In-House Congress Hong Kong 2018

On October 4, the In-House Community celebrated its 20th annual In-House Congress in Hong Kong. Tim Gilkison, managing director and one of the organisation’s founders, opened the Congress in front of the assembled 500-plus delegates at the JW Marriott Hotel (the event’s home since the first year), noting that much had changed for in-house counsel since the inaugural gathering back in 1999, though the title of the very first plenary session — “The changing role of In-House Counsel in Asia” — was as applicable today as two decades ago.

The event opened with an address by Brent Snyder, chief executive of the city’s Competition Commission, followed by two panel disscussions, one on resource strategy and technology, and the other on women in law, moderated by Evangelos Apostolou, who heads the in-house practice group for EMEA and APAC at Major, Lindsey & Africa, with Corinne Katz, senior director for group legal affairs at CLP Holdings, Crystal Lalime, head of global markets legal for Asia Pacific at Credit Suisse, Mun Yeow,

a partner at Clyde & Co; Karen Chan, partner at Davis Polk, Olga Boltenko, a partner at Peter Yuen & Associates in Association with Fangda Partners, Dan Wright, a partner at Osborne Clarke, and David Wu, head of financial services for Asia at Axiom.

The day continued with practice area workshops that covered intellectual property in fintech, blockchain and the internet of things with AWA Asia; recent updates to BVI and Cayman Islands law with Conyers Dill & Pearman; US sanctions regulation and enforcement, and fintech and techfin regulatory trends with Davis Polk; international and Hong Kong regulatory updates by Debevoise & Plimpton, as well as a workshop on the illegality defence in international disputes; IT and outsourcing projects with Addleshaw Goddard; arbitration clause negotiation with Clyde & Co and the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre; fraud detection with the Mintz Group; the legal team of the future with Eversheds Sutherland; and the management of transactions, portfolios and external lawyers by Osborne Clarke. The 20th annual Hong Kong gathering was also supported by Hughes-Castell, Lewis Sanders, Major, Lindsey & Africa, Taylor Root, LODHA, and LEX Africa.