Past Events

1st Series : “In conversation about the Mindful Business Charter and the legal community”

All external and in-house lawyers are welcomed.

The intention of the Mindful Business Charter is to remove unnecessary sources of stress and promote better mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. We recognize that there will be times and transactions when long hours and stress cannot be avoided, but this isn’t always the case, and we want it to become the exception rather than the rule. In this way, the Charter is brave and commercial. It recognizes that we cannot remove all sources of stress, nor will change happen overnight – but as a business community, we have a responsibility to try to do things differently.

During the conversation with the panelists, we will be raising awareness of issues and further enhancing an understanding of the Mindful Business Charter. Learnings of what has worked for others and how to tackle issues will be shared during the rich panel debate. Attendees will be encouraged to reflect on themselves personally – some may experience "aha" moments. Through the conversation, attendees will get tips on how to start to build an action plan around well-being mindfulness techniques and how they can be applied to lawyers. The session will start to equip lawyers with tools/techniques that can be used every day to bring about well-being.

The discussion will cover some of the various challenges faced and pathways to address well-being and adopting the Charter in whole or in part. Looking specifically at examples of

• openness and respect.
• smart meetings and emails.
• respecting rest periods; and
• mindful delegation.  

All 4 pillars cited in the Charter are a means to help teams to reduce unnecessary stress.

Speaker Panelists

Richard Martin  - Advisor of Byrne.Dean

Richard is a speaker, writer, trainer and thinker around mental health in the workplace. 

His first career was an employment lawyer in London. He trained with Gouldens, becoming a partner in that firm before its merger with global firm Jones Day, where he served as a partner for three years. He then moved to City firm Speechly Bircham where he ran the large employment practice and served on the management committee. The plan to become more involved in management took an unexpected turn when, in 2011, he suffered a serious mental breakdown, spent a month in hospital and undertook a lengthy recovery process.

Richard is now a director of workplace consultancy byrne dean where he leads on their mental health work.  He spends much of his time in an increasingly global training environment raising awareness of mental health, helping people understand their own mental health as well as how they can be more supportive of and understanding towards others, making mental health part of the conversation at work

Susan De Silva - Coach 

Susan de Silva was a practicing lawyer for more than 30 years in Singapore and England until she retired in 2018. She is now a Life Coach.

Susan was one of the founding partners of Singapore law firm Bird & Bird ATMD LLP, which has evolved into a global alliance with an international firm.

Susan began coaching in 2015 while still in legal practice. She is a Certified Professional Coactive Coach, an Associate Certified Coach with the International Coaches Federation, and is now completing an advanced course on the neuroscience of coaching.

Peggy Lim - Assistant General Counsel Legal Operations CH APAC

Peggy is currently Assistant General Counsel, Asia Pacific at a multi-national consumer healthcare company and oversees legal support provided to the business across Asia Pacific. After graduating from the National University of Singapore law school, she joined a local firm and was in private practice for 8 years doing a combination of litigation and corporate work over that period, before making the move to an in-house role.

Antony Lee - General Counsel at HSBC

Antony Lee is the General Counsel for HSBC Singapore and has held that appointment
since Feb 2006. He also has a regional role as Deputy General Counsel, Asia Pacific for
HSBC with a focus on supporting HSBC’s ASEAN agenda and the legal teams from the
other ASEAN countries. He manages a department of 30 lawyers and para-legals that is
responsible for the management of legal matters for all HSBC entities in Singapore.

Wong Taur Jiun - Head of Legal & Compliance at Rabobank Singapore (Immediate Past President of SCCA)

Taur-Jiun is the Head of Legal & Compliance at Rabobank Singapore. He graduated from the National University of Singapore with both a law degree and an MBA. Taur-Jiun started his career in private practice doing litigation and corporate commercial before moving in-house. Taur-Jiun also serves on the Senate of the Singapore Academy of Law, the Board of Advisors of the Singapore Management University’s School of Law, and the Board of Trustees of the Methodist Schools’ Foundation.

Mergers & Acquisitions - Recent Trends, Key Considerations and Strategies in Executing a Successful M&A

Event Overview:

Mergers & acquisitions (M&A) plays an instrumental role in shaping the economy. Sentiment in M&A has always been affected by global trends and with the COVID-19 pandemic, there is now greater uncertainty and challenges. We have also seen significant changes in M&A key drivers globally, as well as in M&A negotiations and the way due diligence is now being conducted. These factors have great impact on the role of an in-house corporate counsel which will be further discussed in this webinar.

Contents covered:

• Overview of the M&A landscape and trends
• Challenges that in-house corporate counsels face and how to better manage it
• Key considerations in negotiating M&A transactions
  • Due Diligence
  • Valuation and Purchase Price Considerations
  • Conditions Precedent and Pre-Closing Covenants
  • Representations, Warranties and Indemnities
  • Financing
• Strategies and alternative approaches

Speaker Profile

Evelyn Wee is the Deputy Head of Rajah & Tann Singapore’s Corporate and Transactional Group. She also heads the Capital Markets practice and is a senior partner with the M&A practice. Evelyn has three decades of extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, private equity/venture capital investments, and capital markets transactions, including innovative, complex and award-winning deals.

Evelyn regularly advises, inter alia, listed vehicles on their corporate/compliance matters and clients on cross border transactions, which include investments in, and divestments of, businesses and assets in South Asia, South East Asia, the United Kingdom and South America, and has represented both private equity/venture capital investors and founders/portfolio companies in investments and exits.

Highly regarded for her work in Capital Markets and Corporate/M&A, Evelyn has been consistently recognised as a leading / recommended lawyer in major ranking publications such as Chambers Asia Pacific and Chambers Global, IFLR1000, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, Best Lawyers and Who’s Who Legal.

Clients have commended her as "a very detailed lawyer who puts in a lot of care for her clients", appreciating her for “consistently making an extra effort on transactions”. In addition, she is said to be “valued by clients for her dedication and commerciality”, and described as “excellent” and “a very good and very competent practitioner”.

Greg Tanner is the Group General Counsel of International SOS, the world’s leading medical & security services company, which operates in over 100 countries with 11,000 employees, led by over 5,000 medical practitioners and security specialists. International SOS’s global service offerings include medical and travel risk and security planning, health assurance and preventative care programs, in-country medical expertise and emergency response services for mobile workers, travelers, expatriates and their dependents.  International SOS also undertakes the staffing and operation of over 800 sites remote and industrial medical sites. And International SOS is the largest global concierge service provider.

Southeast Asia: Employment challenges and opportunities in a new era of retail banking

Event Overview:

The past decade has seen a rapid transformation in the retail banking sector across Southeast Asia. Increased mobile penetration and a push towards digitalization are driving fundamental change in how banking services are accessed. Financial institutions must adapt their workforces to meet these new demands – a task which is complicated by prolonged Covid restrictions in many countries.

While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, organisations can still consider a uniform approach across the region. Join our panel of employment law experts from around the region for a discussion on how businesses can address the challenges, including through:
- Retrenchment
- Reskilling or upskilling
- Global mobility and remote working

Join for an insightful and perspective-based conversation from different jurisdictions.

Speaker Panel:

Selvamalar is co-head of the firm's Employment practice. She provides integrated support to a wide range of clients in various industries on all employment/human resource related matters including compliance with all laws applicable to employment relationships; managing the exit of employees whether by way of collective reduction in force exercises or individual terminations for misconduct or poor performance; protection of confidential and proprietary information; investigations and disciplinary actions; trade unions, both recognition and collective bargaining; dispute resolution at all levels and business immigration.

She also provides strategic advice in internal fraud management advising clients in high profile and highly sensitive matters involving fraud perpetrated by employees; and the options available to the organisations to obtain redress against the wrongdoers. Her practice extends to focused compliance on bribery and corruption as well as acting for medical practitioners in negligence and malpractice suits. Read more about her here.

Herry, who was made partner in 2012, is a key figure in ABNR’s project finance & development, real estate and restructuring & insolvency practices. 

In project finance & development, Herry has particular experience and expertise in the financing and development of major power-sector and industrial projects, and also regularly handles the real-estate aspects of such projects. He has worked on the financing and development of many of the largest power projects in Indonesia in recent years, including the Paiton Project, Tanjung Jati B Project, Sarulla Project, Banten Project, Cirebon and Cirebon Expansion Projects, Central Java Project, Wampu and Semangka Hydro Power Projects, and Muara Laboh and Rantau Dedap Geothermal Projects, Waste to Energy Projects of Legok Nangka and Sunter. Read more about him here.

Auradee Pantumkomon Wongsaroj is an attorney-at-law in Tilleke & Gibbins’ corporate and commercial department. She specializes in due diligence for high-value commercial transactions and advising on commercial, energy (oil and gas and renewable energy), labor, corporate, environmental, and competition law and privacy law. Prior to joining the firm, she was a senior associate at an energy industry-focused law firm in Bangkok and at a leading energy-related public company in Thailand. She also advised the Petroleum Institute of Thailand on natural gas price research by the Energy Policy and Planning Office of Thailand’s Ministry of Energy, and on a high-profile study under the Energy Regulatory Commission’s Law Reform Project. She is a frequent ad-hoc lecturer on international business law and transactions and Thai labor law issues, and regularly presents at local and overseas forums on labor and, employment, and privacy and personal data protection matters.

Auradee is a barrister-at-law certified by the Thai Bar Association and a lawyer licensed by the Lawyers Council of Thailand. Read more about her here.

Enriquito J. Mendoza, a partner, chairs the Labor & Immigration department and is affiliated with the Litigation & Arbitration Department. His practice focuses on labor, litigation, and corporate law.

Quito leads the Labor department in assisting employer-clients in collective bargaining negotiations and disputes before labor agencies and courts of law. He gives comprehensive advice on workers and employer rights, including the ramifications to such rights as a result of mergers, consolidations, acquisitions, and other modes of corporate restructuring. His advice covers the effects on security of tenure and possible claims over statutory and contractual benefits resulting from such restructuring. Read more about him here.

No-Code, No-Problem!

EVENT OVERVIEW:

Understanding how bespoke software solutions can aid lawyers better than point solutions in many circumstances, and how no-code development allows for quick, easy, bespoke, and much less costly application building. Having to manage an exponential increase in demand for legal expertise with scarce resources is becoming an impossible task for many in-house lawyers.

There is a fundamental need to make legal expertise more accessible to the business and to deliver that expertise securely and effectively at the point of need.

Developing digital solutions to solve legal or business problems was once an expensive and inflexible exercise, having to hire developers to build custom solutions. But what if you could build a bespoke digital solution according to your team’s needs without having to write a single line of code? What if this process was much easier and more cost-effective than you think?

No matter whether you want to automate processes related to legal operations, contracts, due diligence or compliance, Neota Logic’s no-code development platform enables you to create solutions that replicate the advice of an expert. 

Join this webinar to learn more.

Speaker

Jackson Liu is a recovering lawyer and management consultant who has overseen APAC customer success at Neota as well as being VP of Markets and Growth before stepping into his current role, Global VP of Innovation. Who better, then, to talk us through no code, legaltech, and what no code can do for businesses and their legal departments alike.

MinLaw Fireside Chat

Programme:

• 12.00pm - 12.15 pm: Registration and light refreshments
• 12.15 pm - 1.00 pm: Welcome and Break-out sessions
• 1.00 pm - 2.00 pm: Session with Minister

Note:

Please note that the event has limited spaces, and is only available to SCCA Peers members.

Registration Deadline:

Registration will close by 12 pm on 19 April (Monday), and you will receive a confirmation email by 20 April (Tuesday) if your registration is successful.

Career directions for the young lawyer

EVENT OVERVIEW:

Ever felt like you were at the crossroads of your career and wondered if the law was the “right job” for you? Or felt uncertain about taking the “right step” as you progress in your legal career?

Come join us for a roundtable with our panelists who will share more about their current careers and the choices that made them:

• How they felt at the different junctions as they made the next step in their careers
• Their motivations and aspirations in their careers
• How counsel and business roles converge with legal practice
• The trade-offs and perspectives about legal practice and business

PANELISTS:

Counsel in a leading global energy and chemical manufacturing company, with strong experience in energy related work including LNG and piped gas marketing & trading, international green field energy projects, brownfield M&As, and renewable energy projects. Co-chair of the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association Pro Bono Chapter, and a facilitator for professional skills in the Part B Preparatory Course leading to the Singapore Bar Examinations.

Yi-Ming is a Senior Associate at Allen & Gledhill, whose key areas of practices are Litigation, Intellectual Property and Commercial Fraud.  

Yi-Ming has been involved in a wide variety of complex commercial disputes.  She has experience in the areas of litigation and arbitration, intellectual property, commercial fraud and investigations, cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, trusts, credit and security.  Yi-Ming has also appeared as amicus curiae in the Supreme Court. Prior to joining Allen & Gledhill, Yi-Ming was a Justices’ Law Clerk of the Supreme Court of Singapore.  Yi-Ming was also awarded the Singapore Academy of Law Overseas Attachment Award in 2017 and was seconded to Essex Court Chambers in London where she worked with leading Queen’s Counsel.

Yi-Ming graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science with First Class Honours (LLB).   Yi-Ming is presently a tutor for the Preparatory Course leading to Part B of the Singapore Bar Examinations.

Shin Min is Regional General Counsel for APAC at ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON), a leading supplier of semiconductor-based solutions. She has extensive experience in advising on legal, compliance and corporate secretariat matters in the APAC region. Shin Min graduated from the National University of Singapore with a law degree and started her career in litigation before moving in-house, first in the telecommunications industry with StarHub, then in the retail sector at Swarovski, before joining Fairchild Semiconductor 8 years ago. Fairchild Semiconductor was acquired by and became a part of ON Semiconductor in 2016.

FengJun practised as a corporate lawyer in a local firm for the early part of her career, advising on a wide range of domestic and regional corporate and commercial matters with a focus on energy, infrastructure and projects. 

She then moved to the Beijing office of an international law firm, where she was in its Global Energy, Natural Resources and Infrastructure, Projects and Finance practice group. During the Beijing stint, she advised Chinese state-owned entities on the development and financing of outbound investments in international power and infrastructure projects around the world.

After returning to Singapore, she joined the legal team in DBS. Her work now sees her providing strategic, advisory, transactional and commercial support on the legal and regulatory requirements relating to technology, data and intellectual property asset management, operations and sourcing. She is also involved in various digital/technology/innovation projects within DBS and other data-driven initiatives to digitise work processes. One of the highlights of her time at DBS was the work done formulating the policy framework for responsible and ethical data use, which went on to win the FT Innovative Lawyers award for 2 consecutive years. 

FengJun balances work and life by squeezing in yoga and meditation within pockets of available time. She reads to get inspired and goes for long walks to refresh the mind.

Nazrul was formerly in litigation working on complex General Litigation matters ranging from Civil Litigation which involved breaches of directors' duties, white-collar crimes, to very contentious and complex cross-jurisdictional, high net worth divorce matters. He dealt with matters across all levels of the Court strata.

After litigation and a stint at a Legaltech company, Nazrul, who had always been very much attuned to legal work, went back to doing just that, albeit in a different capacity – this time as Regional Counsel for a multinational Fintech company dealing with Payments and Cryptocurrency related work. Initially a shock to his system due to the completely novel and nascent area of both business and law, he was able to, after a short while, ease himself into the work.

Nazrul currently heads the Legal and Compliance department in the Company and covers businesses activities in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Nazrul regularly advises on business related matters in all three (3) jurisdictions, and also guides and directs other Counsels in the various jurisdictions. Nazrul has to constantly find ways and means to marry multiple different issues together, with them being the law, cryptocurrency, as well as prevailing business needs and targets. From litigation, to tech, and now to both tech and law, Nazrul’s area of practice has constantly been evolving, and also shows his great appetite for the relative unknown.

Gabriel has been with the Banyan Tree group for 9 years and is at the forefront of the group’s strategic global business development efforts. Gabriel was first brought into the Banyan Tree group and appointed the steering role of Legal Director of the group’s legal team since January 2015.

Gabriel’s focus moved to business development and he was appointed Director, Business Development, from February 2016, to emphasize the importance of a strategic approach to growth, and was made the Assistant Vice President, Business Development, in January 2017. The group’s recent inroads into Cuba, and establishment of strategic alliances with AccorHotels and Vanke are a few examples of Gabriel’s untiring efforts.

Gabriel graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Laws Second Class (Upper Division) Honours (LL.B), and practised law in Allen & Gledhill LLP prior to joining the Banyan Tree group.

Pro Bono Initiatives with SCCA

Event Overview:

2020 has been a challenging year and an opportunity for reflection of how we can all come together to do good for the community. SCCA Pro Bono Chapter has a line-up of meaningful initiatives where in-house counsels can leverage their skills to give back to the community and be the bridge to empower and facilitate corporations to do CSR activities.

We will be sharing the overview of SCCA Pro Bono initiatives – Project Zero, Pier Counsel, SCCA Legal Eagle Challenge, Communities of Practice, Law Awareness Week

Speakers:

Serene is a senior regional legal counsel, qualified in Singapore and New York, with a background in Singapore and regional corporate work as well as commercial litigation. With extensive regional experience in both emerging and developed markets, Serene provides practical legal advice to her clients, allowing them to capture business opportunities while effectively managing transactions, operations and on-the-ground legal risks.

She is the co-chair of the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association Pro Bono Chapter which aims to encourage pro bono spirit within the in-house legal community to do volunteer work.

Counsel in a leading global energy and chemical manufacturing company, with strong experience in energy related work including LNG and piped gas marketing & trading, international green field energy projects, brownfield M&As, and renewable energy projects. A facilitator for professional skills in the Part B Preparatory Course leading to the Singapore Bar Examinations.

Hannah Tjoa is a legal counsel in the General Counsel Division (Litigation and Investigations Group) of Credit Suisse AG. She manages the Group’s litigation and regulatory enforcement matters on behalf of the Group’s business divisions in Asia Pacific, Middle East, and North Africa. Hannah obtained her LLB (Second Upper Honours) from the National University of Singapore and was admitted to the Singapore Bar in 2014.

Benson is the Co-Lead for Project Zero. He was a committee member of Project Law Help Committee of the Law Society Pro Bono Services for two terms. He has advised Law Society Pro Bono Services as counsel. He was also counsel in Project Law Help, Community Organisation Clinic, and On Site Legal Advice Scheme. Further he acted for various indigent accused in criminal matters (either with co-counsel or as sole counsel) under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme. He was appointed as a Junior Assisting Counsel and Assisting Counsel in the Legal Assistance Scheme for Capital Offences.

Daniel is currently Senior Legal Counsel and Privacy Responsible, Asia Pacific at Bruker, a German & American based manufacturer of high-performance scientific instruments and medical devices. Daniel heads the APAC legal team that covers China, India, Japan, Korea, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.  In addition, Daniel serves as a Director, Treasurer and Co-Chair of Peers Committee (committee for young in-house lawyers) of the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association Limited.

How to Get Financially Fit for Busy Professionals

Event Overview:

“I will start investing when it is the right time.”
“I don’t have time to do research and go through my compliance.”
“I don’t know what my banker is doing, but my money is already invested with them.”

In a world where change is exponential with unprecedented events over the past year, it is crucial for busy, working professionals to be equipped with the right tools and knowledge to manage and grow wealth.

This 45-minute webinar with 15-min Q&A will feature a diverse group of panelists who will share their personal investing experience to help time-stretched working professionals get started with investing and for existing investors to get through testing times.

Our panelist consists of Damayanti Shahani, an entrepreneur, and Evelyn Chua, a Lawyer, both of whom have personal investing experience, and Thomas Meichl, the Head of Trading and Portfolio Management of Kristal.AI to cover the following topics: 

• Introduction of the Panellists and Problem Statement
• Long-Term Financial Planning
• Panellists' Sharing of Personal Investing Experiences
• Strategies to Prepare for Long-Term Investment Goals
• Q&A

This webinar is hosted by Kristal.AI is a global, digital-first private wealth management platform that provides comprehensive solutions for sophisticated high net worth, first-time investors, and the underserved mass affluent investors.

Founded in 2016, Kristal.AI is licensed and operates in Singapore, Hong Kong, India, and Dubai.

Find out more at www.kristal.ai.

Webinar Promotion:

Promotion: Anyone who attends the webinar and signs up via https://bit.ly/kristalsccawebinar will be entitled to a rebate of 50% in the management fees provided you make successful investments of a minimum USD 10,000.

Promotion Period: 8th April - 30th April 2021.

Promotion Detail:

• A QR code that leads to the Kristal.AI homepage to sign up will be added on the presentation slides, so at any time of the webinar, attendees can visit the portal and sign up to explore the features.
• The promotion will be mentioned three times in total: Once during the webinar opening, the second time after the topics are covered; before the Q&A begins, and last after the 15-min Q&A, before we conclude the webinar.

Terms & Conditions will be shared with users who sign up through this.

For more information please feel free to reach out to Hilda Tan at hilda@kristal.ai

Speakers:

Damayanti is an entrepreneur with a long and strong compliance and legal career. She has lived and worked in Singapore, the US and India. She wears many hats including as a business owner, CEO and mother. Damayanti will share her personal perspectives on financial wellness. Damayanti is also very active in the social impact space having co-founded a philanthropy consulting initiative and taken on leadership roles including at organizations that support the role of women in the workplace. When she can, she picks up the paintbrush and enjoys art. Her most fierce art critic is her 9-year old daughter!

Evelyn grew up in Malaysia and has spent the past 10 years studying and working in Singapore. She doesn’t understand it when people say that Singaporean food is better than Malaysian food. Evelyn considers herself relatively inexperienced and fairly lazy in investing. That’s why intelligent robo-advisors like Kristal.AI do the trick for her. As a philosophy, she believes that she is only a steward (not the owner) of her money, tasked with responsibly managing this so as not to burden others when she gets older and so that she can bless as many people as often as possible. In her free time, she enjoys reading John Grisham novels, Korean dramas and exercising. At this point, she is looking forward mostly to being a mom!

As the Head of Trading & Advisory, Thomas brings his 25+ years of experience in boutique fund houses and big names like the Bank of Austria and JPMorgan to Kristal.AI. He is an experienced finance professional in trading and sales across multiple asset classes and portfolio and risk management.

Conversation on Women’s Development, with Minister of State Sun Xue Ling

Participation Capacity:

40 participants allowed only. On behalf of the Ministry of Social and Family Development registration is based on first come first serve basis for Singapore Nationals and Permanent Residents only.

Registration Deadline: 19th March 2021 4:55PM SGT

Event Overview:

SCCA is proud to support the ongoing nation-wide Conversations on Women’s Development and to contribute our feedback and views towards a white paper relating to women’s development to be prepared by the end of June 2021. The “Conversations on Women’s Development” was launched on 20 September 2020 to kickstart a national effort to understand Singaporeans’ aspirations and ideas on how we can further advance our women in Singapore.

In-house counsels are well placed to understand some of these complexities, and to also offer constructive solutions on the same, especially for any challenges that may be faced in the workforce or for those balancing responsibilities at home and in the workplace.

Both men and women are welcome to contribute to this dialogue, and we look forward to everyone’s active participating to show our support for this cause. Do sign up by 17 March 2021 and join us in this conversation!

Discussion:

The Conversation will comprise of group break-out discussions that will centre on women concerns in the areas of home, school, community and the work environments, and then a summarized discussion to reflect the same with the Minister. We look forward to the meaningful highlight of relevant concerns, as well as possible solutioning of such areas that may be discussed.

Guest of Honor:

Minister of State Sun Xue Ling is the Minister of State in the Ministry for Education and Ministry for Social and Family Development. She has been elected as a Member of Parliament since September 2015.

Before entering politics, Minister Sun spent more than a decade in the Private Sector in Finance and Investments. Ms Sun spent her early career at the Economic Development Board of Singapore and DBS Bank Ltd. She was then Director, Investments Group, at Temasek International, focusing on investment opportunities in China and other developing countries in Latin America. She had also spent 8 years based in Hong Kong and China working for Deutsche Bank AG as a Director and also as Senior Vice-President in Macquarie Securities. In recent years, Minister Sun was appointed CEO of Business China, a non-profit organisation which aims to form a cultural and economic bridge linking the world and China.

Continuing to shine the light on "Speak Up" and transparency – SESSION 3

Event Overview:

The third session in this series will drill down and look at two countries in the Asia Pacific region. Both have established specific legislation in place within the last decade and more recently to address speaking up and raising concerns within companies and institutions.

In South Korea for example the Act on the Protection of Public Interest Whistle-blowers came into force on 30 September 2011. It was enacted to help to protect individuals who reported certain breaches/ violations of the public interest in both the public and private sector. Under this legislation whistle-blowers are guaranteed confidentiality and protection of personal safety under the Act where they or their relatives are likely to suffer danger. Earlier in 2008 Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission was established. This was to encourage anyone who learned of corruption in the public sector to disclose wrongdoing without fear of retaliation. The said Commission integrated the Ombudsman of Korea, Korea Independent Commission Against Corruption, and the Administrative Appeals Commission under the Prime Minister. 

In Australia for example the Australian Federal Government passed new whistle-blower legislation called Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistle-blower Protection) Act 2019 which came into force in July 2019. The legislation is to ensure that people can anonymously report unethical or illegal behaviour occurring in Australian businesses. Companies who fail to follow the new federal whistle-blower laws could face penalties of up to $10.5 million. The new Act aims to encourage ethical whistleblowing and discourage unethical, illegal, corrupt, fraudulent, and other undesirable conduct, while holding employers accountable for protecting eligible whistle-blowers. The Act makes significant changes to the existing legislation including the 2001 Corporations Act.

Discussion Point:

• This follow-on session will review current developments in both South Korea as well as Australia through some case examples and learnings.
• The session will also touch on the hands-on practical steps in house counsel should consider when advising their companies from both the employer’s and employees’ perspectives.
• There will be the opportunity to raise questions with our speakers to gain further insights and perspectives on speak up issues and taboos. 

Through discussion Samuel Nam and Miji Song both from KIM & CHANG and David Morfesi at Minter Ellison, we hope to help navigate the complexities involved, provide useful insights and increase awareness in respect of both Korean and Australian speak up whistleblowing laws and regulations.

Speakers:

David came to MinterEllison from Washington, DC, where he served in the Executive Office of the President as a senior trade negotiator, policy advisor and diplomat. David also served as the Executive Director of the Institute for International Trade at the University of Adelaide. David heads MinterEllison's International Trade Group, specialising in free trade agreements, WTO law, investment treaties, anti-bribery and corruption, sanctions, export controls, trade remedies, customs matters, regulatory matters affecting trade in goods and services, and a full range of intellectual property law and policy matters. David will be responsible for all your International Trade needs. He will provide advice on a full range of domestic and international trade regulatory requirements, including free trade agreement negotiations, WTO compliance, and treaty implementation.

Samuel Nam is a senior foreign attorney at Kim & Chang. Mr. Nam focuses on banking, finance, government investigations and enforcement actions, compliance and international trade. Mr. Nam has extensive experience with the global operations of multinational firms and management of reputational, legal, regulatory, and compliance matters across multiple jurisdictions. He assists clients in developing and implementing their strategic initiatives and managing crises revolving issues involving the US and foreign governments. He has represented multinational companies in internal corruption investigations and potential actions before Korean regulators and prosecutors. His work before Korean regulators ranges from defense of a multinational auto manufacturer and a European machinery company in potential import violations to representation of a major global financial institution in connection with cartel investigations by Korea Fair Trade Commission. He has also advised a Korean financial institution in an investigation by multiple US government authorities involving potential anti-money laundering and economic sanctions violations.

Miji SONG is a Senior Attorney, Compliance and Corporate Investigation Practice Group. She represents multinational companies in a broad range of corporate investigations and regulatory audits. Lead teams in all stages of investigation, from planning, data review/analysis, interviews, investigation reports, training, and remediation. Support clients in follow up measures to investigations including HR actions, civil and administrative litigation, criminal actions/defense, and implementation of compliance programs. Work on high profile corruption cases including coordination of FCPA investigation. Engage in in-depth review of matters encompassing various issues, including bribery, embezzlement, accounting fraud, breach of trust and fiduciary duties, antitrust, data privacy, and regulatory compliance, with extensive factfinding in collaboration with in-house forensics team in data review and forensic analysis.

Moderator:

Greg Tanner is the Group General Counsel of International SOS, the world’s leading medical & security services company, which operates in over 100 countries with 11,000 employees, led by over 5,000 medical practitioners and security specialists. International SOS’s global service offerings include medical and travel risk and security planning, health assurance and preventative care programs, in-country medical expertise, and emergency response services for mobile workers, travelers, expatriates, and their dependents.  International SOS also undertakes the staffing and operation of over 800 sites remote and industrial medical sites. And International SOS is the largest global concierge service, provider.