ALB Conversations

Chowdhary talks to ALB about why increased focus on corporate culture is critical in delivering long- term business success, how the ‘tone at the top’ embeds and operationalises the company’s culture, and the key initiatives that she has endeavoured to drive in her role.

Zulfiquar Memon, founder and managing partner at MZM Legal, talks about his motto of living by “experiment & exploration”, how the firm successfully navigated through the pandemic and its strategy of investing in young talent while giving them the freedom to explore and innovate .

Bahram N. Vakil, co-founder and senior partner at AZB & Partners, talks about why the firm is more focused on quality than size, how AZB’s lawyers dealt with challenges posed by the pandemic, and why he prefers not to have solo superstars but rather team players.

Puneet Bansal, managing partner of Nitya Tax Associates talks about the firm’s strategy which revolves around knowledge, the need for a firm’s culture to be based on integrity and his motto of integrity and ethics being paramount for success.

Andrew Powner, managing partner of Hong Kong law firm Haldanes, talks about a how a football team influenced his decision to join the firm, why his management style might be like the United Nations, and the prescience of his grandmother’s words.

Chris Lambert, managing partner of Hong Kong’s Robertsons, talks about the necessity for business owners to stay flexible during the pandemic, the need for fostering individual talents rather than nurturing a fixed idea of how a typical lawyer should be and the firm’s plan to remain an important participant among independent law firms in the city.

Mino Han, a partner at Peter & Kim’s Seoul office, talks about how he joined the specialised arbitration boutique, how the firm is “uniquely” placed to fill a big void in the disputes landscape, and how happy lawyers lead to happy clients.

Keith Brandt is managing partner of Dentons Hong Kong, and also acts as head of litigation and dispute resolution. In this chat with ALB, he talks about how he launched the original iteration of the firm nearly two decades ago, his unflinching determination to succeed, and how much he appreciates the lobby team at Starbucks in Jardine House.

Paul Christopher, Hong Kong managing partner of offshore law firm Mourant, talks about how he helped build the office from one person to 50 people over the course of a decade, the pride he feels in the team’s 60-40 female/male ratio, the importance of staying fit.

Hooi Bien Chuah talks to ALB about how the legal team supported Lazada Malaysia’s launch of new initiatives in the e-commerce market, and why working for causes greater than oneself can make work “super meaningful and motivating.”