Team size: five 

Could you share an example of a time when you came up with an innovation that improved how your legal team works and did not come at a large expense?  

Through proactive risk management and to prevent loss of time (to meet regulatory requirements) as well as to secure the best solution without any business interruption, I helped draft a Product Recall Guideline for the business since none existed in the past. The main focuses were on Voluntary Recall (violation) and Voluntary Recall (non-violation), authority’s orders, with the following countries in scope: Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, and South Korea. 

Product recalls can arise from various factors such as operational issues occurring by mistake or compliance issues due to inconsistent labelling information. Examples include: (i) excess information on the label due to reformulation by removing one of the raw materials from the recipe, resulting in labelling information becoming inconsistent with the product; (ii) missing ingredients on the label due to reformulation by adding new raw materials to the recipe; (iii) minor changes in ingredient specifications due to changing the source of ingredients to use alternative suppliers; and (iv) non-compliance of the formulation with local regulations. Therefore, the guideline was streamlined to improve the working process. 

In addition to independent self-research, I engaged an international law firm to help gather laws, rules, regulations, and protocols of each country in scope and summarise them into 1–2-page documents per country in simple, business user-friendly terms. 

Are the effects of AI on the legal world overplayed, or underplayed? 

Human analysis, in a sense, portrays significant analytical skills as morals and cultural norms come into play when determining solutions to safeguard one’s interests or help shape one onto the right path. These human analytical skills are obtained through years of education, work, and life experiences. Lawyers should carefully consider ways in which AI could be utilised, as relying excessively on AI-generated opinions, contract drafting, and so on, may jeopardise self-credibility. It is inarguable that AI will play a significant role in the realm of lawyering as it can assist in various aspects, such as legal research, document/contract review and writing, due diligence, IP search and monitoring, compliance, document management, and more. In conclusion, whether AI is overplayed or underplayed shall depend on an individual’s perspective; however, I am of the view that AI is underplayed, as lawyers tend to rely more on traditional ways of working, which involve self-revision, analysis, and intuition.