Team size: 15

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

The legal team has recently negotiated and established a joint venture in Vietnam. We are also co-driving key commercial projects for the company in the end market and area.

Further, we successfully managed various audits, including State audits, tax audits and customs audits for the last 11 years for different companies, as well as developing and embedding comprehensive compliance agenda and programs.

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?

Together with the team, we have automated several legal processes and procedures, including the automation of contract management databases and deployment of DocuSign to improve contract management and to shorten approval process.

We have also been driving for the development and application of compliance guidelines (including explanation of requirements and evidence required to satisfy compliance requirements) to drive consistency and improvement, and to increase effectiveness for the legal team in driving the compliance agenda.

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

The risk of non-compliance with regulation and compliance in Vietnam, and worldwide, is increasing, therefore, the importance of corporate governance will certainly increase over time. As such, it is expected that more general counsel will be appointed to board positions more regularly.

General counsel are expected to operate as more than legal experts. They are expected to be more commercial and strategic, and to act as a director and leader of an organisation.

As in-house legal departments become more and more financially burdened, general counsel must embrace technology, innovation, and new ways of working to effectively lead the legal function in the coming years.