GC Spotlight: Bon Ng discusses NewLaw and ALSPs..

Featured in our GC Spotlight Series this month is Bon Ng who is the General Counsel at HYROX. As the General Counsel he is responsible for  overseeing all corporate and commercial legal matters in the APAC region including contracts, regulatory compliance, IP violations, labour and employment compliance and risk management for the regions. Bon also oversees event related planning, budget management, team management, customer service, quality control and develops strategic directions for each markets. The goal is always to ensure successful, safe, and enjoyable HYROX events for everybody involved. Success for any event and company is to have a well oiled team, and keeping the team connected and informed is fundamental to our efficiency.

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

I’m currently the General Counsel for Hybrid Fitness Racing which trades on the brand “HYROX”, a mass participation fitness racing sports company that has gained immense popularity over the last few years. I oversee over 13 markets in APAC with 8 markets currently having active competition presence. At the same time, I also oversee the daily operations of the company, manage support for athletes and help implement various business strategies for the company. These are often the less sexy parts of the job that people who work in events don’t quite like, but I’ve found quite a lot of fulfillment in supporting these roles.

Prior to joining HYROX, I grew in the legal industry working in international corporate law for nearly 6 years. When I first joined KorumLegal, I was interested in exploring other practices and industry but had a particularly keen interest in sports. I was a strong advocate of how sports build resilience and character for people and the community, and I often tried to be involved in as many sports related activities as possible, whether it was exploring HK through its many trails, running fitness community running classes, or volunteering my time for amazing sporting causes, such as the most recently held Gay Games 11 Hong Kong 2023, which I acted as the Director of Sports for the overall Games.

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

With all the markets that I oversee, there is always the risk that I am not addressing some regional-specific nuances. During my years working in international corporate practices, I’ve learnt first-hand that cultural and regional subtilties play a big impact on businesses that are trying to enter new markets. Making decisions with the wrong approach can create a bad taste for the local consumer and ultimately affect the image of the product or services that you’re trying to bring.

For me, I like to be proactive in addressing problems, but I don’t know what I don’t know and sometimes, I just have to wait for the problem to come to me, and trust that the risk management strategies and policies I implement help shelter our company from problems, so we have time to address them. At the same time, the role also involves knowledge and practices from a range of commercial, corporate, intellectual property, labour and sports law, and sometimes this is challenging to address but it’s just a matter of tackling one problem at a time.

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

The use of CRM and contract management tools has been a game changer and highly valued in my current role. Although some parties that I work with still prefer traditional process, the utilisation of these tools has helped create better management of time, relationships and contracts. This extends beyond the legal side of the business and I use these where ever I can to maximise efficiency and project management.

At the same time, one of the biggest questions in the coming years that I know will grow to be a problem, relates to brand protection and the ability to identify and manage violations across multiple jurisdictions. I am exploring whether there are legal tools or AI tools that can help in managing enforcement of brand protection better in a growing social media driven commercial industry. Current approaches often requires a lot of human capital, and this might not necessarily be the best use of time and resources if there can be tech to support.

4. What made you take the leap into working in NewLaw for ALSPs and then  as a GC? And why is it a good fit for you? 

I left private practice mid 2021 due to many different reasons. My practice thrives on global cooperation but the trend at that time was a shift away from globalisation. During the height of the pandemic, I was put in a position where I had to decide whether I wanted to move into practices which wasn’t what I wanted to do, or to leave. I left private practice and was immediately introduced to KorumLegal as an alternative platform for providing legal services. Because of my solid corporate and legal background, I could support companies in industries which I didn’t necessarily have the knowledge or expertise in, but had the opportunity to grow in new industries with the support of senior consultants, especially in the fintech and payments sector.

Working with KorumLegal also allowed me to approach various other clients in the sporting sector in Hong Kong, where I could offer consultation and suggestions from a business-legal perspective of how their organisation could thrive. One of which was HYROX.

It was also around this time that, with a bit more control and flexibility of my schedule, I focused on my own health and through a series of coincidental medical issues and checks, I came to discover that I had stage 1 large duct cholangiocarcinoma. This was indeed a blow to my personal and professional life, but throughout this time, I’ve been able to balance work with going through medical checks, surgery, chemotherapy and recovery.

I have been very fortunate, partly because of how an ALSP consultancy model is structured. I could be flexible with my availability, and reduced my commitment when needed. Unfortunately, at the same time, HYROX found value in the services I could provide and required more of my time, and with an agreement to respect my decision to focus on my health, if needed, I moved to support HYROX full time as both their GC and their operations manager. Fast forward to December 2024, I have completed my chemotherapy treatment, I’m currently in remission, going for 1.5 years. It took my body a while to get back into doing sports again, but in November 2024, I officially competed with my 70 year old father in HYROX, the very sport that I’ve helped built in APAC over the past 2 years. This was an achievement for both me and my father that we will cherish for years to come.

I think the NewLaw consultancy model is not for everyone. There is a level of personal drive or entrepreneurial mindset that is needed to work for an ALSP. For many younger legal practitioners, there is likely a preference for a stable private practice job where they can learn and have the security of long-standing institutional structures. As an ALSP consultant, you need to strike a balance of legal and business knowledge to serve your client, and there isn’t always a clear answer on which is the right path. As you become more senior, whether you work in private practice or not, the business mindset will be necessary. But I think, working as an ALSP consultant, is potentially a good transitional ground for those looking to move between private and inhouse or move away from set hour services to flexi hour services.

5. Where do you see NewLaw/ALSPs fitting in the matrix of your legal       department?  

I believe NewLaw/ ALSPs taps into a market where traditional firms are finding it difficult to properly support. I believe all SMEs need in one way or another a legal personnel/ legal department to support their business. However, I also understand the difficulty in justifying this cost, when either there isn’t enough work load to justify an inhouse support team or there isn’t enough budget to retain an external traditional law firm. I took the slightly unconventional route of extending my services for HYROX to wear a few more hats in the company because I liked the challenge and I wanted to expand my professional skill set beyond legal services. But I can understand that not all legal professionals want to, or are comfortable in doing so. ALSPs therefore allow both the legal professional as well as the clients the opportunity to find a middle ground service platform to address their needs. Indeed, I have often heard stories of initial ALSP consultants eventually moving inhouse to the companies they provide support for, or alternatively, requesting additional support from ALSPs even if they have an inhouse team, when they encounter projects that might be beyond their teams capability, but too costly to justify hiring a new member just for the project alone. I think we are seeing this trend not just happen for companies, but also traditional law firms seeking ALSPs to support when they are low on human capital. In this new world where cost and value are constantly weighing in, ALSPs help companies with the option to not fall behind just because they don’t have the capital to keep up with high-cost traditional legal service providers. So NewLaw, I believe, is poised to stay for a long time.

6. Your favourite tune? And why? 

I’m a sucker for some 90s music and so I often go back to listening to songs from my youth. One particular Australian pop duo comes in my mind, “Savage Garden”. I grew up listening to them on the radio and now, 30 years later, I still do.