Team size: Three 

Key team members: Sahachai Wibuloutai, Prairie Punsoni, Ard Sakuntanakalap 

Spotlight on… 

PwC Mekong Office of General Counsel is led by regional general counsel, Sahachai Wibuloutai, supported by senior legal manager, Prairie Punsoni and legal manager, Ard Sakuntanakalap. 

The team takes an individualistic and collaborative approach by capitalising on the personal qualities of its in-house lawyers. According to Sahachai, each lawyer has his or her own work portfolios based on personal interest, expertise and internal clients based on lines of service. In structuring work assignments, Sahachai gives freedom to each lawyer to choose what area of expertise they want to develop based on the main categories of internal legal operations such as client contracting, risk and dispute management, government affairs, policy compliance and strategic projects. He encourages team members to proactively take the lead in collaborating the efforts of all stakeholders in managing assignments and strategic projects. 

In a post-pandemic world, the legal team has explored innovative ways to respond to uncertainties driven by the rapid changes in the data-driven economy, and considers ways to provide human-led, tech-powered legal solutions to the business. Per Sahachai, “digital transformation has become a top strategic priority for corporate legal departments around the globe, and we are at the forefront of this global trend by positioning our in-house team as one of the first Southeast Asia’s legal teams that implements the legal department transformation in partnership with our NewLaw team. We are reimagining new ways of working by exploring legal innovations and legal technology, particularly those in relation to legal process optimisation, contract automation, contract lifecycle management and generative AI to improve the way we deliver legal services with greater efficiency and productivity.” 

 PwC enjoys a competitive advantage as the only one of the Big Four firms licensed to use Harvey, a game-changing generative AI platform built on OpenAI’s GPT-4, using natural language processing, machine learning and data analytics to automate and enhance various aspects of legal work.