A story on locked box mechanism
A battle of egos is how I remember the incident. I was once involved in an M&A transaction which the consideration was based on a locked box mechanism.* In addition to lawyers, there were also financial adviser and investment banker involved in the deal. All the advisers were in a …
Work life balance-sustainability is the key
I think I have not written any post on mental health or work life balance before. It is a difficult topic. We have different needs. What one person needs for mental health and work life balance is different for another person. With the demand that comes with the nature of …
Maintaining responsibility when delegating
I had my “this is a textbook answer” moment. I requested for research to be done. What happened next is common in law firms- my request was further delegated to another person. When I read the research finding that changed hands a couple of times, I noted that it was …
Use a checklist!
Being meticulous is an important skill for an equity capital markets (“ECM”) lawyer to have. ECM exercise is typically fast-paced and deadlines driven. It requires co-ordination among the due diligence working group members (“DDWG”) as draft documents may be prepared by a DDWG member and commented by the rest of …
Professional relationship doesn’t have to be transactional
During the early stage of the Covid pandemic, when Malaysia was under movement control order, I received a Whatsapp message from a number not saved on my phone. At that time, I had just lost most of my contact numbers after accidentally dropping my old phone and I had to …
Teamwork
“I don’t think it’s that simple. Go and read this book. Rethink your answer,” I told my colleague after reading her draft reply to a client’s question for a corporate exercise. The question touched on procedural matters under company law. There are cases on interpretation of the relevant section under …
What does “success” mean to you?
“Don’t forget me when you are successful,” I jokingly told my friend after sharing my experience of being a partner of a law firm upon my friend’s request. “Define ‘success’,” my friend said. I paused for a moment and thought about what success would mean to me. My reply: To …
Practical empathy
Practical empathy. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺. I heard Seth Godin mentioned something along these lines …
Do you understand why we are doing it this way?
An investment banker once told me this: “I am happy to share credit with my team members for a job done well. But if anything goes wrong, it will be my responsibility. It will be on me.” The investment banker shared a story on how requests to other team members …
What, how & why
As a junior lawyer, you would be told 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 to do. Carrying out tasks requested by your employer/clients/ colleagues is part of the job. If you have good colleagues, you would be guided on 𝒉𝒐𝒘 to do the work. You may get helpful information on what issues to look out …