Description

Synopsis

Join lawyers with private practice and in-house experience as they share stories about their career pathways – including opportunities, challenges and even detours, that have gotten them to where they are today. Get tips on how to best place yourself for career success in the legal industry and learn more about the myriad of possibilities out there for law students like yourselves, who are just beginning your own journey.

About the Speakers

Rita Kriz
Deputy General Counsel and Head of Legal for Asia, McKinsey & Company

Rita Kriz is the Deputy General Counsel and Head of Legal for Asia at McKinsey & Company. She leads a team of legal professionals across Asia in responding to legal matters.  In her role, Rita provides strategic legal counsel and advice to leadership, oversees litigations and internal investigations, and mitigates legal risks over such diverse topics as sanctions, anti-corruption, privacy, public sector, geopolitics, and data management. She is a prior winner of the FT Asia-Pacific Innovative Lawyers Awards for Talent Management and her team was recognized in 2022 as the “most innovative in-house legal team in Asia-Pacific” by the FT Asia-Pacific Innovative Lawyers Awards. Rita has over two decades of business, legal, government, and compliance experience. Prior to joining McKinsey, she engaged in private practice with a focus on M&A at Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett in New York and Los Angeles and with White & Case in Singapore. In addition, she spent time in the public sector in San Francisco, where she established a compliance department responsible for tendering public infrastructure projects. Rita graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelors of Arts in Economics and holds a JD from Harvard Law School.

Julian Kwek
Director, Drew & Napier LLC

Julian started with a medium sized law firm followed by a boutique law firm before joining Drew & Napier LLC where he has been at for 25 years.  Presently, Julian co-heads Drew & Napier LLC’s Indonesia Desk and Corporate Restructuring & Workouts Practice. His expertise spans cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, private equity, debt workouts, and corporate restructuring. Julian began his legal career as a commercial litigation lawyer before transitioning into restructuring, and later corporate law, with a particular focus on special situations and distressed assets. He also gained valuable in-house experience as a seconded counsel in Jakarta, where he worked on restructuring, litigation and corporate matters. He also advises high net-worth individuals and families in Indonesia since the Tax Amnesty in Indonesia in 2016 and as a result has been ranked by Chambers in Private Wealth Indonesia: Expert Based Abroad for 8 consecutive years. Julian also speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese and has many PRC clients—both state-owned enterprises and high net-worth individuals—many of whom are now investors into Indonesia.

Jessica Deery
Director and Counsel, Horizon Recruitment

A lawyer turned recruiter, Jessica started her career in private practice with Freshfields, working in their London, Hong Kong, Shanghai and New York offices, qualifying as an IP/TMT lawyer. She moved to Allens in Sydney and then Baker McKenzie in Singapore. Her first move in-house was to ESPN Star Sports where she supported all business divisions.  She was recruited to join Sony Pictures Media Networks initially to support their content acquisition and original productions teams.  She subsequently headed up the legal team supporting all business divisions across Asia.

Now co-owner of specialist legal recruitment agency, Horizon Recruitment, Jessica is enjoying connecting with lawyers looking to develop their careers in private practice with international or offshore firms and/or in-house in roles across APAC and the Middle East.

Penny Leng
Careers Advisor, NUS Law

An NUS Law alumnus, Penny has been an Intellectual Property & Marketing lawyer, with both private practice and in-house experience, for close to 30 years. Penny began her career as an IP lawyer in Drew & Napier LLC, where she advised many international brands on the protection and enforcement of their IP rights. After a decade at Drew & Napier, Penny moved in-house to Amanresorts, a global luxury hotel chain, as their Global IP & Marketing counsel. In that role, she worked closely with management to protect and enforce on Amanresorts’ stable of brands. One highlight of Penny’s time at Amanresorts was securing a win for Amanresorts in the first well-known trademark case in Singapore. In 2019, Penny joined Airbnb, a vibrant and exciting US tech entity, where, as Lead Counsel for APAC IP & Marketing, she advised on regional IP issues and led on legal counselling for innovative Marketing initiatives run in the region, such as OOA (Only On Airbnb) and Icons. Always passionate about investing in young lives, Penny has served as a mentor in various mentorship programs (both local and global) during her career. Most recently, she put together a mentorship program at Airbnb for disadvantaged law students, to create a more level playing field for all. Penny enjoys helping students navigate the myriad of career options available to them and hopes that they will thrive in their chosen path.

About the Moderator

Hazmi Hisyam
Legal Commercial Lead APAC, Astellas

Hazmi is presently the Legal Commercial Lead APAC of Astellas and is based in Singapore. His experience spans corporate transactions and advisory, M&A, employment and competition law. Hazmi began his career in private practice with Baker McKenzie, and prior to his current role, has previously held various in-house legal and compliance roles, including as Head of Legal & Compliance for Sandoz’s Asia Cluster, as well as Legal and Compliance Counsel with Mundipharma. Hazmi graduated from the National University of Singapore. He is a Board Member of the Association of Corporate Counsel (Singapore Chapter) and has been listed on the Legal500’s GC Powerlist for Southeast Asia in 2022.