GC Spotlight: Agnes Cheng discusses automation in legal services..

Featured in our GC Spotlight Series this month is Agnes Cheng. With more than 15 years of combined private practice and in-house experience, Agnes is the regional legal lead for Kontoor Brands, Inc., the renowned NYSE-listed MNC owning global iconic denim brands including “Lee” and “Wrangler”. She’s a key member of the Asia leadership team working closely with global and regional business partners on various areas ranging from new business initiatives, corporate strategies, global supply chain to significant brands collaborations. Before joining Kontoor back in 2019, she was the Head of Legal of Hong Kong Broadband Network (HKBN), and the Group Legal Advisor for HKT Limited where she gained a wealth of experience in the telecommunications and technology sector.

1. Hi Agnes, can you tell us a little about your role and journey into law? What excites you outside of work? 

I’ve been working with Kontoor Brands, Inc. for almost 5 years now as their Legal Director for APAC. Kontoor Brands is a global lifestyle apparel company listed on the NYSE that owns iconic denim brands such as Wrangler and Lee. I’m leading a small yet mighty legal team in Asia and we work closely with our business leaders to navigate through different legal and compliance challenges across the region. My role is all about being a strategic business partner to our global and regional leadership team, who’s able to uphold a high degree of integrity while also driving business growth.

My journey into law started at the University of Hong Kong where I studied a double-degree programme in Business Administration and Law. After qualifying as a HK solicitor, I worked as a corporate lawyer in Sidley Austin and later Deacons before I decided to move in-house. Before joining Kontoor, I worked in the TMT sector.  I like being able to leverage my legal expertise to help the business thrive, while also playing a key role in shaping the organisation’s ethical culture and policies. There’s never a dull moment being an in-house counsel.

Outside of work, you’ll probably find me at a cozy café, a book store or a pottery workshop.

2. As a Legal Director for APAC, what are some of the challenges that keep you up at night? How are you addressing them? 

I actually became less worried about the challenges encountered at work as I moved my way up to the leadership role, because my prior experience told me that most of the legal issues can eventually be resolved or managed. One of the key qualities that we in-house counsels possess is our ability to provide timely and cost-effective solutions to a wide range of legal issues – from supply chain, marketing, compliance, general commercial to employment, intellectual property and real estate (you name it), and to manage those key internal and external stakeholders. It could be quite overwhelming when I was a junior. But as time goes by, you gradually know how to prioritise your work, to stay really close to the business and to start to build your own team, it becomes easier.

3. What do you think about the use of LegalTech, data analytics and process optimisation to improve your legal department's value? 

I believe many of us in-house counsels have attended various seminars on the application of LegalTech in workplaces, and I agree that some of these automation tools will help to ease workload, especially if you have a lean legal team working for an MNC. The automated tools might be able to help to perform simple contract review, manage contract templates/legal budget or some other repetitive tasks, legal professionals can then focus on more complex legal issues. But the bigger challenge for in-house counsels is really about how to convince the management team to invest in these tools

4. What trends do you expect to see in the legal services industry in the next 5 years? 

AI/LegalTech will continue to play a part, well a major part in the legal services industry in the coming years for sure – automation tools will be more widely used to reduce unnecessary headcounts or to streamline the contracts lifecycle management – from crafting contract templates, negotiation, execution to post-execution and filing. Also, as most businesses are going digital, the regulatory environment might become even more complex, compliance will continue to be an important role in a legal team.