  | ALB Insights March 06, 2018 |
| ALB Insights #45: Getting more women on board with shipping law In this edition of ALB Insights, we look at what more can be done to increase the number of women in shipping law, a practice that has been traditionally male-dominated. We also chat with Yulchon on its growth over the last two decades, and round up the key legislative news in Asia in the past month.
Please note that this edition of ALB Insights is free to all ALB subscribers as part of a Chinese New Year promotion. Should you wish to purchase an annual subscription to this newsletter, please contact Taranjit Kaur at taranjit.kaur@thomsonreuters.com or +65 6870 3909 today. |
| | | How more women can get on board with shipping law
The global maritime industry is an overwhelmingly male-dominated one, and the practice of maritime law is only somewhat better, although that situation is improving gradually. Ranajit Dam speaks to Mei Lin Goh, head of the Singapore office of Watson Farley & Williams, on how more women can become—and thrive as—shipping lawyers.
Shipping has traditionally been extremely male-dominated – recent statistics show that women make up less than 2 percent of the 1.25 million people employed by the industry globally. The situation is better when it comes to the practice of shipping law (according to anecdotal evidence anyway, since there is a paucity of available statistics), but women still form the minority.
Additionally, there is a disparity between transactional maritime legal work and maritime disputes; while the proportion of women in the former is increasing, there are said to be fewer female lawyers in the latter. Part of this is because the nature of the work, requiring women lawyers at times to effect arrests of vessels at odd hours, or in adverse weather.
Clients also expect their counsel to be available to assist them with their problems around the clock, and many of the challenges that women face in other lines of work are also present in shipping law. While the shipping practices of law firms have significant numbers of female trainees and associates, many of them tend to drop out before turning partner as family commitments get in the way.
This gender imbalance was reflected in the latest Lloyd’s List ranking of the top 10 international lawyers globally. Only one woman made the list – Mei Lin Goh, the Singapore office head of Watson Farley & Williams – and she was also the only Asian lawyer in the top 10. Goh says that while things have changed a lot since she started out in law 24 years ago – in both the practice of shipping law as well as the broader industry – women can still find it challenging to make a mark in the profession.
“I do see that the shipping industry is on the whole still a male-dominated industry and that may discourage some female lawyers from pursuing a career in this sector,” she says. “For women lawyers wishing to establish themselves in the shipping sector, I think the challenges they face are to a great extent, no different from other sectors where women are in the minority – you may have to work harder to prove yourself or to overcome certain pre-conceived ideas which people may have”
‘IMPORTANT TO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS’
Goh says that one of the first steps the industry can take to attract more female lawyers is creating greater awareness of what practice in the industry entails. “People may consider this a niche area, and are not aware of the variety of practice areas that are available within the industry itself,” she says. “I would encourage young female lawyers to consider the benefits of being able to practice in such an international industry and not to be intimidated by the fact that the industry has a strong technical aspect to it – it doesn’t take long to be fluent in the jargon.”
She notes that being in a minority can be a challenge but it can also be an advantage because one is more likely to be remembered as a result. “Don’t be afraid to come forward and assert yourself – that is key to success in any industry,” she says. “It is important to retain a sense of humour and to build relationships; particularly in the maritime sector which, despite spanning the globe, is a community in which people often know, or know of, each other.”
She adds that young lawyers should be encouraged to take an interest in the business and commercial aspects of a matter and not limit themselves to the legal issues alone. “This has two key benefits: It makes the job more interesting for you and it means your clients receive practical, commercially-sound legal advice, rather than a regurgitation of the legal position,” says Goh. “Above all, don’t be intimidated by the perceived challenges; once you’ve got your head around the jargon, it’s a much more welcoming industry that you might expect from first impressions.” |
| Undertake to innovate: South Korean firm Yulchon celebrates 20 years
The youngest among South Korea’s Big Five law firms, Yulchon completed two decades of operation last year. John Kang speaks to managing partner Yun Sai-ree about the firm’s focus on collaboration and R&D, and its future as the next generation of partners prepares to carry on the firm’s legacy.
ALB: From starting out as Woo Yun Kang Jeong & Han in 1997 with 10 lawyers to more than 400 now as Yulchon, the firm has grown quickly in the past two decades and was recently ranked by ALB as the fourth-largest Korean firm. What’s been driving this growth?
Yun: If we had intended to grow only in size, we surely would have grown even bigger, and at a faster pace. What matters to us is organic growth that serves our clients’ needs the best. Nevertheless, Yulchon has achieved remarkable growth, and among many, I’d like to mention two drivers: collaboration and R&D.
Collaboration
Most law firms allocate cases to the lawyer who brought in the opportunity, but who may not necessarily be the most qualified person to do the work. At Yulchon, we make sure that cases go to the most qualified persons, and they take the job as if they have secured the work themselves.
The key lies in our partner remuneration structure, which is different from that of traditional Korean law firms. Whereas other firms award a handsome origination credit to the person who generated the opportunity, and lesser credit to partners who manage the project, Yulchon’s remuneration structure is the other way around. Our system awards a large project management credit to partners who do the actual work. They are fairly compensated for their hard work, and this works as a strong motivator behind our high-quality work and client service. At the same time, it has created an enthusiastic culture of collaboration in terms of both business development and execution of work.
R&D
Another key driver of Yulchon’s dynamic growth is our focus on research and development, with many research teams across each of our practice areas. We also created a centralised Yulchon Research Institute in 2016, and last year, we launched our own business consultancy, YC Consulting.
Yulchon has never stopped making R&D investments. This has two clear benefits. First, it makes our lawyers more informed industry experts as today’s lawyers must be equipped with deep industry knowledge. Second, R&D is the basis for foreseeing changes to the legal services market, and developing new services and products as a result.
Market competition is intensifying with the rise of alternative legal services, the growth of legal technology, and the Big Four accounting firms’ expansion into the legal services market. BigLaw is not safe from these changes, so to predict changes and devise optimal solutions for new legal services market demands, we must invest in R&D and ourselves undertake to innovate.
What’s next for Yulchon?
Yun: Next year, Yulchon’s two founding partners will step down from executive leadership positions, and the second-generation of our partners will carry on with our founders’ legacy. This presents Yulchon with an opportunity to renew our established commitments to collaboration and innovation as we open a new chapter in the firm’s history. As this change in executive leadership takes place, the current management will, of course, ensure a smooth transition.
Over a longer term, I envision Yulchon becoming a truly international law firm with diversity, deeper industry knowledge, and a continued spirit of innovation. Yulchon has continued to expand its international practice through a growing number of offices and collaborations outside Korea, and at the same time, we are strengthening the international capabilities of our practice groups within Korea, especially the strength of our international dispute resolution (IDR) practice. For example, this year we laterally recruited several top lawyers from a renowned boutique IDR firm in Korea – including most notably Baek Yun-jae, a heavyweight senior partner with extensive experience in litigation and international commercial arbitration.
Developing new markets and services through collaborative and innovative efforts, including strong R&D initiatives, will continue to be our primary goal. We will continue to study the rise of new industries, predict their impact on our clients, and be proactive in meeting new legal demands. It is Yulchon’s aim to continue to be known as a law firm that never stops innovating. |
| Asia Legislative Roundup March 2018: Dodgy data and humane hours
In the Asia Legislative Roundup for March, we find that Japanese PM Shinzo Abe had to shelve a controversial part of his planned labour reforms over flawed data, South Korea cuts its working week, and Thailand is one step closer to building a $6.4 billion high-speed rail project. Compiled by Ranajit Dam, and featuring reporting from Reuters.
Embarrassing climb-down: For some time now, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been looking to launch labour reforms that aimed to raise productivity and alleviate crippling manpower shortages in the country. Part of this included a proposal for expanding the “discretionary labour system,” under which management and employees in sectors like law, accountancy and software development could negotiate an exemption from usual overtime rules. Staff covered by those agreements would be regarded as having worked a certain number of hours and paid a fixed wage regardless of how long they actually worked, according to Reuters.
That proposal fell flat on its face last week after Abe admitted that the underlying data to support it was flawed – “an embarrassing political climb-down likely to disappoint businesses and investors,” as Reuters calls it. Among the evidence used was a case where a worker recorded 45 hours of overtime in a single day and 25 others where employees said their total quantum of work amounted to less than 60 minutes daily. Needless to say, the proposal is shelved for the time being, but Reuters adds that other proposals aren’t looking promising either – a provision to expand the categories of highly skilled and highly paid professions with no limits on their working hours is unpopular not just with the opposition, but within some members of Abe’s own party as well.
Relief for working South Koreans: On the other side of the East Sea, a labour reform did get passed, and this one was to the benefit of employees. South Korean President Moon Jae-in had campaigned as a defender of the working man, and he has so far delivered, first by raising the minimum wage by 16 percent, and then last week the parliament passed a bill cutting the maximum workweek to 52 hours, down from 68. Experts agree that this was sorely needed, given that employees in South Korea on average work 2,069 hours annually, the second-highest among OECD countries. However, this hasn’t gone down well with the services sector and SMEs. “For owners of restaurants, hotels and other service businesses, limiting weekly work hours is likely to worsen staff shortage during peak periods such as public holidays and weekends,” says UPI. “Small-business owners, who are grappling with a chronic shortage of staff, are also worried.”
Fly to the airport: In early February, Thailand’s parliament passed a law greenlighting the $45 billion Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) project, part of a series of measures to attract investment into the country’s economy. The new law, which aims to revitalize Thailand’s industrial east by boosting the technology sector in the region, provides tax breaks for investors, and also allows them to rent land for up to 99 years. As part of the project, the EEC committee last week approved a $6.4 billion high-speed rail project linking three key airports – Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang and U-Tapao, according to the Bangkok Post. The Thai cabinet now needs to sign off on the 260 km project. |
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