Past Events

Adhering to Regional Data Privacy Laws – Are you Equipped?

*This event is strictly for in-house counsel only.

Event Overview

As global regulations have taken a steep trajectory shift in recent years, corporates and legal counsel are finding it challenging to keep all the boxes ticked. Unfortunately, ignoring data privacy and information governance best practices could lead to devastating outcomes for organisations.

From loss of reputation to financial consequences, more legal departments are bracing for high risk data leak problems. Some of these unfortunate situations were triggered by negligence and could have easily been rectified if DPOs understood the complexity of corporate information and adhered to the best practices.

Epiq will examine the far left portion of the EDRM, information governance, and discuss reasons why corporate legal and IT functions should create an environment with the right tools and skill sets; be it technology or corresponding service offerings that address data privacy and compliance to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Programme

Speaker Profiles

Elizabeth Fogerty

Director, Strategic Relationships & Compliance Consulting

Epiq Global

Elizabrth leads the compliance consulting team and manages Epiq’s most strategic relationships. She helps customers with achieving GDPR and data privacy compliance through the introduction of process and technology. She seeks to understand her customer’s unique challenges, offer them insights into best practices and make recommendations to improve their information governance workflows. 

Thomas Bonk

Vice President, Professional Services

Epiq Global

Thomas has executive oversight of the company’s global forensic collection and technology-assisted review (TAR) practice groups, information governance consultants, and solutions architects. He has more than 18 years of experience in the eDiscovery industry managing the strategic and tactical use of technology within litigation, regulatory and investigative advisory matters.

Loren Leung

Associate in the Commercial and TMT Team at CMS Singapore

Loren is an international commercial lawyer with a focus on technology, media and telecommunications. She advises clients across the Asia-Pacific in various industries on general commercial contracting, technology licensing and telecommunications regulation and supply.

Resilience Through Play

Event Overview

In the fast-changing environment, being able to adapt quickly is the foundation for resilience. Resilience is a person's capacity for stress-related growth. Lawyers who develop resilience, gain many benefits, including the ability to tolerate change, stress, uncertainty and other types of adversity more effectively. They develop healthy coping strategies which are more likely to mitigate the impact of stress and adversity.


Attendees will gain improved self-awareness of the topic. They will also understand better how they can personally respond to certain situations and get a better understanding of their own personal resilience level.


What is Play Therapy?
Play therapy is a tool that facilitates improved self-awareness and provides through “play” a fun way of better understanding personal resilience levels. It will provide attendees with some tools and tips to help improve internal well-being and help develop strengths.

Facilitators

Adelyn Lee - Play Therapist of Pandora Box Play Therapy and EXCO Board member of the International Women’s Federation of Commerce and Industry.

Monisha Kamdar - Positive Psychology Practitioner and Coach

Key Risks in 2019: Geopolitical Headwinds VS Operational Complexities

*This event is strictly for in-house counsel only.

Event Overview

From global geopolitical uncertainties to operational intricacies such as internal malfeasance and local compliance challenges, general counsel have much to keep watch on in 2019. 

US-China trade disputes, increasing data regulations and the continuing surge of nationalist politics are some of the key global risks for businesses in 2019. Changes abound, and a new world reality is set to emerge for global businesses in the coming year. How will companies in Asia Pacific be affected by these global developments, and more importantly, what are the implications for general counsels in this region?

At the same time, a key challenge for businesses in 2019 will be to avoid being overly distracted by geopolitical drama. Foreign companies ensnared by corruption scandals and capricious local regulatory implementation or blindsided by internal malfeasance and attacks on local partners often find they were not focusing on local, material threats to their business. While it is key to keep an eye on global issues, it is businesses that remain focused on the matters closer to home that are well-positioned to adapt to rapid changes in the local environment and operate successfully in any market.

Join Steve Wilford, Senior Partner at Control Risks, as he discusses the top global risks for businesses in 2019 and their implications for Asia Pacific, as well as the key “operational” risks that every general counsel should always pay attention to. He will also share examples and case studies of how companies in similar situations have managed the geopolitical and operational minefield.

Speaker Profile

Steve Wilford, Senior Partner at Control Risks

Steve Wilford is a Senior Partner for Asia-Pacific in Control Risks’ Global Risk Analysis team, and leads a group of specialists conducting country, sector and regulatory risk assessment work. Prior to this, Steve was the Director of Corporate Investigations for South-East Asia. This remit encompassed joint venture partner/new purchase due diligence, litigation support, discreet enquiries and broader national, provincial and micro-scale political and regulatory risk analysis.

Steve’s recent consulting experience includes:

• Conducted a highly sensitive investigation into government-linked corruption allegations surrounding a major multinational facing sanction by an international financial institution.
• Investigated extortion against a major US multinational.
• Designed and executed numerous joint-venture risk assessments in complex jurisdictions, such as Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia.
• Advised multinationals on pre-entry and operational policy for hostile environments in Asia, including in the oil and gas, telecommunications, non-governmental and manufacturing industries.

Steve is a regular BBC, CNN, CNBC, radio and print media commentator on trends in insurgency, political succession, corporate governance and threats to business assets in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as a frequent presenter at regional risk management conferences.

In a long career with Control Risks, Steve variously set up and ran Control Risks’ first operational presence in India, managed the South-East Asia business development team, ran the Jakarta office’s Corporate Investigations practice and spent several years as the company’s South-East Asia analyst.

Steve holds a master of philosophy in international relations from the University of Oxford, and a first-class honours degree in South-East Asian studies and language from the University of Hull, where he specialised in Thai military politics and Malaysian corporate governance issues.

SCCA First Thursday in February - Lunar New Year Special

Join us for SCCA's First Thursday in February as we celebrate the lunar new year. Bring some of your favourite Chinese New Year goodies to share and SCCA will do the same!

Let us ring in the new year together and wish for a brighter, more prosperous year ahead!

SCCA Annual Diversity Debate

After the successful inaugural debate in 2018, the SCCA Annual Diversity is back! This year, the SCCA Annual Diversity Debate coincides with the 200th anniversary of the landing of Sir Stamford Raffles on 29 January 1819. When Raffles arrived, the policy to maintaining racial harmony was to sequester members of their own race into enclaves hence giving rise to Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam. This allowed Raffles to govern our city state with minimal inter-racial conflict. Should modern business leaders follow in Raffles footsteps to divide and rule or fully integrate employees?

Therefore, we are excited to introduce the topic this year.

To be diverse and inclusive, business leaders divide and rule.

The SCCA Annual Diversity Debate will be a fun, casual and entertaining event with some inherent value to in-house counsel and other business leaders by asking tough questions about diversity and inclusion in their own organisations.

Additional reading on some of our efforts in championing diversity and inclusion may be found here and here.

Join us for an exciting evening of canapes and wine as eight senior counsel debate pertinent diversity and inclusion topics!

Do note, the debate is held under Chatham House Rule:

"When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed."

The debate is also an opportunity for SCCA to raise funds for charity. This year, we have selected to raise funds for an inclusion charity launched by the Prime Minister of Singapore called OnePeople.sg. We highly encourage our guests to give generously.

Debaters

1. Jean Woo

Ashurst

2. Yemi Tépé

Morrison & Foerster

3. Wong Meng Meng, SC

WongPartnership

4. Abraham Vergis

Providence Law Asia

5. Kala Anandarajah

Rajah & Tann

6. Jordan Tan

Clifford Chance

7. Darren Cerasi

Deloitte

8. Colin Liew

Essex Court Chambers Duxton (Singapore Group Practice)

Moderator

Teymoor Nabili

Veteran Journalist

*Debaters are subject to change.

HOW INVESTIGATORS HELP PRESERVE CORPORATE REPUTATIONS

*This event is strictly for in-house counsel only.

Event Overview

Corporate compliance has traditionally been focused on corruption, but the rise of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has broadened the scope to include supply chain integrity, human rights issues, responsible labor practices, sanctions violations and environmental diligence, among other issues.

Striving to meet CSR commitments depends to a large extent on gathering accurate information, both before transactions and after allegations have been raised. The information you need to resolve CSR issues is often to be found in opaque environments where there are few documents to gather, and where the ability to dig deeply - from the presidential palace to conditions out in the field - is what counts.

Join veteran investigator Jim Mintz for an interactive discussion as he explores some of today's reputational risks and related CSR case examples from around the globe, illustrating the role investigators can play to help preserve corporate reputations.

Topics Covered

• A review of selected reputational risks corporations face as they expand their focus on compliance to take in various issues of CSR.
• Three case examples of CSR issues that arose during the diligence phase (sanctions, corruption and environmental issues). 
• Three case examples of CSR issues that arose after allegations were raised (human rights, supply chain, prison labor).
• An interactive discussion of CSR-related reputational risks that could concern SCCA members, followed by examples of where investigators might have a role to play. 
• Five tips to help a corporation concerned about CSR risks diligence its potential CSR investigators.

Speaker Profile

Jim Mintz

Founder & CEO

Mintz Group

Jim Mintz, Founder and CEO of the Mintz Group, has spent more than thirty years conducting investigations all over the world, primarily for law firms and general counsel. Jim helped pioneer the use of sophisticated resources by law firms in the 1970s as an in-house investigator at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Wald, Harkrader & Ross. In 1980, Newsweek said about their unique in-house group: “What sets [them] apart—and a few others around the nation—is their ability to take comprehensive looks at complicated situations and make sense out of them.”

Jim founded the Mintz Group in 1994.

He has taught investigative reporting as an adjunct professor at the Columbia Journalism School for the past 10 years.

Jim is on the board of the Center for Justice and Accountability.  

CONTROLLING CONTRACTUAL DISCRETION

*All registrations must include designation and organisation. SCCA reserves the right to withdraw any incomplete or incorrect submissions without notifying the registrant.

*The seminar registration has been closed due to an overwhelming response. Please e-mail secretariat@scca.org.sg to be placed on the waiting list.

SYNOPSIS

Contractual options or consents are often expressed to be exercised “reasonably”, or “in a commercially reasonable manner”. Even where a discretion isn’t expressly limited by a reasonableness requirement, the Courts will imply various controls on these discretions, including terms of rationality, and so-called Wednesbury unreasonableness. 
 
Contractual discretions arise in many different contexts: loan contracts, derivatives and in ISDA close-out provisions, which have recently seen a spate of litigation in England. There are analogous provisions  in employment (discretionary bonuses); pensions (discretionary benefits); share sale agreements (earn-out provisions). In commercial cases, the debate focusses over the extent to which public law notions of reasonableness should apply also to commercial contracts, and whether there are special rules for employment cases; and, outside the employment context, whether express “good faith” requirements can leave a party free to take full account of its own interests when exercising an option that the parties have agreed is to be exercised reasonably. 
 
There are also important considerations as to what should happen when a discretion has been exercised unreasonably. Should the court substitute its own view of what is reasonable? Or should it base any damages on the most favourable decision (to itself) that the decision maker could have reached?  
 
VK Rajah SC will be chairing the discussion and introducing the topic and the speakers. Edmund King QC and Wei Jian Chan, both acclaimed speakers, will discuss the underlying principles, recent UK case law and offer insights into future developments in this important, and changing, area of law. The talk will be aimed at practitioners with an interest in banking instruments, whether as banks or clients of banks.

PROGRAMME

SPEAKER PROFILES

Chariperson

V K RAJAH SC
Essex Court Chambers

Mr V K Rajah SC was born in Singapore in 1957. He graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1982 with several prizes for academic merit and subsequently obtained an LLM (First Class) from University of Cambridge in 1986.

He was admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore in 1983, and commenced legal practice with Rajah & Tann that same year. He was the Managing Partner of Rajah & Tann from 1987 to 2003, prior to his elevation to the Bench. He was appointed a Senior Counsel in 1997.

He was appointed a Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court of Singapore on 2 January 2004 and thereafter a Judge on 1 November 2004. On 11 April 2007, he was appointed a Judge of Appeal. He assumed office as the Attorney-General of the Republic of Singapore on 25 June 2014 and remained there until his retirement on 13 January 2017. V K Rajah SC, by virtue of his holding office as a Judge of the Supreme Court for more than 3 years does not enjoy right of audience in any court of justice in Singapore (see section 26(2) of the Legal Profession Act (Cap 161)). He is, however, able to advise on all aspects of court work.

Edmund KING QC
Queen’s Counsel
Essex Court Chambers

Edmund King QC is a Queen’s Counsel at Essex Court Chambers. His practice covers the full range of commercial and commercial chancery work. His cases typically involve fraud, shareholder or bondholder disputes and an international element. His practice also includes oil and gas, commodities, shipping, sovereign immunity claims, and telecoms. He has been listed as one of the Chambers UK Top 100 barristers, and is highly recommended by Chambers UK/Legal 500 in seven categories. Edmund is also called to the Bar in the British Virgin Islands.

Wei Jian CHAN
Barrister
Essex Court Chambers

Wei Jian Chan is a barrister at Essex Court Chambers. He has particular interests in commercial litigation and international arbitration, banking and financial services, all aspects of employment work, insolvency and trusts, and jurisdictional matters (conflict of laws). Prior to joining Essex Court Chambers, Wei Jian graduated with a First Class degree in Law from the University of Oxford. He went on to read for the Bachelors of Civil Law (BCL) at Oxford, obtaining a Distinction. Wei Jian grew up in Singapore. 

PUBLIC CPD POINTS

2 points (provided SILE's CPD Attendance Policy is complied with)

SCCA 2019's VERY FIRST THURS (In-house lawyers only)

NOTE:

- This event invite is strictly for in-house lawyers only.

- All food and drinks will be on cash bar basis.

The Guild is a collaboration between Chef Vincent “Vinny” Lauria and Young Master Brewery, Hong Kong’s highest rated and largest independent craft brewery. The circular bar at the center of its beautifully designed venue is testament to the brand’s serious focus on drinks.

Extending its Happy Hours especially for SCCA Members from 6.30pm to 8.30pm at the stylish GUILD – 55 Keong Siak Road only because it’s our very first Thursday for 2019!

You can spend hours watching the skilful bartenders create unique flavours to your request or enjoy catching up with friends and hear what SCCA has planned for the year ahead. The Guild offers something for everyone, craft beers, good food and a great environment. Join us!

SCCA FIRST THURSDAY 2018 - (For In-House Counsel only)

This event is strictly for in-house counsel only. 

Please e-mail secretariat at secretariat@scca.org.sg to be placed on the waitlist for this event.

SCCA DECEMBER FIRST THURSDAY 2018

Unity in Diversity – The Business Case for Changing the Narrative

In collaboration with CMS, an early signatory of the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association (SCCA) Diversity and Inclusion Pledge, and InterAlia, we are delighted to invite you to an evening at the Straits Clan for our next First Thursday. 

Going beyond a discussion of quotas, challenges, and statistics, our panel will share their experience, ideas, and initiatives for driving the diversity agenda both in their organisations and with their stakeholders. 

From the need for minorities in leadership roles to the empowerment of both men and women to challenge stereotypes and conventional norms, the panelists will discuss the potential and business case for diversity and how we can all help move that needle.

PROGRAM

5.30 PM Registration

6.15 PM Welcome address

6.30 PM Panel discussion

7.30 PM Closing remarks followed by drinks and canapés

-WELCOME ADDRESS-

Lakshanthi Fernando - Managing Director, CMS Holborn Asia

Cameron Ford -  Executive Committee, SCCA

-MODERATOR-  Jason Harding - Partner, CMS UK

-ON THE PANEL-

Aritha Wickramasinghe - Director - Equality Law (Justice Programme), iProbono

- Financial Times No.1 Future LGBT Leader (2015)

Kirstie Nicholson- Managing Counsel Competition - Legal, BHP

Keemin Ngiam- Director, Netflix

Anne Constant - Chief Operating Officer, Zurich Insurance Company Ltd (Singapore branch)

-CLOSING REMARKS- Daniel Mok, Co-Lead, InterAlia

'Tis the season to give back! As part of SCCA's drive to be socially conscious, the SCCA Peers are organising a collection in support of our migrant workers in Singapore. Donations of sundry goods will be greatly appreciated and may be dropped off at the SCCA office at 30 Merchant Road #02-02 Riverside Point Singapore 058282 during work hours. Please call the office before making a drop off at 66363638. Do join us also as we gather to wrap the gifts on 22 December 10am at SCCA and distribute the gifts on 23 December, please e-mail us at secretariat@scca.org.sg if you wish to participate!

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: MORE THAN CHECKING BOXES IN 2019

Event Overview

During this interactive seminar delivered by the global senior business leaders of Citco - Global Subsidiary Governance Services (GSGS), delegates will benefit from receiving best practices for Corporate Governance programs with a focus on International Subsidiaries.

The seminar will cover an overview of Subsidiaries Governance scene in Asia. This will include various topics from demand of management (boards of directors), tips to implement standards of Corporate Governance, Compliance Programmes and the way forward.

Seminar Content

• Overview of subsidiaries governance scene in Asia
• Demand on management – especially on boards of directors of companies
• Appropriate standards of corporate governance – how to implement and enforce?
• How to get the compliance program embedded in an organization so that it is operational rather than just theoretical
• The way forward

Programme

5:00pm - 5:30pm

Registration

5:30pm - 6:30pm

Presentation by CITCO

6:30pm - 6:45pm

Q&A

6:45pm Onwards

Networking

Speaker Profiles

 Kariem Abdellatif

Division Management / Head Global Subsidiary Governance

Citco Group

Kariem joined Citco in 1994. He is presently a member of the divisional management team of Citco Governance Services (since 2001). Kariem’s previous roles include General Manager Citco Nederland B.V. (2000 – 2001), and General Manager Citco B.V.I. Limited (1997 – 2000). Before that, Kariem served as an account manager in Curacao (1996 – 1997) and in the Netherlands (1994 – 1996).  In his present role, Kariem has been (and still is) closely involved in the development of the Global Subsidiary Governance Services model.  Kariem is a Dutch qualified lawyer from Rotterdam University.

Robert-Jan Kokshoorn

Co-head of Global Subsidiary Governance Services

Citco Group

Based in Miami, Robert-Jan joined the Citco Group of Companies in 2000 and had various positions in Curacao, Geneva, San Francisco and Miami.

He was instrumental in the setup and development of what is called Citco Global Subsidiary Governance Services today and is currently a member of the GSGS management team. Before joining Citco, Robert-Jan worked for a Dutch Fortune 500 company.

He will share his insight and experience in dealing with corporate governance practice within multinational corporations specifically.

Javed Aboobakar

Managing Director (Mauritius)

Citco Group

Javed heads up Citco Corporate Governance Services Business Development in Asia (including Africa). He has extensive experience in setting-up and administering corporate structures for multinational companies and funds investing in Asia and Africa.

Prior to joining the Citco Group of Companies, he was a director of one of the largest fiduciary companies in Mauritius. He was also the General Manager of BNPI (BNP Paribas) Offshore Banking Unit and the General Manager of BNPI (BNP Paribas) Mauritius Trust Corporation.

He holds a BA (Hons) Accounting and Finance from the University of Leeds (England), an MBA (International Finance) from the University of Bristol (England) jointly with Ecole Nationale des Ponts-et-Chaussées, Paris, a Bachelor of Laws (LLB Honours) from the University of London and is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).