MCI (P) 041/02/2020 THE · 2020. 6. 11. · mci (p) 041/02/2020 issn 0219 – 6875 kdn pps...

MCI (P) 041/02/2020Issn 0219 – 6875

KDn PPs 1867/10/2015(025605)

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H O W C O V I D H A S I M P A C T E D A S I A’ S L E G A L I N D U S T R Y

T H EV I R U S

C R I S I SA N D W H E R E L AW F I R M S G O F R O M H E R E

1ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS – JUNE 2020W W W.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM

C O N T E N T S

C O V E R S T O R Y20The virus crisisThe COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across countries and industries, and the region’s legal services sector is not immune. Here’s how lawyers are currently weathering the storm, and what they need to do to rebound when it’s all over.By Elizabeth Beattie

Plus:- Protecting

Employers from COVID-19 – A Practical Guide

F E A T U R E S14Technology to the forefrontThe COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted normal life across the globe, but with more people working – and spending time – at home than ever before, the need for technology in both daily life and business has been unprecedented. In this roundtable, we speak to in-house lawyers at tech companies to understand the impact the pandemic on their

teams and their companies, as well as the lessons they have learnt during this tumultuous time.

28Independent in IndonesiaLaw firms in Indonesia have a choice – enter into an association with an international law firm or go their own way. Here, independent law firms in the country talk about the reasons behind their decision, and why they feel it has been vindicated.

31Help at handAs law firms across the region size up the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, legal networks are assisting them in responding to the crisis.

B R I E F S3The Briefing

4Forum

6Explainer

7Deals

8Appointments

10Q&A

13League Tables

People wear protective face masks as they take their lunch breaks at the financial Central district, following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, in Hong Kong, China March 2, 2020. REUTERs/Tyrone siu

20The virus crisis

2 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS – JUNE 2020 W W W.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM

RANAJIT DAMManaging Editor,Asian Legal BusinessThomson Reuters

Welcome to a brand-new world. Try to imagine what your life and work will look like in the near(ish) future when the dust from the coronavirus outbreak has settled. Do you see yourself going to the office in the same way that you did in December last year? Interact with your colleagues and clients in the same way? Do the same kind of work in the same manner? I think that for most of us, the answers to more than one of those questions will be no. The ground beneath us has shifted noticeably. COVID-19 has exposed many things globally; at a personal level, it has forced us to examine our priori-ties. What truly matters to us at this point is what will

take us forward from here. Already both law firms and in-house departments are starting to draw up strategies for a world post-pandemic. They know, as you and I do, that it will little resemble the one that existed before COVID-19 turned everything upside down.

There will be fallout for lawyers, of course. As one of the interviewees in our comprehensively researched cover story by Elizabeth Beattie says, coronavirus has sped up the transformation that the legal industry might have undergone over a few years. Technology will automate a number of basic processes and tasks, so what some law firms might have counted as their “bread and butter” work over the years will probably simply cease to exist. However, as another inter-viewee points out, there will always be room for a good lawyer. The pandemic

has forced the industry into a period of reckoning. Can we set up to the challenges of this brand-new world? Can we hone new skills? Can we better utilise our existing resources? Can we become agile and innovate when we need to? The answers to these questions might just decide our fate in the long run.

Asian Legal Business is available by subscription. Please visit www.legalbusinessonline.com for details.Asian Legal Business has an audited average circulation of 11,402 as of 30 september 2016.Copyright is reserved throughout. no part of this publication can be reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of the editor. Contributions are invited, but copies of work should be kept, as Asian Legal Business can accept no responsibility for loss.

MCI (P) 041/02/2020Issn 0219 – 6875KDn PPs 1867/10/2015(025605)

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sALEs MAnAGERs

Amy SimSales Director, SE Asia, India and Japan(65) 6870 [email protected]

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M&A ACTIVITYEXPECTED TO

GRADUALLY RETURN


Average annual legal spend of theworld’s best in-house legal departments,

according to a report published by theAssociation of Corporate Counsel. Of this

figure, $12.9 million goes to external counsel.

THE BRIEFInG: YOUR MOnTHLY nEED-TO-KnOW

30% - Decrease in new legal mattersopened each week in the U.S, since thestart of the year, according to research

conducted by legal tech firm Clio.

In THE nEWs

Allen & Overy, Hogan Lovells,Jenner & Block and Ropes & Gray

are among the law firms in theU.s. that have been praised for

being female- and family-friendly,according to Yale Law Women’s

2020 report.

The International Bar Association(IBA) is looking to advance in its

fight against inappropriateworkplace behaviour one year

after the publication of its Us Too?Bullying and sexual Harassment

in the Legal Profession report.Over the past year, the Us Too?global campaign has extendedfrom Australia to new Zealand,

Europe, Asia and the U.s.

According to a survey conductedby legal marketing companyMartindale-Avvo, more than

80 percent of U.s. law firms sawtheir revenue decline as a result

of COVID-19, with more than27 percent of these firms

reporting earnings dropping bymore than half. This was evidentin firm spending - only 5 percent

increased their marketing outlays,while nearly 20 percent cut staffthrough layoffs and furloughs.However, it is not that demand

has fallen away completely;52 percent of clients said thatthey would still hire lawyers

during the COVID-19 pandemic.

MAJORITY OF U.S. LAW FIRMSREPORT REVENUE DROPS

FROM COVID-19

A statement from the Hong KongBar Association says that the proposedHong Kong National Security Law has“worrying and problematic features.”

QUOTE UnQUOTE

“THIs Is UnPRECEDEnTED.

THE PUBLIC MUsT BE

ALLOWED THE OPPORTUnITY

TO PROPERLY COnsIDER

AnD DEBATE ABOUT

PROPOsED LAWs WHICH

AFFECT THEIR PERsOnAL

RIGHTs AnD OBLIGATIOns.”

M I L L I O N

As the COVID-19 pandemicaftershocks continue, mergers andacquisitions are expected to slowly

return over the next 12 months,according to the EY Global Capital

Confidence Barometer (CCB).The survey found that around

75 percent respondents insoutheast Asia and another

74 percent globally believe therewill be increased competition

to buy assets in the year ahead.Most companies are assuming a

recovery in the medium-term,with 47 percent of the respondents

in southeast Asia indicating thatthey will actively pursue M&A over

the next 12 months.


B R I E F S

F O R U M

NAVIGATING THE NEW NORMALAs COVID-19 disrupts business and leaves lawyers working from home, one big impact has been on the mental health of legal professionals. Law firms say they are looking to bolster their existing resources to enable their lawyers to get through these uncertain times.

HOW Is YOUR FIRM sUPPORTInG EMPLOYEE MEnTAL HEALTH DURInGTHE COVID-19 OUTBREAK? DO YOU HAVE A PROGRAMME In PLACE,

OR ARE YOU COnsIDERInG ROLLInG OnE OUT?

SHIRIN TANG, Singapore managing partner, Morrison & FoersterMorrison & Foerster has a longstanding global program focusing on employees’ mental wellbeing, which includes training partners and business leaders to manage and encourage positive mental health within their teams. As part of this program, we have been providing COVID-19 “community support” through various initiatives, including in Asia. Firm leadership, led by our mental health steering committee, sets an open and encouraging tone by circulating a weekly “check-in” email to everyone firmwide, candidly discussing the mental health challenges of the pandemic and providing helpful resources. One initiative that employees have found particularly helpful is a live webinar series titled “The new normal – How to Work, Parent, and self-Care During the Crisis.” Led by family therapists, the series provides guidance and comfort during the pandemic, through which colleagues receive emotional support and strategies to manage feelings of isolation or anxiety, remote work, home-schooling and co-parenting (with separate sessions based on the age groups of their children), and other issues during these trying times. The webinars begin with an overview of topical “challenges and opportunities, then address questions and concerns submitted by attendees in advance. Following the strong reception of these internal programmes, we have offered similar events for clients and friends of the firm.

SATPAL GOBINDPURI, Asia regional co-managing partner, DLA PiperAt DLA Piper, we have always prioritised the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees. Healthy, happy and productive employees are critical to the success of our firm. Employees in Asia generally operate in high-pressure environments with long working hours, and

as such can be particularly susceptible to developing depression, anxiety and other serious mental health issues. Mental health is increasingly recognised as equally important as physical health, however, the discussion of mental health is often still avoided due to shame, stigma, or a lack of general knowledge. As an employer, we have a duty of care to ensure all our employees have access to mental health support services, as well as playing a role in wider society to help to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health. The COVID-19 pandemic has been extremely stressful for everyone and has brought a renewed focus on mental health. We recently launched our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) which consists of many components, but at its core, it provides short-term, solution-based counselling to all of our staff members and their family members, either by telephone, face to face or via the internet, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition to counselling, employees can access an online portal containing a multitude of health and wellbeing resources including information and advice on coping with anxiety, parenting during the COVID-19 outbreak and key tips on working from home.

MAY TAI, Asia managing partner;DANIELLE KELLY, head of diversity and inclusion, Herbert Smith FreehillsOur existing systemic approach to mental health and wellbeing has been essential to supporting the mental health of our people during the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), our global mental health champion programme and a range of online resources. But these have been extraordinary times - early in the crisis, our in-house psychologist provided a workshop for people leaders on how best to support their teams remotely during this crisis. Over the past four months, we have curated

TAnG

GOBInDPURI

TAI

KELLY

LARsOn


B R I E F S

an online library of articles, webinars, videos and factsheets available to our people, covering stress, dealing with uncertainty, health, parenting, eldercare, etc. In disconnected times, the personal touch has been essential. With crisis teams active in each office in Asia, communication and check-ins have greatly increased. HR teams and team leaders have stayed in touch with their people regularly and supported those at risk of isolation or in need of special assistance. As restrictions on office facilities begin to relax, we are now surveying our people to understand concerns about this phase of “reopening,” and adjusting our plans office by office to respond to that feedback. There have been two key learnings for us as we navigate this crisis. The first is the importance of having an organisation-wide systemic approach to mental health so that we can quickly leverage these systems in a time of crisis. The second is the ease with which our people and clients have adapted to online learning – which has opened a range of possibilities for us to continue online learning options as we emerge from the pandemic.

KRISTA LARSON, director of employee wellbeing, Morgan Lewis & BockiusFor more than a year, Morgan Lewis has formalised its commitment to well-being through ML Well, a multi-dimensional program designed to promote thriving among our lawyers and professional staff. The firmwide nature of ML Well’s infrastructure, including a Global Working Group with members in Asia—which already included a broad spectrum of virtual well-being initia-tives and an information portal—made for a seamless transition in programming in the face of COVID-19. In addition to our existing mental health workshop and monthly Action Impact video series where I address a range of topics, we now host a variety of virtual programs, such as firmwide meditation breaks and stress management workshops, all via phone and streaming services. We have also increased the frequency of communication about the firm’s well-being resources, including daily tips, strategies, and infor-mation about ‘well-being while social distancing’ and working remotely. This expanded content emphasizes the benefits of mindfulness, time management, nutri-tion, movement and connectedness, and it includes resources such as websites parents and caregivers can visit for help with home-schooling, and stories of resilience from across the Morgan Lewis commu-nity that help keep us connected while we’re apart. Additionally, we recently rolled out multiple enhance-ments to our behavioural health benefits, including virtual therapist, psychiatrist, and nutritionist services through telehealth. Especially now as people around the world engage in social distancing, we’re glad to be able to offer virtual resource so people can continue to seek professional support for behavioural health.

STEPHENSON HARWOOD, VINSON &ELKINS TO CLOSE IN BEIJING

stephenson Harwood and U.s. law firm Vinson & Elkins have announced they will be closing their Beijing offices.

While V&E maintains a presence in Hong Kong, there are no partners at that office. At present, the firm has only one Asia-based partner – Jennifer Chen – in Tokyo.

The firm said in a statement that the decision was made so as to “carefully manage our offices and practices to ensure their alignment to client needs and the firm’s overall strategic goals.”

V&E first established its Beijing office in 1997, with shanghai and Hong Kong offices following in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

V&E had previously stated on its website that its China practice focused “primarily on the energy sector,” including advising on acquisitions and joint ventures on projects of oil and gas, cross-border pipeline, coal and gas-fired power generation, as well as clean energy.

Its clients included Chinese energy giants like CnPC, sinopec and CnOOC. It has advised sinopec on more than $15 billion worth of transactions, including a joint venture with saudi Aramco and acquisition of Brazil’s Repsol Brasil.

However, the firm’s practice in Greater China has gone through a series of changes since 2013. It first closed its shanghai office that year to “consolidate China practice into Beijing and Hong Kong offices and concentrate more of the firm’s mainland China resources in Beijing, where many of its energy clients are based.”

V&E also moved a couple of partners in China to other offices and saw longtime Beijing-based partner nicholas song leaving for Dechert, along with four other members of the firm’s China practice, in 2017.

The firm says its Hong Kong office “remains open and we are evaluating our plans there going forward.”

Meanwhile, stephenson Harwood set up its Beijing office in 2013, initially with just two legal directors. The office got a boost in 2018 with the arrival of partner Allen shyu and his eleven-lawyer team from Troutman saunders.

However, shyu left just one year later to join Akin Gump. The office currently has just one partner - Lin Chunhui – and she will be leaving later this year.

Following a review of its Asia business, the firm will also refocus its Hong Kong business to better align with its core practices, namely litigation, corporate M&A and asset finance, as well as develop its private wealth capability.

In Greater China, stephenson Harwood will be left with offices in shanghai and Hong Kong, and an association with Wei Tu Law Firm in Guangzhou.

The firm’s practices in Asia now generate around 25 percent of its revenue.


B R I E F S

E X P L A I N E R

EASING THE ECONOMIC IMPACTThe COVID-19 outbreak has had a

devastating economic impact across the region, with businesses shuttered and markets crashing. To mitigate the impact locally, singapore has responded by introducing a new bill that aims to ease economic pressures on businesses and individuals. The COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act, was passed in parliament in April, and is now fully in effect.

WHAT IS THE SCOPE OFTHE BILL?sim Kwan Kiat, head of Rajah & Tann singapore’s restruc-turing and insolvency practice, says the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act aims to provide targeted, temporary relief to those in certain contracts unable to perform their obligations as a result of the pandemic. “The act applies to specific types of contracts – including (a) tourism and events related contracts, (b) construction contracts and perfor-mance bonds related to such

contracts, (c) certain bank loans to small and medium enterprises in singapore which are secured by non-residential immovable property or fixed assets used for business purposes, and (d) leases and licences over non-residential property,” sim says, adding that there is a time limit — the prescribed relief period is six months from the time the act comes into effect.

should there be disputes, an assessor appointed by the Ministry of Law will make a final, non-appealable determination. “With regard to winding up or bankruptcy applications during the prescribed period, the Act also extends the timelines for statutory demands in general (from 21 days to 6 months) and the minimum monetary thresh-olds for bankruptcy applications (from s$15,000 – or $10,600, to s$60,000), and for statu-tory demands for winding up

applications (from s$10,000 to s$100,000),” sim adds.

WHAT KIND OFCLARIFICATIONS AREBUSINESSES SEEKING?Prakash Pillai, a partner at Clyde & Co, says in the short term, the act is likely to cause “an uptick in parties to the sched-uled contracts – for example, in the tourism, hospitality and construction sectors – seeking advice on whether they can avail themselves of the tempo-rary relief provisions under the Act, or conversely, whether their contractual counterparties are entitled to claim such relief.”

Additionally, with the act being so recently deployed, parties are also likely to seek legal advice on what exactly consti-tutes a “COVID-19 event” under the Act, Pillai says.

While there is likely to be a reduction in the number of winding up and bankruptcy appli-cations during the prescribed period, sim says, lawyers are likely to be kept busy.

“We expect to see lawyers being active in advising on the scope and effect of the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020, how parties’ rights are affected, and on the process of determina-tion by assessors (though parties cannot be represented by lawyers in the determination process),” he says.

Meanwhile, businesses should not be sitting idly — instead, they are advised to take an active approach in attempting to understand the broad effect of the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 and how it impacts them, Kiat adds.

“If a business faces diffi-culty in performing its contrac-tual obligations because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it should seek legal advice on the effect of the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 and how it


B R I E F S

may seek relief. The counterparty should also seek advice on how its rights may have been restrained, in particular, whether and what legal action it may take during the prescribed period,” he says.

ARE OTHER TYPES OFLEGISLATION LIKELY TOBE PUT IN PLACE?While there doesn’t appear to be further specific COVID-19 targeted measures, one recent legislative development that is being keenly awaited is singapore newly enacted Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act

D E A L S

$6.2 BLNSingapore Airlines’issuance of rightsDeal Type: ECMFirm: Allen & GledhillJurisdiction: singapore

$3.4 BLNGlaxoSmithKline’ssale of stake inHindustan UnileverDeal Type: M&AFirms: AZB & Partners; Cleary Gottlieb steen & Hamilton; Latham & WatkinsJurisdictions: India, UK

$2 BLNAir Products’investment incoal-to-methanolproject in IndonesiaDeal Type: Project FinanceFirms: Latham & Watkins; Mishcon de ReyaJurisdictions: Indonesia, singapore, U.s.

$1.9 BLNCEXIM’s financingthe Hungarian sectionof Budapest-Belgraderailway projectDeal Type: Project FinanceFirms: Herbert smith Freehills; Wolf TheissJurisdictions: China, Hungary, serbia

$1.5 BLNVista Equity Partners’acquisition of stake inJio PlatformsDeal Type: M&AFirms: AZB & Partners; Kirkland & Ellis; shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.Jurisdictions: India, U.s.

$875 MLNGeneral Atlantic’sacquisition of stake inJio PlatformsDeal Type: M&AFirms: AZB & Partners; Davis Polk & Wardwell; Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison; shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.Jurisdictions: India, U.s.

$510 MLNKingsoft Cloud’sU.S. IPODeal Type: IPOFirms: Davis Polk & Wardwell; Fangda Partners; Han Kun Law Offices; Kirkland & EllisJurisdictions: China, U.s.

$302 MLNPeijia Medical’s HK IPODeal Type: IPOFirms: Campbells Law Firm; Guangdong Junlong Law Firm; Hengtai Law Offices; Herbert smith Freehills; Jingtian & Gongcheng; O’Melveny & MyersJurisdictions: China, Hong Kong

(IRDA), which has not yet come into effect, says Pillai.

Considering the recent developments, this may be rolled out more swiftly. “With the likely economic fallout that will result from the COVID-19 pandemic, getting the IRDA online has taken on a new significance. The IRDA gives companies and creditors a number of potential mechanisms to restructure their businesses and hopefully trade out of any distressed financial situation caused by COVID-19,” Pillai says.

But it’s too early to predict

additional COVID-19 legisla-tive developments, sim says, adding that singapore is likely to “assess and review the situa-tion in deciding what other types of measures are needed.”

“It is important to try to maintain a balance between the interests of parties who could not perform their obligations and the counterparties’ rights under the contracts. COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Act 2020 does not extinguish contractual rights and obligations; it merely suspends certain legal actions during the prescribed period,” he adds.


B R I E F S

R&T, COOLEY, CMSSET UP WORLD’SFIRST OPEN INDUSTRYPLATFORM FORLEGAL MATTERS

Rajah & Tann Asia, Cooley and CMs have joined forces to launch Lupl, a global legal tech collaboration plat-form connecting lawyers in more than 100 jurisdictions.

Lupl, a matter synchronisation software which was also developed with other law firms and corporations, is billed as the world’s first open plat-form for legal matters.

The wider law firm testing group includes slaughter and May, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Khaitan & Co and One Essex Court. The plat-form also has an advisory board of 16 in-house lawyers from a variety of companies.

Lupl was set up to synchro-nise legal data acquisition including people, documents, information, communications and technology applications, in a single secure space, helping lawyers and legal depart-ments to work together on legal matters.

According to a statement from Lupl, besides having launched a website, the platform will continue to operate in private beta ahead of a wider public release later this year or in early 2021.

A P P O I N T M E N T S

ALINA ARORALE AV I N G

L&L Partners

J O I N I N GShardul Amarchand Mangaldas

P R AC TI C ECorporate

LO C ATI O NDelhi

KENNETH CHINGLE AV I N G

Shearman & Sterling

J O I N I N GBaker McKenzie

P R AC TI C EFinance

LO C ATI O NHong Kong

YONGSANG KIMLE AV I N G

O’Melveny & Myers

J O I N I N GYulchon

P R AC TI C EInternational Dispute Resolution

LO C ATI O NSeoul

SHAUN LANGHORNELE AV I N G

Hogan Lovells

J O I N I N GClifford Chance

P R AC TI C ERestructuring

LO C ATI O NSingapore

JOHNNY LIMLE AV I N G

Shook Lin & Bok

J O I N I N GResource Law

P R AC TI C ECorporate


LIN YUANKAILE AV I N G

Bird & BirdJ O I N I N G

RPC Premier LawP R AC TI C E

International ArbitrationLO C ATI O NSingapore

NAVIN JOSEPH LOBOLE AV I N G

Bird & BirdJ O I N I N G

RPC Premier LawP R AC TI C E

Regulatory ComplianceLO C ATI O NSingapore

EMILY LOWLE AV I N G

Liquid GroupJ O I N I N G

Atlas Asia Law CorporationP R AC TI C EFinTech


BENJAMIN SZETOLE AV I N G

RHTLaw Taylor WessingJ O I N I N G

Atlas Asia Law CorporationP R AC TI C E

Wealth ManagementLO C ATI O NSingapore


To improve connectivity between its vast regions and support economic growth, Indonesia requires more infrastructure financing than ever. As an alternative to the existing Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, the Government of Indonesia has recently introduced a new form of concession, i.e. Limited Concession scheme (“LCS”) as stipulated under Presidential Regulation no. 32/2020 on Financing of Infrastructure through Limited Right of Utilization (“PR 32/2020”).

Through this regulation, private sector (including, limited liability company and foreign business entity) will be allowed to manage and operate existing infrastructure assets in the form of state-Owned Goods (Barang Milik Negara/“BMN”) or state-Owned Enterprises’ assets (“SOE Assets”), which consist of assorted types of infrastructure, namely: transportation (seaports, airports, railways and bus termi-nals), toll roads, water resources, sewerage and waste management systems, telecommunica-tions, power plants, renewable energy, oil and gas (“LCS Assets”).

To qualify as LCs Assets, the infrastructure shall already been in operation for at least two years, and the remaining life of the assets shall be at least ten years. The LCs Assets will be put on a long list and announced to public by KPPIP,

This financing scheme is expected to become a new funding alternative source for infrastructure development projects. With LCs model, the Government may “recycle” existing operational infrastructure assets to capitalize new development or upgrade of other assets using the fresh upfront money from private sector. In return, the private sector will be granted a concession to operate LCs Assets for certain period of time to guarantee its return of investment.

Private sector interested in the investment may participate in a prequalifying tender to be organized by the relevant authorized institution responsible for each asset. The tender will be based on the estimate value of the upfront fee to be determined the state’s valuer for BMn or by a qualified asset valuation company for sOE Assets.

The private sector granted with conces-sion shall transfer the upfront fee within 6 (six) months after the execution of LCs agreement. Upon transfer of the asset, private sector shall be fully responsible for the operation and main-tenance of the asset, including paying appli-cable tax associated with the asset. The private sector is expected to improve operational effi-ciency while maintaining services and perfor-mance of the asset.

Indonesia Enacts Limited Concession scheme toRecycle Existing Infrastructure Assets

BROUGHT TO YOU BY AYMP

an ad-hoc committee set up by the Government to accelerate development of priority infrastruc-ture projects in Indonesia.

Mutiara RengganisPartner

[email protected]

Ayu NoviantiAssociates

[email protected]

Armand Yapsunto Muharamsyah & PartnersGenerali Tower, Penthouse Floor,

Gran Rubina Business Park atRasuna Epicentrum, Jl. HR Rasuna Said,

Jakarta 12940, IndonesiaT: (62) 21 8370 7777W: www.aymp.law

(Reuters) Businesses are urging U.s. lawmakers to shield companies from what they fear could be a flood of lawsuits by workers and consumers blaming employers for exposing them to the new coronavirus.

But so far, court records show few such cases have been filed and some legal experts say the threat of liability is exaggerated because of the difficulty of proving where someone was infected.

Those cases haven’t materialized and I doubt they will,” David Vladeck, who teaches civil procedure at the Georgetown University Law Center, said recently at a U.s. senate Judiciary Committee hearing on a liability shield for businesses.

As of mid-May, only 45 of 1,018 coronavirus-related lawsuits were personal injury or medical malpractice cases against a business, the areas of most concern for trade groups. The

analysis was based on a case tracker by the Hunton Andrews Kurth law firm.

Of the 45 cases, 28 were against Princess Cruise Lines. The rest were against three other cruise lines, two meat processing companies, Walmart Inc, a senior living facility operator, two care centers, a hospital and a doctor’s group.

some state and local governments having eased restrictions imposed to combat the spread of the virus, which has infected more than 1.4 million people and led to at least 85,000 deaths in the United states, according to a Reuters tally.

A liability shield would give businesses the confidence to reopen without the looming threat of lawsuits by customers or employees who get

COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Protections would not be available for companies guilty of gross negligence, recklessness or wilful misconduct.

Consumer groups have argued that current law provides adequate protec-tion for businesses that act in good faith.

Removing the threat of liability would discourage Americans from returning to work, dining out and resuming other activities, the consumer

groups said.since the first case

related to coronavirus was filed on March 9, the vast majority of the lawsuits filed in state and federal courts are unrelated to someone suing a busi-ness for COVID-19 expo-sure, according to the case tracker.

U.S. COMPANIES FEAR CORONAVIRUS LIABILITY LAWSUITS. SO FAR, FEW EXIST


B R I E F S

Q & A

‘THIS TIME, I WANT TO DO IT THERIGHT WAY AND ON MY TERMS’Hong Kong legal industry veteran Kevin Bowers has recentlyestablished a new firm called bowers.law. The firm, which takesa non-traditional approach to billing, may be something of agame-changer for the legal market, where firms typically remaincoy about the billing process. Here, Bowers tells ALB why he thinksit’s time for a shakeup.

ALB: Can you tell us a bit about your career so far?BOWERS: I began my career in 1990 with Masons in London, before being seconded to the firm’s Hong Kong office to help on a big fraud case in 1995, which is when I fell in love with the city. I relo-cated permanently to join Deacons as an associate in 1997 (my Hong Kong admission ceremony was the very last one before the Handover), and was appointed a partner in 2004. I joined Richards Butler’s Hong Kong office as a partner in 2011, not long after its merger with Reed smith, I left to set up Howse Williams Bowers at the begin-ning of 2012, where I was a founding partner, until the end of 2018, shortly after the start of a criminal prosecution against me, which ended in september 2019 when I was cleared of all charges — I’m still trying to get costs back from the government.

ALB: What led to the establishment of bowers.law?BOWERS: After being acquitted from my criminal prosecution in late 2019, I discovered that having already been a founding partner of one Hong Kong law firm, I had an irresistible urge to do it all over again. This time, I want to learn from experience and do it the right way and on my terms within a collegiate, inclusive and thoughtful working environment, and by applying a new business model. I wanted to find

a way to eliminate the traditional law firm approach to billing clients based on anachronistic hourly rates — a billing system which I firmly believe is now out of touch with and unsuited to the modern business environment in which we all now live and work. It was definitely time for a change.

ALB: Can you tell us more about this different approach to billing?BOWERS: Although many law firms with corporate/commercial depart-ments charge based on fixed and staged fees, I don’t know of another Hong Kong law firm that charges clients only fixed, staged or retainer fees for providing dispute resolution legal services. There are no timesheets — that’s new and as I’m finding out very quickly, quite popular with the firm’s lawyers and

new job applicants. I want to have a lower cost base for the new business by utilising and deploying legally qual-ified consultants in a wide variety of practice areas who are very good at what they do, but who do not neces-sarily want to live the full-on life of a full-time lawyer in private practice. The new firm offers a much more flexible model to its lawyers without compro-mising in any way in terms of the quality of legal services that the firm provides to its clients. The new firm also incor-porates a separately branded crisis management agency called Alinea, which teams-up with its public relations, media and communications partners, as well as forensic accounting/investi-gation service providers to offer a “one-stop-shop” to the firm’s corporate and individual clients who find themselves in challenging situations. The firm values its lawyers only by the quality of legal work that they produce, not by how many chargeable hours they record on their timesheets.

ALB: In your opinion, is this type of billing arrangement likely to become more common?BOWERS: Definitely! Providing value and certainty to corporate and indi-vidual clients is what they want. From my experience, the practice of sending clients mystery monthly bills belongs to the times of Charles Dickens, and has to be finally drawing to an end. Pricing legal services only by how long it takes a group of lawyers to do a piece of work, and ignoring the value of that work to the client does not provide the client with either value or certainty, and is completely outdated and is unsuited to the modern world in which we all now live and work. My firm agrees on the fee for the work to be done by its lawyers based upon the value of that work to the clients which is bespoke to its clients’ needs, and which encourages the legal services to be provided as quickly, effi-ciently and as cost-effectively as possible (and which eliminates the inevitable and very considerable internal pressure on all private practice lawyers to record as much time as they possibly can on their timesheets).

KEVIN BOWERS


B R I E F S

RECRUITERS SEE FIRMS STILL HIRING, BUT CAUTIOUSLYTHE ATTRIBUTES OF

JOB SEEKERS MOST SOUGHTAFTER BY EMPLOYERS IN

THE AGE OF COVID-19By Katherine Fan, Hughes-Castell Hong Kong

AdaptabilityEmployees that are going tosucceed during a pandemic

will need to be able to adapt tofast-evolving workplaces and

have the ability to continuouslyrefresh their skills.

Critical thinkingDuring the pandemic,

we have seen a spike in fakenews and misrepresentationsof data. Employees who can

objectively evaluate informationwill be valued.

Emotional intelligenceThe ability to control our

emotions and be empatheticto others’ emotions is a highlycoveted attribute. Employees

with high EQ will be highlypreferred by all industries.

Lifelong learningThe way we work has rapidly

evolved in the age of COVID-19and demands for new skill setshave emerged. Employers will

prefer employees who continueto up-skill themselves.

With redundancies, pay cuts and the odd firm closing shop in Asia, lawyers in private practice face prolonged uncer-tainty. But while many firms are playing it safe and avoiding any additional costs, there are still a few that are hiring, and doing so strategically.

Katherine Fan, managing director at Hughes-Castell Hong Kong, tells Asian Legal Business that law firms are undoubtedly “remaining cautious regarding headcount this year,” with a number announcing a headcount freeze for associate and non-partner hiring.

Her view is echoed by Oliver Allcock, a senior manager at Robert Walters Hong Kong, says that hiring within the city’s legal community has been signif-icantly affected by the pandemic. While he expected to see hiring trends emerge, global hiring freezes have quashed many firms’ plans.

“Whilst we expected international law firms to hire in disputes, restruc-turing and insolvency, many are subject to a global hiring freeze and accord-ingly we have not seen this materialise,” Allcock says.

However, law firms continue to consider partners with expertise in prac-tice areas that have synergy with their current offerings, says Fan. she adds that while many law firms may be taking a wait and see approach, others continue to fill roles and seek out new talent to meet a sudden uptick in specific types of COVID-19 related work. Restructuring and insolvency, litigation and dispute resolution are among the areas that Fan anticipates an increase in hiring needs.

“We have observed that firms are also investing in areas such as a private client and investment funds lawyers. Firms continue to boost their exper-tise in debt finance,” she says, adding that another trend that has continued is the growth of Red Circle Firms in Hong Kong, and their expansion across capital markets, M&A, private equity and funds.

Allcock notes in terms of in-house roles, that the businesses that remain

actively hiring tend to be from Greater China. Additionally, the most active companies are in fintech — “driven by the developing virtual banks and cryptos industries,” and private equity platforms.

As a result of law firm office closures and rounds of redundancies, there is a larger number of jobseekers in the market, recruiters find.

And with more job seekers in the market, law firms looking to add to their headcount are in a prime posi-tion. Although employees are likely to have to suffer through longer wait times as employers — even those hiring — proceed with care.

“Employers have become more cautious about candidate selection and offer terms. We’ve observed that hiring processes are taking one to three months longer than before the Covid-19 pandemic and that law firms have been more conservative regarding sign-on offers and any guaranteed terms,” says Fan.

Meanwhile, employers hiring at senior levels are looking for candidates who are adaptable leaders with crisis-management skills, “who show empathy and compassion, and can lead a team through change,” she adds. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a high level of digital literacy is also expected of candidates.

The future of legal hiring may also look quite different in the next few years. “As our clients continue to assess COVID-19 conditions, they also continue to refine their value proposition and hiring methodology,” says Fan, adding that the skills gained during this period are likely to last.

“We foresee practices such as working from home and additional tech-nology use such as video conferencing to last beyond COVID-19. In terms of hiring needs, we have seen the market already pick up in May (compared to say February/March), and we anticipate it to continue to improve in the latter half of 2020,” she adds.


B R I E F S

POLITICAL TURMOIL AND A PANDEMIC:COULD MORE FIRMS EXIT HONG KONG?

Two international firms have announced their departures from Hong Kong— UK law firm Osborne Clarke will wind down its operations this month and U.s. law firm Orrick, Herrington & sutcliffe will exit the market in August.

Orrick earlier told Asian Legal Business that the decision to exit the market had been made a while back, but the pandemic had delayed the announcement. Osborne Clarke mean-while has simply altered its Asia plans to focus on China, singapore and India.

Law firm exits tend to be infrequent in Hong Kong, but months of sustained political unrest with no end in sight and vocal concern from the U.s. and UK governments about the situation have rattled confidence in the finance hub. now, some believe that COVID-19 could provide more firms with the impetus to leave Hong Kong.

Observing the recent develop-ments, Rossana Chu, managing partner of LC Lawyers, the Hong Kong member firm of EY Law, predicts there could be more law firm exits in the coming months, while others “may prefer to downsize rather than close”.

Reflecting on the slowing economic activities, Chu says clients are “alert to the impacts of COVID-19 on their

business operations and are keen to learn from law firms how to deal with the challenging legal issues”.

However, clients are beginning to take more legal work in-house “prob-ably due to legal budget constraints,” and there has also been something of an attitude shift during COVID-19.

“Legal issues arise from time to time, including those related to disrup-tions in contract performance, failures to make payments, chain reactions resulting from business interruptions and govern-mental restrictions, and labour disputes. But parties tend to resolve those issues by making compromises, and the volume of disputes resulted in formal legal actions taken was less than anticipated,” says Chu.

While there is little doubt that the COVID-19 outbreak will change Hong Kong’s legal landscape — both in terms of forward planning and technology adoption —this can be expected to be underpinned by political and economic dynamics, says Chu.

“Asia seems to be ready to open up and most governments plan to take stim-ulus measures and quantitative easing actions to boost up the economies,” she says, adding that this is likely to push up investments and local consumption and herald more work for law firms.

“However, different industries will experience different paces of recovery and this affects law firms with industry focuses. The China-U.s. relationship is one of the drivers to changes. The volume of outbound investments between China and the U.s. has shrunk, but in the future, there may be more Us investments in other Asian countries. In a nutshell, I think changes will continue but will affect law firms in different ways,” Chu says, adding that she expects to see PRC firms grow and the Big Four to continue to further their legal capabilities in Hong Kong, as has been a trend for the past few years.

Eric Chin, principal at legal consul-tancy Alpha Creates, says that firms have had to prove themselves to be adaptable in the current climate by utilising tech-nology and flexible approaches.

“The traditional law firm-client interface has been forced to ‘go virtual’. Businesses continue to require legal services that help them navigate the changing government advisory on lock-down rules, but need these services deliv-ered in different ways. This includes every-thing from advice on lockdown compliance to ensuring that supply chains, contracts, and operations continue to operate in our new environment,” he says.

But the environment has also impacted some firms’ bottom line. “As legal budgets are tightened and payments postponed, some firms are opting to invest in existing client relation-ships by providing services at reduced rates or on a pro bono basis,” he says.

Flexibility and tech adoption has been the rallying cry throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. But now, as the pandemic eases in some jurisdictions, international firms are also taking a step back a re-evaluating their approach to Hong Kong and Asia, and looking for opportunities to rebound.

“The Hong Kong exits have been driven by protracted periods of disrup-tion that has forced some of the law firms to re-examine their Asia strategy,” says Chin. “The lean periods that follow the COVID-19 pandemic will force a few more hands, but will also offer new pockets of growth to those firms that are quick to identify new opportunities in the region,” he adds.

REUTERs/Tyrone siu


N O R T H A S I A A N D S O U T H E A S T A S I A / S O U T H A S I A L E A G U E T A B L E S

Any North Asia Involvement Announced M&A Activity - Quarterly Trend*

B R I E F S

(*tie) Based on Rank Value including net Debt of announced M&A deals (excluding withdrawn M&A)

North Asia Announced M&A Legal Rankings


North Asia Announced M&A Financial Rankings

Rank Legal Advisor Value ($MLn) DealsMarketshare

1 Mori Hamada & Matsumoto 12,946.4 33 5.3

2 Fangda Partners 12,452.6 31 5.1

3 Davis Polk & Wardwell 11,963.3 6 4.9

4 nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu 7,722.2 35 3.2

5 sullivan & Cromwell 7,177.3 6 2.9

6 Anderson Mori & Tomotsune 7,017.1 15 2.9

7 Paul, Weiss 6,885.4 4 2.8

8 norton Rose Fulbright 6,614.1 5 2.7

9 Commerce & Finance Law Offices 6,579.7 1 2.7

10 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 5,715.1 11 2.3


1 China International Capital Co 22,232.3 8 9.1

2 Morgan stanley 19,938.5 20 8.1

3 nomura 12,726.0 34 5.2

4 Goldman sachs & Co 12,367.5 11 5.0

5 Deloitte 11,678.6 34 4.8

6 HsBC Holdings PLC 9,955.4 6 4.1

7 Citi 6,774.6 13 2.8

8 somerley 6,716.9 9 2.7

9 Minsheng securities Co Ltd 6,689.5 3 2.7

10 Lianchu securities Co Ltd 6,579.7 1 2.7


Southeast Asia / South Asia Announced M&A Legal Rankings


1 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 13,295.9 4 15.7

2 Allen & Overy 11,235.4 6 13.2

3* Linklaters 10,600.0 2 12.5

3* Herbert smith Freehills 10,600.0 2 12.5

5 AZB & Partners 9,684.8 37 11.4

6 Davis Polk & Wardwell 9,336.6 3 11.0

7 Allen & Gledhill 9,163.4 9 10.8

8 WongPartnership LLP 8,059.7 5 9.5

9 Hogan Lovells 7,364.7 6 8.7

10 Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas 7,120.3 36 8.4


Southeast Asia / South Asia Announced M&A Financial Rankings


1 JP Morgan 21,042.8 10 24.8

2 Goldman sachs & Co 14,414.2 5 17.0

3 UBs 10,854.4 3 12.8

4 Barclays 10,739.3 3 12.7

5 Greenhill & Co, LLC 10,600.0 2 12.5

6 Morgan stanley 9,380.3 4 11.1

7 Deloitte 8,949.6 6 10.5

8 Credit suisse 8,409.6 4 9.9

9 BofA securities Inc 7,017.8 5 8.3

10 HsBC Holdings PLC 4,822.9 4 5.7

Any Southeast Asia / South Asia Involvement Announced M&A Activity - Quarterly Trend*

*League tables, quarterly trends, and deal lists are based on the nation of either the target, acquiror, target ultimate parent, or acquiror ultimate parent at the time of the transaction. Announced M&A transactions excludes withdrawn deals. Deals with undisclosed dollar values are rank eligible but withno corresponding Rank Value. non-Us dollar denominated transactions are converted to the Us dollar equivalent at the time of announcement of terms. nORTH AsIA: China, Hong Kong, Japan, south Korea, Taiwan; sOUTHEAsT AsIA: singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei,

Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Timor-Leste; sOUTH AsIA: India, Afganistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, nepal, Pakistan, sri Lanka. Data accurate as of 2 June 2020.

95.5114.7142.7131.9

93.5115.3123.1149.7142.8

200.6168.0191.5

253.3324.7

244.0

374.1

268.4218.9

256.2282.1

173.9243.8

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160.1178.0200.7

279.3

150.095.1

0

1,000

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140

240

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440

1Q 12 3Q 12 1Q 13 3Q 13 1Q 14 3Q 14 1Q 15 3Q 15 1Q 16 3Q 16 1Q 17 3Q 17 1Q 18 3Q 18 1Q 19 3Q 19 1Q 20

No. of Transactions

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95.5114.7142.7131.9

93.5115.3123.1149.7142.8

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No. of Transactions

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The COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted normal life across the globe,but with more people working – and spending time – at home thanever before, the need for technology in both daily life and businesshas been unprecedented. In this roundtable, we speak to in-houselawyers at tech companies to understand the impact the pandemic

on their teams and their companies, as well as the lessons theyhave learnt during this tumultuous time. BY APARnA sAI

TECHNOLOGYTO THE FOREFRONT

G C R O U N D T A B L E

Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, what kind of work has kept the legal function most busy? What are the big differences between work pre-pandemic and during the pandemic?

VINCENT NG, general counsel, Klook: Our legal team has always been very involved in customer engagement, and the outbreak has caused us to go even deeper. We have been more involved in vendor risk management, including monitoring and advising on the impact of the situation on our customers when our service partners adjust their opera-tions – or run into financial difficulties in some cases.TRISULA DEWANTARA, vice pres-ident, legal, Tokopedia: Thankfully, we are one of the businesses that has maintained momentum during COVID-19, as the dependence of the general population on online trade increases. The more operational part of the legal work continued to be busy, as we were onboarding new merchants etc. The transactional side of the legal work, as you can imagine, has somewhat shifted in focus.

The key difference in work during pandemic versus pre-pandemic is how we adapt to do things virtually. There are some kinds of work that we previ-ously thought was impossible to be done remotely, but we are now finding possible.PANDURANGA ACHARYA, director - legal, Swiggy: At the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, the in-house legal team was more focused on ensuring continuity of our business and therefore had been involved in collating various notifications and orders issued by the central government and various state governments at that juncture. The priority was given to analysing such notifications and orders and advising the manage-ment on the compliances made appli-cable to our business. Consequently, the legal team was busy issuing several advi-sories, besides reviewing the external communications. A few of the members were assigned to review contracts for enforcement of force majeure and waiver of contractual obligations and issuance of notices where appropriate. The big difference would be the increase in work that was not planned.

CHANGES IN

BUSINESS DEMAND

IS ONE OF

THE CHALLENGES

OUR LEGAL TEAM

PROACTIVELY

TACKLES. WE HAVE

BEEN HELPING

BUSINESSES WITH

EVERY TYPE

OF SUPPLIER

NEGOTIATION,

ADJUSTING TO

EVERYONE’S

REQUIREMENTS

AND DEMANDS

WHICH WERE

NOT FORESEEN

PREVIOUSLY.

WE TRY TO CREATE

WIN-WIN FOR

BOTH SIDES NOT

USING ANY LEGAL

TECHNICALITIES

- FORGET ABOUT

FORCE MAJEURE -

BUT BY FOCUSING

ON COMMON GOALS.

VINCENT NG,

KLOOK



CHRISTOPHER Y. CHAN, general counsel and head of government affairs, Lazada Singapore: There has been a tremendous amount of work coordinating with government bodies and ensuring business continuity to the extent possible. E-commerce is an essential service allowed to operate in most jurisdictions. Customers can main-tain social distancing, obtain goods, and have some semblance of normal life. E-commerce has many facets, from direct retail to being an online market-place. While online platforms have their issues, our sellers and retail grocery arm, RedMart, still have to figure out how to move goods across borders, staff up the workforce in a country which is so reliant on foreign labour, and tackle disrupted supply chains as well as irra-tional consumer behaviour and hoarding of goods. These challenges are ones that our businesses have been able to over-come. Generally, the legal function takes on a more supporting role, but in a time of crisis, our value to the business really shines. I’m proud of how our legal team has been able to launch innovative busi-ness models and help shape the law during this period.

since the start of the pandemic, the type of work we do is similar, but things are moving much faster. It’s primetime for business growth, and e-commerce companies are using this time to show how technology and e-commerce can help in this new reality. Being on top of the laws and getting insights from government relations has been a massive advantage in helping guide our business and our partners to be able to operate under shifting parame-ters. Working remotely is harder to moti-vate, persuade, and organise. so, our teams are adapting to video conferences, speaking more clearly, and using slides to convey concepts. Meetings also take up a much larger chunk of time.AMRINDER SIDHU, director of Singapore legal, Micron: The spread of COVID-19 has impacted people around the globe. Past experiences with other

outbreaks like sARs have helped this region to quickly control the spread of COVID-19. However, despite all our best efforts, the pandemic’s general impact on companies globally has been drastic, disrupting supply chain and normal working standards. This has exponen-tially increased work for legal counsels around advising business on employ-ment issues, force majeure, and inter-pretation and implementation of various government COVID-19 guidelines, partic-ularly for companies which are charac-terised as “essential services” and can operate during the lockdown period.

In-house lawyers have always been busy with legal work. During the pandemic, our roles have become even more important after being technolog-ically transitioned. Most of us are now working remotely. Even the working of the courts has gone virtual. Previously, legal teams would rely upon hard copies and physical presence was required of signatories for executing legal docu-ments, and now we are constantly inno-vating to find ways in implementing smart solutions where legal documents can be signed electronically and stored digitally to ensure our support to busi-ness operations is running smoothly even during the pandemic period.PERDANA ARNING SAPUTRO, VP legal, Bukalapak: In terms of the work handled, it’s pretty much the same type of work. However, now I need to super-vise and manage the team remotely, there are intense back-to-back video conference calls, and I need to monitor and participate in various work-related chats. I spend a lot of my time multi-tasking and dividing my focus between the various work chats taking place at the same time.

What kind of challenges to the business are you and your team most involved in helping to tackle?

NG: Changes in business demand is one of the challenges our legal team proac-tively tackles. We have been helping

WE HAVE LEARNED

SO MUCH DURING

THE PANDEMIC

THAT WHEN

ECONOMIES ARE

STARTING TO

RECOVER, WE

WILL BE ADAPTING

THOSE NEW

UNDERSTANDING.

IN BUSINESS,

THE GENERAL

POPULATION

WILL BE MORE

USED TO ONLINE

ACTIVITIES. ONE

OF OUR MISSION

IN TOKOPEDIA IS

DEMOCRATISING

COMMERCE THROUGH

TECHNOLOGY, SO

IT IS WITHIN OUR

RESPONSIBILITY TO

HELP TRADITIONAL

MERCHANTS TO

HAVE AN ONLINE

PRESENCE.

TRISULA

DEWANTARA,

TOKOPEDIA



business with every type of supplier negotiation, adjusting to everyone’s requirements and demands which were not foreseen previously. We try to create win-win for both sides not using any legal technicalities – forget about force majeure – but by focusing on common goals.DEWANTARA: We are stricter about our internal budget, and this trickles down to every person within the company. We are also helping our counterparts who fell in a harder situation and opened a dialogue with us, to see what aspects we can help them on. We have also involved in restructuring our agreements or coop-eration and focusing on projects that are top priorities.ACHARYA: since our business was an exempted business under essen-tial services, the workload for the legal team multiplied and there was a need to increase the speed in delivering legal services. I have formed a legal task force to ensure legal services are delivered within two hours and the legal taskforce team consists of desktop support and ground support units to ensure seam-less and speedy support to business to quickly find answers. The legal task-force is a unique and innovative initia-tive for a legal team to support business in these tough times. The legal taskforce has assisted in mobilising movement passes in a few of the lower-tier cities and dealt with the government bodies, which included calling and filing repre-sentations with various government offi-cials at various levels. Besides the above support, the legal team have worked on solving few philanthropic initiatives of the Company in quick turnaround time. One such program was Hope, not Hunger.CHAN: We are involved in all aspects of business continuity and growth. Things like new partnerships, launching new business models, and unlocking new opportunities. Many of our partners and sellers on our platform also are small and medium enterprises (sMEs) and do not have legal teams. We try to

provide general frameworks for them to try to interpret the changing and evolving measures as to who and when and how can people operate. Our goal is to help keep as much of the economy moving (from a social distance) with e-commerce.SIDHU: In this region – singapore, Malaysia and India – we are busy with interpretation and implementation of various government COVID-19 guide-lines. sometimes COVID-19 guidelines would require clarifications from relevant government authorities regarding their applicability and implementation in the way of working of our business. so, we have been proactively supporting busi-ness to liaise with various government authorities.

Further, we are educating our employees, contractors, sub-contrac-tors in implementation of govern-ment COVID-19 guidelines in the work-space, ensuring health and safety is the top priority. some of this includes putting health screenings in place, requiring social distancing, estab-lishing team separation protocols at all our manufacturing sites, prohibiting visi-tors, suspending business travel, and requiring team members to work from home to the extent possible.SAPUTRO: We need to support and sustain the business of the company in this challenging time, by making sure that the legal team can respond and provide support swiftly to them. This covers not just the corporate work, but also litigation. Clear instructions and timelines are essential.

What are some of the ways that corona-virus is impacting technology compa-nies in the Asian region? How do you expect to see the role of yourself and the broader legal function evolve as a result of this?

NG: The outbreak will certainly accel-erate digital adoption and other contact-less means of delivery in Asia. We are fortunate to be an early mover, and we

GENERAL COUNSEL

WILL NOW HAVE TO

BE PREPARED FOR

UNCERTAINTIES

AND DEMONSTRATE

READINESS

BY REVIEWING

THE CONTRACTS

TO ENSURE THE

COMPANY DOESN’T

GET INTO A

SITUATION

RESULTING INTO

MONETARY LOSSES

BESIDE AVOIDING

POSSIBLE

LITIGATION. THE

RELIANCE ON THE

LEGAL DEPARTMENT

WILL BE MORE

GOING FORWARD,

WHICH IN TURN

WILL REQUIRE THE

GENERAL COUNSEL’S

VIEWPOINT ON

ANY BUSINESS

DECISIONS.

PANDURANGA

ACHARYA,

SWIGGY



are investing further resources on that front and experimenting with new ways of marketing, for example, launching our new home-based experiences initi-ative called Klook Home, which features DIY craft and cooking kits, online work-shops, as well as free virtual tours. Cybersecurity and data privacy are some of the key areas that legal has always been focused on, and the opportuni-ties and risks arising from these initi-atives made us even more focused in these areas.DEWANTARA: I think one of the big takeaways is the readiness of digital infrastructure. I am very lucky to live in Jakarta where the digital network is way better compared to other cities. Being a technology company, we are actu-ally “forced” to adopt technology to a greater extent during this pandemic. One example of this is the adoption of digital signature, and the willingness of our counterparts to accept and adopt those during the pandemic.ACHARYA: This pandemic has really impacted the way technology companies operate, and with new social distancing norms, future ways of working will surely change. General counsel will now have to be prepared for uncertainties and demonstrate readiness by reviewing the contracts, most specifically, to ensure the company doesn’t get into a situation resulting into monetary losses beside avoiding possible litigation. The reliance on the legal department will be more going forward, which in turn will require the general counsel’s viewpoint on any business decisions.CHAN: not all technology companies are faring well in this environment. We are lucky to have a platform to help large businesses and sMEs have the means to get online. We have developed all sorts of new partnerships and have a crucial role in educating our counterparts in what a future economy can look like. I spend a lot of time-sharing insights with friends and members of the legal frater-nity, who are now forced to upgrade their business models. These sharing can also

help them understand that one of the easiest ways to start building a brand online is to partner with an e-commerce platform like Lazada.SIDHU: Technology advancement was already revolutionising how Asian tech-nology companies were operating. COVID-19 has simply expediated the use of technology in our operations. In general, what has happened is that majority of us are now relying on software such as Zoom, Webex, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams for meetings, collabora-tion, innovation and staying connected with our colleagues. For sure, this brings opportunities as well as challenges for us to manage risk. For instance, we must adopt best practices to protect confiden-tiality and intellectual property of our companies while working remotely, and ensure we are staying in compliance with privacy laws particularly when compa-nies are facing queries around collection, use and disclosure of personal data both during and after COVID-19.

The technology function is not only evolving for in-house lawyers, but also for law firms and courts. The entire legal system will become more dependent on technology and the use of artificial intel-ligence. We are seeing arbitration and court proceedings happening digitally via Zoom, and recently in singapore, we had a first case where capital punish-ment was delivered virtually. I foresee that we will have to embrace technology more and more. To stay competitive, it will become important for all of us to find innovative solutions to help drive technological advancements in areas of maintaining contracts digitally and smartly, finding solutions for legal docu-ments to be signed electronically and ensuing contract management systems are adopting artificial intelligence using predictive analytics so that past legal issues can be meticulously spotted and resolved in real-time.SAPUTRO: This is an unprecedented situation being faced by everyone in every corner of the world. For us, we are still learning while trying to adapt

NOT ALL

TECHNOLOGY

COMPANIES ARE

FARING WELL IN

THIS ENVIRONMENT.

WE ARE LUCKY TO

HAVE A PLATFORM

TO HELP LARGE

BUSINESSES AND

SMES HAVE THE

MEANS TO GET

ONLINE. WE HAVE

DEVELOPED NEW

PARTNERSHIPS AND

HAVE A CRUCIAL

ROLE IN EDUCATING

OUR COUNTERPARTS

IN WHAT A FUTURE

ECONOMY CAN LOOK

LIKE. I SPEND

A LOT OF TIME-

SHARING INSIGHTS

WITH FRIENDS AND

MEMBERS OF THE

LEGAL FRATERNITY,

WHO ARE FORCED TO

UPGRADE THEIR

BUSINESS MODELS.

CHRISTOPHER Y.

CHAN, LAZADA



to the situation at the same time. The coronavirus situation shows us that tech-nology and the Internet are essential for business survival. With technology, we can still work while adhering to social distancing protocols. Also, we need to be agile, creative and quickly adapt to this “new normal.”

We, as the legal team, also need to be more agile to the recent changes where most of the work must be done through technological processes. We need to imbibe the necessary informa-tion and become more tech-savvy, so we can ensure that the use of technology is always in line with the prevailing laws and regulations.

During this period, we managed to find certain work processes that are more efficient and able to support busi-ness initiatives. We believe that in every hardship, there is an opportunity ready to be taken.

As the outbreak recedes and econo-mies restart, how are you preparing to assist the business in taking advan-tage of new opportunities?

NG: While the company has grown and institutionalised, the team has remained very entrepreneurial and creative at heart, and that has proven to be crucial especially at times like this when things just change in a snap of the fingers. Our legal team has been involved in every major new business initiative and provided input from an early stage. While we play our role as risk managers, we have to remain open-minded and crea-tive with the business teams, enabling them to test new ideas and building Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) in a way and at a speed that would allow us to benefit from any recovery of demand.DEWANTARA: We have learned so much during the pandemic so I think that when economies are starting to recover, we will be adapting those new understanding as well as agility into new opportunities. In terms of business, as I mentioned, the general population

will be more used to online activities, hence the opportunity there. One of our mission in Tokopedia is democratising commerce through technology, so it is within our responsibility also to help the more traditional merchants to have an online presence.ACHARYA: Agility and adaptability are key elements for any enterprise to be successful. Therefore, it is important for any enterprise to sustain the competi-tion and stay relevant in the market. An important aspect would be to under-stand the client’s changing needs and design the product to suit such change. A general counsel plays a pivotal role in leading the enterprise to success by adopting self to the changing require-ment thereby helping the enterprise in making decisions way quicker than before besides mitigating risks to achieve the desired results.CHAN: new opportunities and laws are coming up all over the world. Keeping abreast of how different countries are approaching the situation is an excel-lent way to stay ahead of the curve. I’m constantly reading, talking to people, and seeing how things have been evolving. Currently, lessons from China have been most helpful because they faced the COVID situation first and are also the first to come out of the process.SIDHU: As the outbreak recedes and economies restart, we must prepare the business to become more locally dependent and technologically advanced. Companies should not depend upon a single source to ensure that there is no disruption to their supply chain. Further, we as lawyers need to become smart in drafting better and clear force majeure provisions in busi-ness contracts so that any impact on business due to such an event can be appropriately mitigated. Further, we must continue to innovate in finding solutions for not only signing legal documents through channels such as computer, but also on mobile phones for better efficiency.

As the company’s operations

WE MUST PREPARE

THE BUSINESS

TO BECOME

MORE LOCALLY

DEPENDENT AND

TECHNOLOGICALLY

ADVANCED.

COMPANIES SHOULD

NOT DEPEND UPON

A SINGLE SOURCE

TO ENSURE THAT

THERE IS

NO DISRUPTION

TO THEIR SUPPLY

CHAIN. FURTHER,

WE AS LAWYERS

NEED TO BECOME

SMART IN DRAFTING

BETTER AND CLEAR

FORCE MAJEURE

PROVISIONS

IN BUSINESS

CONTRACTS SO THAT

ANY IMPACT ON

BUSINESS DUE TO

SUCH AN EVENT CAN

BE APPROPRIATELY

MITIGATED.

AMRINDER SIDHU,

MICRON



become more and more locally dependent, we must ensure that we are continuously preparing our business leaders to keep thinking globally as well. I mention this purely from a regulatory compliance perspective because a simple local non-compliance matter can have a global impact if you are a multinational company.SAPUTRO: Be agile, creative and have an open mindset, as supporting business should always be our priority. During this period, we also learnt how to work more efficiently and effectively so that when the outbreak recedes, we are confident that we can further accelerate business processes.

What are some of your key takeaways and lessons learnt from this period?

NG: The importance of staying calm and cool – take a deep breath, and every-thing will be OK!DEWANTARA: There is so much stuff that I’ve learned during the course of this, but my top three would be: (i) agility/adaptability – this is monu-mental in ensuring survival, as business can change in an instant; (ii) investing in digital infrastructure – be it investment from the government or ourselves; and (iii) safety is everything – especially we are also ensuring the safety of our family members.

All in all, I do miss going to the office – I miss just walking to some-one’s workstation and having a quick discussion without having to schedule a conference call.ACHARYA: General counsel should be prepared to sail through uncertain circumstances and should possess the right blend of common sense and legal knowledge. It is even more important to guide the team by hand-holding with your experience during these tough times. General counsel should be more realistic in testing times, should aim for best efforts and should know there are certain things beyond one’s control.CHAN: I find it challenging to climb away

from work when always at home. At a certain point, we must shut down.

scheduling meetings back-to-back leaves little time to process. It’s worth scheduling time to process because meetings remotely take up so much energy.

I recognise how the global economy is about to head into a recession. I’m deeply appreciative to be in an industry that is growing rather than shrinking.SIDHU: One of the important lessons that COVID-19 has taught us all is how we as human beings must help and support the needy and vulnerable people in our communities. Organisations are proac-tively donating and working with various government agencies in providing all necessary help. In this regard, a simple reminder would be that we must not forget in our role as legal advisors to continuously remind business the appli-cable corruption laws, such as Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, UK Bribery Act and/or Prevention of Corruption Act, to ensure all donations are made in compli-ance with company’s policies and rele-vant laws.

I’m an optimist so key takeaways are positive. I believe we all will come out of this challenging time strongly. There is no doubt that COVID-19 has changed the world in the way we live individually and in society. Every challenging period teaches and gives us new opportunities. This is the period where we must not shy away from using technology as this is going to create numerous new opportu-nities for all of us which will help drive better collaboration, innovation and productivity. To this end, I would say we must always think technology, artificial intelligence and machine learning in our day-to-day activities.SAPUTRO: Technology has become an inseparable part of our daily work. Efficient work is possible, and people can be trusted to do work without constant physical supervision. We can observe the team and analyse each team member’s capacity, sense of commitment and maturity during this period.

THIS IS AN

UNPRECEDENTED

SITUATION BEING

FACED BY EVERYONE

IN THE WORLD.

FOR US, WE ARE

STILL LEARNING

WHILE TRYING

TO ADAPT TO THE

SITUATION AT

THE SAME TIME.

THE CORONAVIRUS

SITUATION

SHOWS US THAT

TECHNOLOGY AND

THE INTERNET

ARE ESSENTIAL

FOR BUSINESS

SURVIVAL. WITH

TECHNOLOGY, WE

CAN STILL WORK

WHILE ADHERING TO

SOCIAL DISTANCING

PROTOCOLS. ALSO,

WE NEED TO BE

AGILE, CREATIVE

AND QUICKLY ADAPT

PERDANA ARNING

SAPUTRO,

BUKALAPAK


T H E V I R U SC O V E R S T O R Y

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC HAS WREAKED HAVOC ACROSS COUNTRIES AND INDUSTRIES,AND THE REGION’S LEGAL SERVICES SECTOR IS NOT IMMUNE. HERE’S HOW LAWYERS

ARE CURRENTLY WEATHERING THE STORM, AND WHAT THEY NEED TO DO TO REBOUNDWHEN IT’S ALL OVER. BY ELIZABETH BEATTIE



C O V E R S T O R Y

That said, the feeling is that it has not been as bad as it could have been. Tony Williams, prin-cipal at Jomati Consultants, tells Asian Legal Business that the message from firms he works with is that the legal industry is one of luckier industries, with firms not as severely impacted as other sectors of the economy.

“When you compare it to hospitality and travel, which have been completely reduced to zero, the law actually hasn’t done too badly,” Williams says.

Alan Tsoi, Asia-Pacific tax & legal leader at Deloitte, agrees that lawyers were able to quickly adapt and keep working — partic-ularly those with flexible working arrangements in place.

“Many of our lawyers, even before COVID-19, were working away from the office quite a bit, whether it was at the clients’ office, or the airport, so our lawyers had experience doing this. We do have to rely on technology a lot to get things done. The good thing is that we are not unique, as our clients are doing the same thing,” Tsoi says.

But while they may have been able to keep working, for the most part, law firms have not been impervious to the impact of COVID-19. Williams has observed a dramatic fall-off in transactional work, but demand for other kinds of work is rising.

“There has been quite a lot of advisory work as well. Clients are asking whether they can use a force majeure clause to get out of contracts, and also seeking advice on employment law,” says Williams.

Meanwhile, for law firms themselves, Tsoi says there are internal challenges and sustain-ability issues to navigate.

“Our law firm clients are having to work around challenges such as breaches of contract, diffi-culties raising funds, and employ-ment issues. These are the more common, or more immediate issues that they need to face,” Tsoi says.

“Then down the road, once you have navigated through this storm, you will need to think about what you need to do to strengthen your immunity for the next storm, whether it is your business model, operating model, technology platform, or people model,” Tsoi says.

C R I S I SAs the novel coronavirus outbreak subsides inkey Asia markets and finance hubs slowlyprepare themselves to re-open, lawyers arestill counting the cost of a once-in-a-centurypandemic, that has afflicted more than 6 millionpeople worldwide at the time of writing, withsome 375,000 fatalities. Layoffs, furloughs,pay cuts and compensation freezes have beenthe order of the day in the industry, with lawyersstill unclear whether things will ever return tonormal – and, what exactly that “normal” will be.



C O V E R S T O R Y

When COVID-19 hit singapore near the end of January, the city-state sprung promptly into action, monitoring the situation closely and meeting the rising number of cases with a range of preventative measures including temperature screening, suspension of school classes and eventually stay home notices.

The city state’s circuit-breaker measures have gained international attention and its government recognition for what was viewed as decisive handling of the outbreak. But singapore is not yet out of the woods, with cases continuing to appear.

Gregory Vijayendran, pres-ident of the Law society of singapore, told ALB that the gravity of the situation is being felt globally.

“Every single legal profes-sional, every single law firm and every single bar association, is experiencing adversity, turmoil and disruption in varying degrees,” Vijayendran says, adding that “We’re grappling with a pandemic that has united us in solidarity as members of the bar, from the prac-titioners point of view, and certainly as brothers and sisters in law.”

“We need to keep this in sharp focus because this crisis is something that has caused great grief to our nations. It has caused loss of life and loss of health, which I would say is the primary impact. There are people who have lost loved ones and not even had the opportunity to do a proper funeral. We’ve lost some lawyers, we haven’t even had a proper way to honour them and their bereaved families, as we’ve missed out on attending their funeral,” he says of the multifar-ious impact of the outbreak.

“When one contemplates that, it keeps us very sober-minded,

balanced and proportionate about the secondary economic impact. Lawyers certainly do have a special role to play in this hour. We are called to uphold the rule of law and its vital constituent element of access to justice. That way we can help the vulnerable, the more vulnerable and the most vulnerable.”

The singapore Law society was also quick to action several initiatives to support law firms in the country’s highly compet-itive market. From reducing costs to offering free webinars and government submissions, Vijayendran says it’s been impor-tant for the Law society to support its members during these unpre-dictable times. Another impor-tant initiative was the ramping up of direct communication with members en masse.

“The COVID-19 Task Force (comprising the Law society’s officebearers) were intentional to go the extra mile. We took the pains to communicate with indi-vidual law firm managing part-ners. I did that personally using WhatsApp,” Vijayendran adds.

From the perspective of law firms, the market itself has posed challenges difficult to mitigate.

stefanie Yuen Thio, joint managing partner at TsMP Law Corporation, says singapore deal-making “has pretty much ground to a halt in the last two months as businesses come to terms with our circuit-breaker rules and work-from-home measures and try to work out how significant the longer-term impact of COVID will be”.

“Law firms are seeing a significant slowdown save for specific sectors such as restruc-turings including white knight rescues, the large corporate fail-ures and advisory on the legal implications of the changes in laws that have resulted from the pandemic,” Yuen Thio says.

Once singapore emerges

from the circuit breaker meas-ures, she expects to see financial services and financings “start to move as healthy companies seek to re-capitalise and refinance their bank loans and bonds”.

But firms aren’t out of the woods yet, Yuen Thio warns adding: “the legal industry will be deeply affected generally. Clients simply won’t have the stamina or financial standing to fight smaller claims.”

IT ’S NOT ALL GLOOM —BUT YOU HAVE TO BE NIMBLETechnology has been a corner-stone of the COVID-19 story. From Zoom’s mammoth rise to video job interviews, meetings and even social gatherings, during the pandemic technology was an essential mechanism. But not everyone was ready for it.

Yuen Thio says that working from home has required a jump in tech literacy. “Work-from-home has sped up the impera-tive to upskill and up-tech,” she says, adding “more tech-savvy law firms are riding out the storm better. Those practitioners that still rely on human paralegals to get work out will see their produc-tivity plummet.”

A n o t h e r i s s u e t h a t Vijayendran says law firms should use this time to carefully examine is the costs that their organisation is occurring.

“For some of us, this is a difficult and painful message to apply. Yet it is a reality check and a hard-nosed diagnostic that we need to also apply cost cutting and strict austerity measures,” he adds, advising lawyers to look for where there might be “layers of fat within the organisation to trim, or unnecessary expenses”. “And then of course there are some harder decisions that will involve human resource management,” he adds.

But, it’s not all grim. For adaptable firms and lawyers, there are other avenues to explore,

SINGAPORE

“ T H E N E W N O R M A L W I L L I N V O LV E C O N T I N U E D A N D E X PA N D I N G U S E O F R E M O T E H E A R I N G S , W H E R E V E R P O S S I B L E . M O S T P R O C E E D I N G S N O T R E Q U I R I N G T H E TA K I N G O F E V I D E N C E F R O M W I T N E S S E S W I L L P R O B A B LY B E H E A R D R E M O T E LY. . .W O R K F R O M H O M E W I L L B E A P E R M A N E N T PA R T O F T H E C U LT U R E . ”Justice AeditAbdullah,The Supreme Court ofSingapore

PH

OTO

BY

TH

E S

UP

RE

ME

CO

UR

T O

F S

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AP

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and ways to seize new market opportunities.

“It’s not all doom and gloom, in my view, there’s always room for another good lawyer out there,” Vijayendran says, adding that law firms are re-exam-ining whether there are ways to reposition their lawyers in their organization.

“Far example, maybe the deals have dried up, and maybe there isn’t much activity in terms of capital markets or corporate M&As. But can some of the corpo-rate lawyers be repositioned to do corporate insolvency work ? Could some of the demand we’re seeing in employment law matters be met by corporate lawyers?” Vijayendran says.

Jacqueline C

MCI (P) 041/02/2020 THE · 2020. 6. 11. · mci (p) 041/02/2020 issn 0219 – 6875 kdn pps...

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Transcript of MCI (P) 041/02/2020 THE · 2020. 6. 11. · mci (p) 041/02/2020 issn 0219 – 6875 kdn pps...