The alliances among associations dedicated to the growth and development of corporate counsel in Asia seem to have become a numbers game. So, is everyone on the same side? Freny Patel reports
Just three months old and very much a babe in the woods, Thailand’s first formal association for in-house counsel has decided to initially align itself with the Asia Pacific Corporate Counsel Alliance (APCCA). The Thai Corporate Counsel Association (Thai-CCA) launched in June this year. It is the seventh national association to join the APCCA, following others from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Sri Lanka. “As a brand new association, we prefer to ally with every in-house organisation in the region so that we can learn from them and consider what operating model would work best for our Thai in-house legal community,” Bangkok-based association founder, Sahachai Wibuloutai, tells Asia Business Law Journal.
Wibuloutai – general counsel at PwC for Thailand and the Mekong region – says an association dedicated to in-house counsel did not previously exist, despite Thailand’s thriving legal community being the third-largest in the APAC region based on licensed lawyers admitted to the Thai Bar.
There was a lack of awareness of the possibilities, stemming from a knowledge gap among different generations and industries.
Wibuloutai says the Lawyers Council of Thailand, led by the late Professor Marut Bunnag, endured a 15-year struggle before it was legally recognised. Regrettably, the legal protection afforded to council lawyers was not extended to in-house counsel in the private sector.
Some of the key reasons for Thailand not already having an established growth and development association for in-house counsel were the lack of a strong network of professionals, lack of funding, and a lack of understanding about who should spearhead and promote such an organisation.
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