After 35 years with GE, Stephen Maloy, General Counsel Asia Pacific, talks about turning challenges into opportunities, the importance of diversity in a multinational organisation, and the qualities GE looks for in external counsel.
ASIAN-MENA COUNSEL: How did your career lead you to your current role with GE? What is the nature and scope of your role? SM: I started with GE right after I graduated from law school at Cornell. GE had a training program for new lawyers in those days. I worked at different company operations in Connecticut, Cleveland and New York City. Then in 1983 the company decided to locate a lawyer in Asia for the first time and no one was anxious to go. Finally, someone suggested asking me as my wife is Malaysian. We signed up for two or three years but there always seemed to be a new opportunity. So we’ve lived in Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai over the last 28 years but have always stayed in Asia. The GE legal team has grown from a single lawyer in Asia to about 160 today in our in-house team. My role over the last few years has focused on organisation building and working on novel legal issues with the team. How to deal with public policy issues in China, or compliance with state secret laws would be good examples of these. I’ll be retiring from GE early next year after 35 years with the company. So my focus right now is to help with the transition to our new structure. I plan to stay in Asia after I leave GE so I’m not saying goodbye to any of my friends here. AMC: What is the current composition of your in-house team? AMC: What is the nature of the relationship between GE’s in-house function and the business? AMC: What are the biggest obstacles faced in your role, and on a broader level by your in-house team? Another example is developing legal talent in China. There is no shortage of talent in China. The bottleneck is that lack of opportunities for new lawyers to get the business/legal experience to begin to build their careers. We began our legal intern program as a corporate social responsibility process to give two or three law students an opportunity to get some basic experience in corporate law practice. AMC: What qualities does GE look for in external counsel? Are there any criteria followed in choosing suitable practitioners? Judgment and perspective – The ability to identify, evaluate and intelligently advise on the mitigation of risks, especially those which are non-obvious. Diversity – We believe that one of the best ways to identify risk and opportunities is to ensure that the team is as diverse as possible. We see what we are trained to see and people who come from a great variety of backgrounds are more likely to see things that a team of very similar individuals may not spot. Teamwork – With complicated and diverse teams, interpersonal skills and good team players are essential Positive thinking– Teams formed to execute on difficult projects, whether in the M&A field or in litigation, inevitably go through difficult periods. Counsel who energize and inspire the team are highly valued. We all prefer to work with advisors who are positive and fun to be around. Momentum – Firms are rarely in a stable state. They are either moving up or moving down in the rankings of outside advisors. Firms with momentum enjoy a considerable advantage. AMC: When hiring for your in-house team, which candidate qualities would be of most value? One important quality is biculturalism, or today often multiculturalism. When you work in a multinational organisation it is critical to be able not only to interpret the law for your clients, but also often the cultural context in which business is conducted today. Other important traits are the ability to communicate well, to present your ideas effectively and succinctly. I often ask candidates whether they would consider a job in sales – because in many ways legal practice is the ultimate sales job. All you have to sell is a license to practice law and your ideas. Your success in selling those ideas will have a large role in determining your success in this profession. AMC |
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