In-House Community recently announced the winners of its inaugural regional Counsel of the Year Awards, following an exclusive ceremony at Hong Kong Jockey Club. The awards bring together the cream of the legal industry in Asia and recognise achievement across a range of categories, including dedication, innovation, efficiency and value, integration, encouragement and improvement and corporate social responsibility and diversity.
38 Asian and Middle East in-house teams and one individual in-house lawyer received awards to what is informally referred to as “the Oscars of the legal industry”.
The overall winning In-House Team and In-House Counsel awards were judged by a hand-picked panel which included Stephen Maloy, Former GC and Senior Counsel at General Electric (GE) Asia Pacific, Sue Lynn Koo, former Head of Legal, Compliance and Secretariat for DBS Group, David Miles, Chair of Asia Community Venture and Former Chair of Asia Latham & Watkins and Kirsty Dougan, Head of Asia for Axiom and Former Senior Regional Counsel for Diageo.
Commenting on the awards, Patrick Dransfield, Co-Director of In-House Community said, “We are delighted to announce these awards and extend our congratulations to the winners, who are together ensuring the legal industry continues to develop and evolve for the benefit of businesses in Asia. While winning is obviously important, the true purpose of the awards is to help forge a benchmark of best practice and celebrate the vital contribution that in-house legal departments make to our industry and our region.”
LIST OF THE WINNERS: |
Budget Management: Daimler Greater China Ltd. |
Transactional: Alibaba Group |
Knowledge Management: 3M Asia Pacific & Wockhardt Limited |
Integration: Tyco International plc, Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. & Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. |
Innovation: Intel |
Equality & Diversity: Pfizer Inc. |
Change Management: TECOM Group, GlaxoSmithKline Pte. Ltd. & Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited |
Small Legal Team: Far East Organization & Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Ltd. |
Corporate Social Responsibility: Owens Corning (China) Investment Co., Ltd., Singapore Telecommunications Limited & Lenovo Middle East and Africa |
Banking: Asian Development Bank |
Conglomerate: CK Hutchison Holding Limited |
Technology Sector: Intel & Sony (China) Limited |
Financial Services (ex-Banking): Haitong International Securities Group Limited & Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc |
Online Services: eBay APAC |
Manufacturing & Engineering: China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) |
Energy & Natural Resources: Sime Darby Berhad, ABB (China) Limited & ABB United Arab Emirates and Oversight Countries |
Life Science & Pharma: Sanofi (China) Investment Co., Ltd. & Sanofi Group Indonesia |
Property & Infrastructure: Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) & MTR Corporations Limited |
Telecommunications: Singapore Telecommunications Limited |
Travel & Entertainment: Hyatt International – Asia Pacific, Limited & Travelport AFMESA |
Insurance: Sun Life Malaysia Assurance Berhad |
Equality & Diversity Firm of the Year: Reed Smith |
Deal Firm of the Year: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer |
Most Responsive Firm of the Year: Baker & McKenzie |
External Counsel of the Year: Christopher Lee, Christopher & Lee Ong in association with Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP |
Visionary Firm of the Year Legal Services: Eversheds |
Middle Eastern Legal Team of the Year: Travelport AFMESA |
International Legal Team of the Year Middle East: TECOM Group |
Asian Legal Team of the Year: Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. |
International Legal Team of the Year Asia: Intel |
In- House Counsel of the Year: Heba Ali & Lenovo Middle East and Africa |
About In-House Community
The mission of the In-House Community is to strengthen legal and ethical compliance for the benefit of all. In-House Community, founded by Pacific Business Press Ltd, is a voluntary membership of over 20,023 in-house lawyers and those with a responsibility for legal and compliance issues. It is the professional and social network for in-house legal and compliance professionals.