Key team members: Shawn Chen, Joanne Yong, Michelle Loh, Geraldine Yeong, Claire Lopez, Denise Cheong, Arsandy R. D. Sirie, Janice Han, Michelle Lee, Joanne Loh, Chaitra Patel Jitendra, Jocelyn Lee, Antares Ramadhan Lubis, Fransisca Sintia Ninkeula, Le, Quy Chieu Hai and Gabrielle Leong

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

The Deloitte SEA practice comprises ten geographies with over 11,000 professionals. Our lawyers advise five business units across SEA and collaborate with global and regional stakeholders to implement legal initiatives and execute tactically across all legal matters affecting Deloitte SEA.

On significant transactions, we have been leading the negotiations on a complex master services agreement (MSA) with a leading global hospitality provider with a strong APAC regional presence. The MSA covers outsourced operate services to be provided by different Deloitte business service lines across multiple APAC geographies.

Managing the winding down of the Deloitte Guam firm (including its then-existing operations in American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau) and its exit from the Deloitte SEA network, considering our business strategy and local market environment.

Can you sum up the team culture or ethos?

Continual competence and constant communication. The team aims to always punch above its weight, by ensuring that our work product has a positive influence on the outcome of any business decision. We do this by working hard to stay updated on the latest developments in our key areas of service: in litigation, corporate law, compliance, governance and inorganic growth, and staying in touch with the priorities of our colleagues in business and risk to ensure that any advice we give considers our business and our risks.

We also communicate within the team at all levels, constantly. By ensuring that all lawyers stay attuned to what legal matters are being dealt with by others in the team, we always ensure that, our lawyers are supported in their work by one another and also develop themselves personally in learning through the experience of others.

What steps do you take to ensure effective communication and collaboration with external counsel and other stakeholders during the dispute resolution process?

We work in tandem with external counsels by leaning on their expertise for specialised and technical areas of law while tapping on our own technical legal expertise as well as our in-depth understanding of Deloitte’s inner workings and business requirements. We do not simply outsource legal matters to counsel but bridge the gap between them and Deloitte by transforming their specialised and technical legal advice into actionable legal and business strategy. Our acute understanding of Deloitte’s desired business and risk objectives enable us to tease out the legal issues for any specialised advice by external counsel.

For complex multi-jurisdictional matters, we coordinate among various sets of external counsel. Clear communication on a common set of objectives is crucial for all external counsel teams to work towards the same outcome. We act as gatekeeper to ensure consistency in legal strategy and position pursued in each geography. In situations of conflict, we work with counsel to find complementary solutions that advance the SEA firm’s interests.

We give clear instructions as to scope of work and advice required, and honestly communicate expectations on capability and fee, as well as the views of stakeholders and business objectives, at the outset. This ensures alignment on the direction and desired outcome of a matter.

How does the in-house legal team contribute to the overall dispute resolution strategy of the organisation?

Our disputes capability manages and leads legal strategy for complex and high value civil, criminal and regulatory matters across SEA. We regularly handle matters involving novel jurisprudence as well as matters which require an understanding of technical accounting principles, auditing standards, and technology products and service offerings.

We advise on multiple high-profile contentious disputes and settlements involving private parties and regulatory authorities in countries across SEA. Our proactive and early involvement in potential disputes and regulatory interactions is necessary to ensure the protection of the brand. We regularly advise on pre-emptive, risk mitigating steps with a view to preventing the escalation of incidents into full-fledged proceedings. We also work closely with internal IT and Forensic teams for data preservation, collection and review performed via e-discovery platforms.