40 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS CHINA – GENERAL COUNSEL PROFILES 2024 APRIL 2024 SURVEY The roles and responsibilities of in-house legal departments are increasingly becoming more varied in today's landscape. They are required not only to efficiently mitigate both long-term and short-term risks for their organizations but also to take on a more significant role in corporate management and development strategies. BY HU YANGXIAOXIAO In the 2024 "State of the Corporate Law Department" annual report, released in mid-March, Thomson Reuters highlights that the responsibilities and priorities of corporate legal departments are now centred around four key areas: Effectiveness, enablement, protection, and cost efficiency. "In-house law departments are constantly striving to make improvements in each of these areas," says Thomson Reuters, "yet, even as department leaders look to evolve their roles in these areas, they are also seeking to take on a broader challenge to better redefine their department — away from being perceived as cost centres and towards being seen as strategic leaders within the broader enterprise." In the context of the Chinese market, ALB has been closely monitoring the development of in-house legal departments, and the findings of the report align with ALB's observations. At the ALB IN-HOUSE TEAMS SURVEY: IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES, LONG-TERM RISKS, MANAGEMENT CONCERNS 如今，企业法务部门的职责正变得愈发多元，他们需要为企 业有效防范长、短期风险，也需要在企业管理、发展战略层面 扮演越来越显著的角色。作者：胡阳潇潇 ALB企业法务团队调研： 近急、远忧、降本增效 start of 2024, ALB invited in-house teams from leading companies across various industries to partake in a survey, which aimed to gather insights on their immediate priorities, future risks, adjustments in legal budgets and work distribution, strategies for enhancing internal efficiency, and more. The survey saw participation from twentysix in-house teams and their leaders. IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES The first question ALB posed to the in-house teams was: "What are the top three tasks or areas of work that your team is currently prioritizing?" Among the responses received, the top three are compliance (mentioned 13 times), support for business/new business (11 times), and better team management (10 times). These three priorities are followed by support for investment and financing/ capital market operations (eight times), dispute resolution, intellectual property, and overseas operations (six times each) and regulations and regulatory changes (three times). Specifically, taking compliance, a multi-faceted work area, as an example. The respondents highlighted various compliance domains, including data security, personal information protection, cybersecurity, financial anti-money laundering and anti-fraud, trade, export control, and supply chain compliance. Additionally, leaders of in-house teams place considerable emphasis on the development of compliance systems and the standardization of compliance procedures. Beyond risk mitigation, another critical focus for in-house teams is facilitating business growth, particularly in new ventures, by transitioning from merely "saying no" to "saying how". For instance, the Align APAC Legal & Compliance team emphasizes "risk assessment, piloting, and commercialization of new products, services, and business models." Similarly, the Legal and Compliance Department of the fintech company Du Xiaoman prioritizes compliance in the rollout of its new AIGC business. This includes "evaluating the company's six major AIGC business application scenarios to ensure smooth introductions of new technologies and products," and "supporting the successful record-filing of the Xuanyuan large model while providing compliance review legal services." As more and more companies venture overseas, supporting their overseas operations becomes equally important. Respondents touched on a number of areas in this respect, such as legal risk control and negotiation for overseas investment projects, compliance and risk control of the operations of overseas manufacturing facilities and compliance of the overseas expansion of Chinese APPs. As companies expand globally, enhancing international capabilities becomes essential for in-house teams. For example, Foxconn Industrial Internet's Department of Legal & Intellectual Property shared with ALB that as business grows and cross-border operations
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjA0NzE4Mw==