Managing Director and Head, Group Legal and Secretariat at DBS Bank Sue Lynn Koo discusses her career trajectory, the importance of out-of-the-box thinking and how technology is both a blessing and a curse for her role. She also gives advice to external counsel she wishes she'd heard when she was one, and reveals the best advice she's ever been given.

As well as highlighting the importance of teamwork within an in-house team and between the legal team and others within the business, Michele Kythe Lim, Group Head, Legal & Secretarial/Company Secretary at IHH Healthcare discusses what she feels is essential to in-house success, as well as revealing how she motivates and inspires her team and herself. She also points out how now, legal departments need "to work hand-in-hand with the client".

Robert Southgate, Head of Corporate Governance, Compliance & Contentious Legal for the Asia, Middle East & Africa region for British Telecommunications (BT), reveals to the In-House Community his methods of motivation, what makes external counsel stand out to him and why 'phoning it in' is never the answer.

Global General Counsel of NetApp Matthew Fawcett shares his views on overseeing a worldwide legal team, advises the In-House Community on what they have stated are their most prevailant challenges and tells them what to do when "sitting in the worry seat".

Stan Lui, General Counsel APAC of Nobel Biocare, tells ASIAN-MENA COUNSEL about his unique teaching methods, as well as alerting us to the kind of problems the future may hold and offering his own personal solutions.

Having made the leap from external to in-house, Choo Suit Mae, Group General Counsel of Sime Darby, knows from over 25 years working externally what it’s like to approach law from that point of view, and applies this constantly when working with external counsel. Giving her thoughts on life and law, she reveals what she believes to be the secrets of success in both, noting that courage in all aspects goes a long way.

Daniel Shih, Chief Ethics Officer, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Walmart China juggles his legal functions and ethical obligations with crisis management on a day to day basis. Working at the world’s largest public corporation means that he has to adopt a risk-based approach to prioritise the issues and be ready and switched on at all times. Here he tells ASIAN-MENA COUNSEL how his career has arced its way through a myriad of fields including capital markets and telecommunications before landing this blue-chip role with the top Fortune 500 company.

Rebecca Lim, Group General Counsel of Westpac Banking Corporation speaks to ASIAN-MENA COUNSEL about the challenges and opportunities she has encountered in her role at the Australian headquartered bank. Here, she explains how her and her team manage to stay ahead of the curve.

After a career which has seen him work with some household names, Anuraag Malhotra has been the engine behind the sizeable legal department at the Landmark Group, Dubai, as its General Counsel, and also as its Strategic Investments Adviser. After almost 10 years at the helm, Malhotra has seen how the markets in the UAE and other Gulf countries have matured and become more sophisticated. He explains how he and his team have responded and adapted to these changes.

Sitting in the legal driver’s seat at a renowned MNC in India has its rewards. However, as Shahana Basu Kanodia, Chief Legal Officer/Global General Counsel of Apollo Tyres Limited explains, one of the biggest challenges can be integrating the legal function between different offices in Asia, Europe and Africa to provide timely, consistent and pragmatic legal advice to business divisions in different time zones. Here she tells us more about her role.

Amy Ng, General Counsel for CBRE Global Investors Asia Pacific describes some of the ups and downs inherent in her role since she joined the company in 2005. For her, the appeal in moving in-house was to go beyond a purely legal role and explore the more esoteric aspects of a business itself. Eight years on, she deliberates on how her career has changed and what she looks for specifically when retaining external counsel.

Stefan Gannon, general counsel of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, discusses the unique role of the institution’s in-house team.

Having to perform multiple roles on a regular basis can be more than a little overwhelming for in-house counsel. At times, it can also blur the ethical and legal edges and impact upon important issues like privilege. Sascha Hindmarch, former General Counsel at the University of South Australia takes us behind the key-hole for a look at some of the dilemmas encountered by in-house counsel.

Muhammad Tariq, Senior Legal Counsel at TECOM Investments shares with us his experience working in-house after closing the chapter on his days as an M&A private practitioner at Al Tamimi & Company. Leaving his former position somewhat reluctantly at first, he is now comfortably juggling the many roles the in-house move has demanded of him and offers up his advice for managing the position with efficiency, humility and decorum.

Leaving behind a long-standing career as a private practitioner, James Jamison, moved in-house and joined Deloitte as General Counsel in 2011. Taking up the role against the background of a rapidly changing regulatory landscape which has seen China assert its national sovereignty in response to demands from US regulators, he describes his entry in-house as a ‘baptism of fire.’ 18 months in, his quest continues. He strives to find workable solutions and manage delicate situations with level-headedness and diplomacy with the help of a supportive legal network. Here Jamison tells us more about his day to day at one of the Big 4 accounting firms.