Life changes when you reach the summit. Helen Yeo shares her perspective on a life spent as lawyer, managing partner and grandmother
View from the top
Helen Yeo has a serious case of wanderlust. It was her desire to travel that inspired the regional growth of her first firm, HelenYeo & Partners. “If you asked me what was the one trademark characteristic of [the firm], even during those early days, I would say without hesitation that it was our regional expansion,” she says. “From the beginning I led a drive to build a regional practice and that has served
us well.”
She doesn’t hesitate to admit that this drive for regional expansion was borne out of romantic ideas of conquering the ‘wild, wild East’. “I realised that [Vietnam] was a place that you could do almost anything, of course within keeping to laws, which were few then. It was like a situation of being given a blank page for you to write on,” she says enthusiastically. “They had no law firms [in 1992] … in those early days of Vietnam opening up, business people were all very eager to invest, but this being a new frontier, information and clarity were scarce.”
By the time HelenYeo & Partners was established in July of 1992, Yeo had already made her mind up to take the firm beyond Singapore.
Conquering regional expansion
At the time and with the strength of her own firm behind her, Yeo rode the wave of economic expansion occurring in Singapore, launching offices in Hanoi, Yangon and Ho Chi Minh City. In 1996 the firm became the first Singaporean law firm to open a licensed branch office in Shanghai.
China would become Yeo’s next area of focus. “In 2000 and after feeling the constraints from the size of our firm, we decided to concentrate on China – even though our Shanghai office was not yet profitable,” she says. “This strategic decision was premised through my belief (held since the mid-1990s) that we would eventually reap the benefits of Chinese companies coming to South-East Asia.”
Despite the success of her firm, the hunt for solutions led Yeo to a merger with Rodyk & Davidson, taking effect in November 2002. Since her appointment as managing partner of the merged firm, Yeo has continued to push for further expansion. She currently sees opportunities coming out of China and Indonesia in relation to arbitration work.
Rodyk & Davidson has also established a strong Indonesian practice which focuses on matters relating to coal mining, power plants and other infrastructure projects. “The coal industry has flourished in Indonesia over the past few years, and our Indonesian practice has grown in tandem,” Yeo says. Additionally, the firm is also looking to develop its Indian practice.
Contemporary plans
As Singapore’s oldest law firm, regional expansion is only one aspect of the future development of Rodyk & Davidson. Part of Yeo’s role involves transforming Rodyk’s enduring legacy into one which is contemporary. In reality, this also means balancing the firm’s profitability with the needs of its most valuable resource: lawyers.
Yeo achieves this by deliberately maintaining a streamlined team to manage both cost and quality. “We have always kept a lean team, and this prudence paid dividends in the downturn,” she says. “We reacted rapidly and this nimbleness meant that we didn’t even have to consider laying people off. We have no borrowings and expansion has always been financed by our own cash-flow.”
Of course, a lean team is beneficial in times of economic hardship – but what about during a boom? Yeo is quick to point out that workflow is always managed appropriately. “Despite the volume of work that we have, we are able to keep down headcount because of good IT infrastructure and support, and efficient back-office services, processes and systems,” says Yeo.
The firm has also been fortunate enough to see a steady flow of business through the door, in spite of the downturn. “Rodyk has the luxury of having long-established areas of business which are not headline-grabbers but are always busy and profitable, irrespective of recession. These include defense of claims against medical centres and practitioners, defending personal injury claims and property development project sales, which have three- to four-year life cycles,” says Yeo.
Throughout the turbulent year that was 2009, Yeo maintained a positive outlook. During the downturn, Rodyk’s partners also focused on billing and fee collection to ensure that any bad debts were minimised. “By November 2009, only 1% of our 2008 bills remained unpaid – a pretty good achievement in a recession year,” she says.
And instead of restricting spending, Yeo increased entertainment budgets and encouraged partners to spend more time with their clients. The firm also made a surprise move and invested in software by purchasing Microsoft Office 2007 – at a time when most other firms were implementing cost cuts. The moves were wise, made with the intention of preparing Rodyk for more prosperous times.
Juggle it all
Yeo’s career trajectory has pushed her through the glass ceiling and landed her at the forefront of two law firms in Singapore. Although firms are now pushing for gender equality, a working mother in the upper echelons of management is still seen somewhat as an anomaly. “Being pragmatic, I recognised that in some areas of work there is a glass ceiling for working mothers, due to practical reasons such as when the nature of the job calls for endless extreme hours,” says Yeo.
Yet not only is she pragmatic, she is also frank about her journey to the top of her career. “I have never subscribed to the view that women can have it all,” she says. “Though I have worked hard at building my career, it was never as hard as it could have been if I did not have to bring up three children too. I never felt I had to sacrifice family time beyond a certain limit.”
Having lived the reality of juggling a family of five and a law firm with 130 lawyers, Yeo puts her money behind her firm’s talent. The managing partner encourages flexible working arrangements that enable working mothers to make their own hours to suit their parenting needs. “I hold the firm belief that our priority is to achieve work-life balance, but when push comes to shove, family should come first. There were times I advised several partners with young families that they had to let go of some work,” she says.
Reflections
Nevertheless, Yeo is nearing the end of her term as managing partner at Rodyk and is contemplating the possibility of slowing down. “I like work, I like working and hard work doesn’t bother me. But of course, at this stage of my life – I am 59 with grandchildren – I am also looking at slowing down my pace” she says. “I don’t think I am at the top of the hill but I am close to the top and have the advantage of looking down at the whole landscape below me. It is a different perspective and feeling from being a young mother climbing up from the bottom of the hill with a very limited view, juggling clients’ and bosses’ expectations, and colleagues and staff, while also figuring out what are measles or chicken pox.”
Now the hardest part of her journey is over, Yeo is getting restless for her next adventure. Work-wise, 2010 will be filled with preparations for the firm’s 150th year celebrations, to be kicked off in January 2011. Personally, Yeo is once again looking to satisfy her love of travel and has planned trips to Mongolia, Turkey and Tuscany.
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