What are the most significant cases or transactions that you have recently been involved in? 

A part of my role as a lead legal counsel in charge of corporate affairs involves handling claims and disputes that may have an impact on LINE’s services in Thailand and ensuring that the services are in compliance with the laws and regulations. The year 2023 has seen a number of impactful matters where failure to handle properly could lead to material adverse effects on LINE’s core businesses, thus demanding a great deal of my engagement with the works to ensure all potential legal risks are mitigated.

A good number of cases arise as a result of exertion of the administrative authority’s power based on overly broad interpretation of the laws (which no court precedent exists to support) where our company as a platform has been alleged of committing wrongdoings along with the users who use our services to engage in illegal activities. (Note: sharing of in-depth case details is limited by my confidentiality obligation). To address and resolve this kind of situation, I have provided my support mainly in three fronts: firstly, defense strategy and counterarguments for use with the case proceedings and subsequent escalation to police and prosecutor offices; secondly, constructive talks and potential collaboration with the alleging authority with a view of preventive cooperation to tackle the root cause, and lastly, managing expectation of all related internal stakeholders in the company group which involves not just the local management but also parents companies abroad. Wrapping this kind of issue can be time-consuming and can prolong; however, so far things have worked in our favor where some cases have been officially concluded without further damages on our side, be it monetary, reputation, or business interruption.

Apart from those cases posed by authorities, other recent significant cases come from our commercial partners. One of the main cases I have been involved in resolving arise from the media tycoon partner’s disagreement with the business practice and strategy that our content business team adopts which they claim to affect their rights without grounds to do so. To resolve this issue, I have worked closely with the business team by providing a wide range of legal support including legal opinion, necessary statements, and also a strategy for smooth landings for both parties with a view of preventing them from taking the case further to court while further maintaining the business relationship.

Lastly, in addition to the claims and disputes, one very important aspect of my work last year has been the implementation of legal compliance with the major law related to digital platform business (newly enacted by the name of the Royal Decree on the Digital Platform Services Regulation). As this law is intended as a regulatory tool to control how the online platform operates, many of our services are faced with more obligations and conditions to fulfill. Ensuring compliance with this law can be said to be another level of working on legal compliance as other previous compliance where most laws that our services are subject to are territorial. The extraterritorial effect of this law also means more challenges and works since our services are provided by offshore corporations, as opposed to dealing only with local stakeholders. The work substantially requires additional efforts from me in the process from the outset, from providing participating in the public hearings, attending meetings with the regulator, crafting a compliance plan, communicating with all related internal stakeholders to obtain the required information for submission, to completing annual filing which we have just successfully concluded in due time.

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

To answer this question, firstly we might need to glance back at what was asked of us to perform in this role in previous years. Looking back, we can see that the role has already transitioned from a passive function where counsels usually provide mainly supporting works working in the back of office to a more proactive and business-oriented function in which we partner with business teams and project owners as one taskforce unit. I believe that this transition has been a result of the ever-changing world of business which tends to move at a more rapid pace than what we have seen in the past.

With the fast-paced business context as a backdrop, it is therefore almost inevitable that the traditional passive role would sustain as businesspeople would prefer an instant helper when it comes to securing commercial deals.

Moving forward over the next five-ten years, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence and decentralized services, it is fair to assume that the role would evolve into one that can fill the legal risk gap to add value to or defend the interest of the business at that time. However, this does not mean that counsels will be asked to perform at a significantly faster speed than what the current state already is, but I believe we will be asked to own the project and provide comprehensive legal evaluation and solutions to unprecedented ideas, more than just to the question of whether it is legally feasible to proceed. The role would see preferred qualifications in certain new skill sets and cross-functional knowledge beyond purely legal discipline and I also take the view that being able to deliver quality services with integrity and human empathy would be one important expected characteristic which in turn would also shape how the role will gradually evolve to be.

How do you motivate and manage your legal team well?

Considering my leadership evaluation score at my company, I feel confident enough to allow myself to give this topic a shot. In general, I think we all agree that there is no one-size-fits-all answer or approach to this question, but for me I usually start with the simple concept of treating others like how you want to be treated. Inversely, this also means avoiding doing what you would not want to be done on you.

Further, getting to know one another through various occasions from working hands-on together to team activities also proves to be essential for managing the team as it creates an opportunity for us to bond and view one another from different angles.

It is also important that the team direction and plans are clearly communicated and to make sure that all members are synchronized for the same goal. With a concrete final picture and ultimate rewards at the end of the tunnel, self-motivation is surely something that can be expected.