In-house lawyers: case studies

Read the other FT Innovative Lawyers Asia-Pacific ‘Best practice case studies’, which showcase the standout innovations made for and by people working in the legal sector:

Practice of law
Business of law

Standout

Winner: Telstra
Originality: 9; Leadership: 8; Impact: 8; Total: 25
The legal team at the Australian telecoms company has built on previous improvements to the way it prioritises work from the rest of the business. It created a tool that measures capacity and provides the team with a system for discussing its scope to take on work — deciding how to prioritise tasks within the team, or justifying putting them out to external counsel. The resulting transparency on capacity and costs has enhanced relationships with the rest of the business.

HSBC
O: 8; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 24
In 2023, the bank’s regional legal team built and deployed several tools, including a digital portal to receive legal requests from the business, a centralised system for approving marketing campaigns, and a chatbot to handle responses to routine queries. They are, so far, used by the digital legal team, the litigation department, and one of the banking teams.

Highly commended

Boston Consulting Group
O: 8; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 23
As part of BCG’s strategy to increase artificial intelligence and digital consulting fees significantly by 2026, its legal department in the region is collaborating with counterparts across the firm in initiatives such as overhauling risk and contractual frameworks. Internally, it is adopting workload management software and trialling generative AI automation tools.

IAG
O: 7; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 23
In 2023, the Australian insurance company’s legal team improved its operations by automating the generation of complex contracts and by extending its programme for managing external spending to its teams in New Zealand. The team also introduced a dashboard that displays quarterly and monthly reports on legal expenditures and how external law firms perform.

Zongteng Group
O: 7; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 23
Lawyers at the Chinese logistics business built a database that collects details of global legislation, legal commentaries and cases, and names of recommended external counsel in countries where the business operates. The resource helps the small legal team, mainly based in China, to provide global legal advice.

Commended

WiseTech Global
O: 6; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 21
To gain support from the business for several operational changes, lawyers recorded precisely how they spent their time — an unusual practice for in-house teams. The scrutiny helped identify where alterations, such as introducing a contract management system, would help improve efficiency. The improvements have saved the team hundreds of hours in answering routine queries.

BHP
O: 6; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 20
In preparation for making use of generative AI, the mining group’s legal team has upgraded its systems to store documents in one place and to collect structured data. The team estimates that the move has already cut lawyers’ time spent on administrative tasks by a quarter.

Toll Group
O: 6; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 20
The legal team at the global logistics business introduced an automation tool to speed up contract approval. Some 3,000 requests have been yielding valuable insights, such as how often negotiators deviate from standard contract terms.

Dentsu
O: 6; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 19
The Japanese-led global advertising group’s Asia-Pacific legal team worked with the chief technology officer and other departments to improve and extend oversight of new products’ commercial viability and any potential data privacy questions, as well as other legal risks.

Equinix
O: 6; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 19
The regional section of the data centre operator’s global legal team has centralised and streamlined several processes to enhance its contract management systems.

Standout

Joint winners: Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing and HSBC
Both legal teams: Originality: 8; Leadership: 8; Impact: 9; Total: 25
Launched in May 2023, the stock exchange operator’s Swap Connect programme allows offshore investors access to China’s $5tn interest rate swaps market, and is similar to existing programmes in Hong Kong that allow offshore investors to trade mainland bonds and stocks.

At Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), the legal team helped structure the link-up, backed by the Shanghai Clearing House and the China Foreign Exchange Trade System, and worked to secure regulatory approval in the territory and mainland. At HSBC, lawyers drafted the contracts used by both the onshore and offshore investors.

Highly commended

DBS Bank
O: 7; L: 9; I: 7; Total: 23
In 2023, the Singaporean bank set up a group to improve its handling of customer safety, led by a senior member of the legal team. It created an enhanced anti-malware tool for DBS to prevent users of its banking app logging in remotely if it detects signs of fraudulent activity. The bank says this change has stopped S$14mn ($10.3mn) being taken fraudulently from accounts. Another product enables digital deposits but only in-person withdrawals.

Commended

CIMB
O: 6; L: 7; I: 8; Total: 21
Lawyers at the Malaysian banking group advised it on the rollout of online business loans and personal loans to domestic customers in the country.

Westpac
O: 6; L; 7; I; 8; Total: 21
Lawyers at the Australian bank supported the product team in redesigning its mobile banking app, advising on new features, consumer rights and data protection.

Standout

Winner: Asian Development Bank
Originality: 8; Leadership: 9; Impact: 8; Total: 25
The bank is working with UN agencies to send aid to people in Afghanistan without money passing through the Taliban. Usually, ADB works directly with governments to provide funding but, because the Taliban is not generally recognised as a government by the international community, aid had to be delivered through other channels.

The legal team successfully argued to stakeholders that, because Afghanistan does not exercise jurisdiction over UN agencies, those organisations are appropriate entities through which to deliver aid.

The lawyers negotiated with the UN agencies to ensure the arrangement met ADB’s strict transparency requirements, such as it being able to inspect any suppliers the UN contracted with as part of the collaboration.

Highly commended

DBS Bank
O: 7; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 23
Since 2020, the legal and compliance team at the Singapore bank has run “hackathons”, alongside other organisations, to try to address wider social problems. The 2023 edition focused on mental resilience. Some 27 ideas were generated, two of which are being explored for further development.

Commended

MTR Corporation
O: 6; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 21
The Hong Kong railway operator’s legal team helped it to execute its environmental, social and governance strategy. This included developing a new corporate structure and working to secure a patent for a product that uses cameras and AI to prevent damage to escalators from discarded objects.

Standard Chartered Bank
O: 7; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 20
Sustainability experts in the Apac region’s legal team developed a process whereby the bank can assess and mitigate competition and antitrust risk when working on sustainable projects with counterparts in the banking industry.

Klook
O: 7; L: 6; I: 7; Total: 20
After the travel company came under criticism over animal welfare standards at wildlife attractions, it took action to improve them. The legal team piloted a programme, working with accreditation business Asian Captive Elephant Standards, to help five elephant visitor attractions that sold tickets through Klook to meet the new standards. Some venues listed on Klook may still offer close-quarter wildlife experiences, but these are not promoted or sold through the Klook site itself.

Standout

Winner: SoftBank
Originality: 8; Leadership: 9; Impact: 9; Total: 26
The legal team advised the Japanese investment group on last September’s initial public offering of its UK chip designer Arm in the US. To expedite the deal, lawyers also helped SoftBank acquire an additional 25 per cent of Arm from its Saudi-backed investment partner Vision Fund, the $100bn vehicle that is managed by SoftBank itself.

The lawyers negotiated with investors and dealt with scrutiny over this related-party transaction. The legal team also dealt with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in preparation for Arm’s IPO, which saw the Japanese company raise nearly $5bn while retaining 90 per cent of the business — making it the largest US listing in almost two years.

Highly commended

Asian Development Bank
O: 7; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 23
The legal team at the Manila-based institution advised on the arrangement, structuring and syndication of a $692mn financing package signed last March to fund the construction of Monsoon Wind Power Project — the largest wind power plant in south-east Asia. Electricity generated from the plant under construction, the first wind farm in Laos, will be sold to neighbouring Vietnam. Features such as a $50mn concessional financing package, in case of delays, provide additional reassurance for commercial lenders.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX)
O: 6; L: 9; I: 8; Total: 23
Lawyers at the stock exchange operator advised on narrowing the period between pricing and the start of share trading in an IPO from five days to two, via its new settlement platform Fast Interface for New Issuance, which was launched last year. The team worked with different stakeholders to digitise the previously paper-based system.

Commended

Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21
The public research body’s lawyers worked with Australian legal design firm Inkling to improve the project agreements it uses when collaborating with a range of industry and academic partners. New contracts that clearly set out expectations and undertakings of projects are designed to improve the relationships between the organisation, including ANSTO scientists, and external researchers when working together on collaborations.

HSBC
O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21
Lawyers designed the documentation for HSBC’s role as sole settlement bank for a scheme to link Hong Kong’s Faster Payment System with PromptPay in Thailand. Nine banks and payment providers have so far signed up to use the scheme.

Recruit
O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21
Legal and data teams at Japan’s biggest recruitment agency, which has been expanding AI services for job searches and matching, have developed a new governance and review process to ensure compliance with AI and anti-discrimination laws globally.

Standout

Winner: Tencent
Originality: 8; Leadership: 8; Impact: 9; Total: 25
The legal team at the Chinese technology company has set up a platform to simplify and speed up the review process when artificial intelligence features are added to Tencent apps. Product developers answer a series of questions about how they plan to use AI in an app and where the data will come from, which allows the legal team to say within a day if it should go ahead.

UBS
O: 8; L: 9; I: 7; Total: 24
A tool devised by the Swiss bank’s lawyers in collaboration with the IT team assists in approval for data-transfer requests. It saves an estimated 1,000 hours of lawyer time annually and allows for faster approval of outsourcing projects at the bank.

Highly commended

Flex
O: 7; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 22
To comply with the US-based manufacturing company’s data-security requirements, the China legal team bought a licence outright for a contract lifecycle management platform in order to be able to customise it. The tool works on English- and Chinese-language documents and has cut the review time required for procurement contracts from days to hours.

Commended

Fazz
O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21
The legal team at the Singaporean fintech is collaborating with police and government agencies in the city state to help prevent cyber crime. The lawyers have created a tool that streamlines responses to requests for information from the police.

AS Watson
O: 6; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 20
The group legal team at the Hong Kong-based global health and beauty retailer has customised a legal operations management platform to act as a contract management system. The new system automates document drafting, streamlines the approvals process and cuts contract review times by up to 50 per cent.

Klook
O: 6; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 20
The legal team at the Hong Kong-based travel company adopted a contract management system, for both sales and procurement, to handle a year-on-year doubling in contracts without adding more lawyers.

Standout

Winner: DBS Bank
Originality: 9; Leadership: 8; Impact: 8; Total: 25
As a proof-of-concept exercise, the legal team used an application to retrieve news articles about customers that it wished to scrutinise over potential illicit or illegal activities. It then used generative artificial intelligence to summarise the items to highlight relevant coverage. The full version of this tool went live earlier this year and the team is piloting several other uses for generative AI in detecting money laundering and fraud.

Telstra
O: 9; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 24
The legal team at the Australian telecoms business is testing a generative AI tool’s accuracy for translating laws, such as those regarding billing, into obligation statements for the business. The AI assesses Telstra’s processes for ensuring compliance and suggests measures to improve them.

Westpac
O: 8; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 24
In collaboration with law firms, technology companies and other professional services businesses, the legal team at the Australian bank tested several generative AI tools in different scenarios. The team says it is already seeing productivity gains. One of the most promising tools links the bank’s underlying regulations and policies to its supplier contracts, which allows users to better understand the reasoning behind certain contract clauses.

Highly commended

Lazada
O: 7; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 23
The legal team at the south-east Asian ecommerce business used generative AI to accelerate its contract review process and to identify common risks across different agreements. The team estimates that contract review is already 20 per cent to 30 per cent faster on its standard work.

Commended

GLP
O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21
The legal team at the Singapore-based international logistics company worked with colleagues, including the chief financial officer and the IT team, to store financial and legal documents centrally. This will give the business’s generative AI tool better access to data.

LG Chem
O: 7; L: 8; I: 6; Total: 21
The legal team at the South Korean chemical company is using generative AI tools on Chinese and Korean-language documents, to help review the contents of contracts and redraft clauses more easily. It is currently used for simple contracts, such as non-disclosure agreements.

McKinsey & Company
O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21
Asia-Pacific lawyers at the consulting business are using its internal generative AI tool, Lilli, to help craft responses to external counsel, to critique their own legal arguments, and to assist in translation as the business uses more than 10 languages in the region.

Standout

Winner: Boston Consulting Group
Originality: 8; Leadership: 9; Impact: 9; Total: 26
The US-based consultancy is aiming to double the proportion of fees it gets from AI and digital consulting to 40 per cent of its global revenues by 2026 (last year, revenues were $12.3bn). To help with this, BCG’s legal team in the region has hired a range of experts in technology, intellectual property, the metaverse, and AI ethics. To keep abreast of the latest developments in the field, the team has designated individuals to gather and update information across their practice areas to feed into different parts of the business.

Nanyang Technological University
O: 7; L: 8; I: 9; Total: 24
At the start of 2024, the Singaporean university’s 22-person legal team established a “360” structure that expects all its lawyers to have a working knowledge of all areas that the institution may need advice on. There are still specialists, but most queries can now be answered by anyone in the department.

Highly commended

DBS Bank
O: 8; L: 9; I: 6; Total: 23
The legal and compliance team at Singapore’s biggest bank has developed a strategy for coping with the anticipated disruption of generative AI in its business. It plans to move those doing work that becomes obsolete into new areas, while other jobs will be redesigned to create pooled resources that can better serve multiple business teams, assisted by AI tools. As many as 80 per cent of the legal team now use generative AI tools regularly.

HSBC
O: 7; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 23
The bank’s legal team in the region centralised its training programmes on a single platform that allows lawyers to track their progress, view past materials, and create a customised development plan. Topics range from sustainability to digital and personal banking.

FedEx
O: 7; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 22
Ten lawyers at the package delivery business used their training in more flexible working to introduce new practices to the rest of the region’s legal team.

Another 20 team members joined a workshop to help develop a chatbot that can assist in answering routine legal queries and accessing template documents.

Telstra
O: 6; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 22
The legal team at the Australian telecoms business launched a training scheme for new graduate recruits and paralegals, where successful applicants rotate through several areas of Telstra’s in-house department and can spend six months to a year on secondment at an external law firm.

Uber
O: 7; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 22
Members of the ride-hailing app’s regional legal team are now obliged to work as taxi drivers or food delivery riders one day per quarter, and share feedback with operations and product teams on how the business can be improved.

Commended

Airbnb
O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21
The holiday rental website set up a training scheme to prepare lawyers with skills required for senior roles. It comprises a dozen training sessions on key areas of legal expertise. Sessions include role-playing a presentation to a board of directors.

Macquarie
O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21
Lawyers at the Australia-based financial services group created an intranet for the business. It provides regularly updated resources about various areas of legal advice and identifies the best person to contact for each topic.

MSD (Merck)
O: 7; L: 8; I: 6; Total: 21
The multinational pharmaceutical company’s legal team in China has launched a diversity and inclusion programme for five law firms it works with. The programme pairs in-house counsel and private practice lawyers at different seniority levels to discuss ideas and challenges in the field.

Jera
O: 6; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 20
The legal team at the Japanese power company has adopted a new system for the intake and allocation of work. It uses the resulting data to identify skills gaps and shape training and hiring.

McCain Foods
O: 6; L: 8; I: 6; Total: 19
The Asia-Pacific legal team at the global frozen foods company rebranded internally, with the aim of making its communications, such as legal notifications, more immediately noticeable to the rest of the business.