Team size: Five

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

Reviewing the EPC contract for a 110kV substation and providing support for the relevant statutory procedures throughout the process, where our firm is the leading party in the EPC contractor team.

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?

We progressively implement AI in our writing and research works. We are testing different AI products for document drafting, mainly ChatGPT and its counterparts from Microsoft and Google. It has been proven to be an extremely effective assistant in drafting short and straightforward documents. However, more effort is needed for long and complicated drafting. We recognise that the more complex the matter is, the more teaching is required to enhance the AI’s capability to apprehend and process it. Therefore, we agree to show one another how we “teach” AI and address issues based on our experience, all without any cost. Since then, we have all agreed that, with the help of AI, after the steep learning curve, our writing tasks are completed much faster without compromising precision.

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

In-house counsel have always played a key role in business operations. From my perspective, as Vietnamese regulations, particularly those in highly regulated and restricted industries like energy, public infrastructure, and pharmacy, become increasingly comprehensive and subject to stricter control, as well as more interconnected, in-house counsel will be more involved in steering the company’s direction through the strategic management of policies, contracts, and disputes.

What are some of the main trends impacting your industry in Vietnam?

After Covid-19, we have come to accept the fact that for legal jobs, working remotely can be as effective as working in the office. Hybrid work has become a popular trend among legal practitioners, completely changing how we work. E-contracts and digital signatures are widely accepted, online calls are preferred, and paperwork is minimised as much as possible.