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Tell us a bit about your career so far.
I started my in-house career as a legal assistant in a newspaper/ publicly listed company. After five years, I eventually moved to two American MNCs, both as head of legal & corporate affairs/company secretary. To date, I have a total of 26 years of working experience as an in-house counsel and company secretary.
When I joined Avon, I was only supporting the Malaysian market. But over time, my role was expanded to provide legal support to Avon offices in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.
How is being an in-house lawyer in your current organisation different from that of other companies?
The role then was more traditional, and some would probably view it narrowly, doing things like providing back office support and drawing out contracts, with no involvement in the management or decision-making of the business.
Now, the role of in-house counsel has become dynamic amid sweeping changes in the corporate world, such as financial crises and globalisation. Companies crossing borders to tap new market opportunities, laws like the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practice Act and Sarbanes-Oxley, modern business models, approaches to corporate management style, clients’ expectations, trends in the external marketplace, legislative and regulatory environments and escalating external legal cost also influenced how the role has evolved.
Because of these reasons, Avon recognised the value of in-house counsel. I’m part of the senior management team as well as various committees that work hand in glove with the other departments to support business initiatives and are involved in business operations early in the process.
An in-house counsel strives to be regarded as a trusted business partner of the company by:
- Applying the law and giving the business a competitive edge instead of telling the business people what the law is
- Providing clear, “black or white” answers
- Knocking on doors and sitting on the same table with the operations or business professionals to better understand the business and their issues
- Giving business professionals enough details about issues so that they can make decisions
- Monitoring the pulse of the business – understand operations, KPIs, and profit and loss
How many lawyers does your team consist of, and how does the structure work as a whole?
It’s “me, myself, I” in the legal department!
Avon is a matrix organisation wherein employees have a dual-reporting relationship. I report to the APAC regional counsel based in Singapore, and also do dotted-line reporting to the managing director of Malaysia and other functional regional and global heads. I’m part of the global legal team and have access to resources, precedents and best practices across the world.
All in-house counsels are part of the Avon global legal organisation, and we are constantly updated via teleconferences and emails. In APAC, we have monthly teleconferences with the rest of in-house counsels in Asia as well as one-on-one sessions with the APAC regional counsel.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
“An in-house counsel is not in the business of law but in the law of business. Therefore, you are a businessman first and a lawyer second.”