the smooth circulation of all operations of the business by keeping it free from any possible legal harm or threat which could affect the performance and the reputation of the business. Its primary role is to enable other units and departments to perform their functions without fear of any legal implications.

Changes in internal policies including standard operating procedures could create a permanent or a substantial impact on the business, as these policies and procedures serve as the backbone of the company. Such policies and procedures are commonly crafted by, or formulated with the guidance of the in-house counsel, influenced by legislative changes, and emerging best practices. These changes in policies and procedures are what fuels any organisation to be versatile, and progress in the industry they belong to.