What are the most significant cases or transactions that you have been involved in over the past year?

In addition to M&A deals, I have had some achievements after working hard for a year. I would like to brief as follows:

Our company had a labour dispute with a Korean employee, which was complicated because the governing law is Korean law and the employee initiated a criminal procedure for wage arrears. The amount of compensation requested by the employee was too high and if we could not reach an agreement with him, our company may have had significant troubles in Korea. I was assigned to come to Korea to find a Korean law firm and meet the employee to settle this dispute. After discussions, we could reach an agreement on the compensation and our company could save almost US$63k in this case. I learned more about Korean labour law after this case.

Before joining Bamboo Airways, I used to work for a multinational company in the logistic industry. Our team consisted of 32 members working at eight branches nationwide. Initially, there was a lack of cohesion in the team, which made it difficult to manage the work of the Legal Department. When I took on the role of Head of the Legal Department, I changed the way we worked and conducted internal restructure of the Legal Department. As a result, just one month later, we had a united Legal Department working towards a common goal. The communication between the legal team in headquarters and those in the branches became much smoother.

To enhance the corporate governance of the company, I suggested to issue internal regulations as well as procedures. Within one month, our team finished three internal regulations and one important internal procedures for controlling the loss of properties.

Based on your experience, what is the key to collaborating successfully with business partners?

In my opinion, the most important thing to successfully work with business teams is showing the values and benefits we can bring to them if they work with us.

When the business teams come to us, they always expect to receive a practical and legal solutions from us. Thus, what the legal team should do is understanding clearly the business team’s request and demands. After that, based on our legal background, experience as well as business mindset, we should find an appropriate advice that can help the business teams solve their problems and help the company avoid any potential risks.

How do you motivate and manage the other members of your legal team well?

Managing a team and keep our team members motivated all the time is not easy and takes time. Below are some of my experience in this matter.

First, as the team leader, I always consider developing the team and motivating employees as one of my top priorities. Despite my busy schedule, I always make time to talk and share with team members to understand the issues they are facing with. I will also try to help them overcome obstacles so they can work with peace of mind.

Second, I respect the differences in their personality and respect any ideas or opinions they have. Each team member can involve in all legal work, freely express their own opinions and engage in discussions to solve problems.

Third, I recognise the contributions of each member in the overall results of the department. I do not mind saying “thank you” to my staffs and showing their contribution to other people.

Finally, making them feel safe when they work with me is really important. We cannot expect our employees to be loyal to us and devote to the development of the team if they find it to be risky and unstable when they work with us.

I believe that legal work is hard, but if we have a dream team, we can overcome all challenges.