Managed Services From Malaysia: A viable alternative

> ABA Journal, October 2007, Vol. 93, Not 10, pp 36-41: Manhattan Work at Mumbai Prices (abajournal.com)
> The market size for legal process outsourcing in India was valued at USD 8 billion in 2020 and was expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 22% from 2021 to 2027. Legal Process Outsourcing Market, Industry Size Forecast 2027 (gminsights.com)

The Kuala Lumpur team achieve efficiencies for clients by deploying contract management, process mapping and workflow tools and using the right blend of resources. The general resourcing model of 20: 40: 40 (senior, mid-level, junior) has proven to be effective in achieving the desired quality and consistency. When starting a new work type, teams are resourced with a higher proportion of senior practitioners who learn the work quickly and subsequently train more junior members for the delivery. These senior practitioners eventually take a more supervisory and quality assurance role, or move on to establish new work types once the mid-level and junior members gain familiarity.

One of our key clients reflected, “….thinking about how much the Kuala Lumpur team has grown over the years, the diverse background of the team members and all the tremendously positive feedback from our stakeholders – you should all be extremely proud of what we have achieved as a group to date.” 

Things to consider when evaluating a new outsourcing partner:

1. Structure

Are you outsourcing the whole or a portion of the legal process, or procuring resources to supplement your team? Can the global outsourcing partner tailor the solution according to your specific requirements?

2. Set up and business model

Does the outsourcing partner have a sustainable business model? Do they have in place proper data security practices, technical infrastructure and contingency plans? Do they operate out of a centralized office or does it use remote workers? Who will be your main point of contact who will ultimately be accountable to you for the work product?

3. Scalability

What is the size of the outsourcing partner's existing workforce? Does it have capacity to meet the growing needs of all its clients and maintain quality and consistency? 

4. Cultural and time zone differences

What is the implication of time and cultural differences? Would this impinge on service levels, or the ability to interact effectively, or could it work in your favour? 

5. Skill and supervision

Does the outsourcing partner have a robust supervisory and quality assurance model? How quickly can the outsourcing partner's workforce get up to speed? How much training time will you have to invest? Consider the need for and level of supervision required of you, as this will dilute the cost/value equation. According to a recent industry report, spending too much time managing other (i.e. non-law firm) external resources was cited as one of the top three concerns for resource management for legal departments.

> Legal Ops at a Crossroads: Balancing Growth and Tension in Today's Legal Departments

> Wei Guan Wong

Wei Guan Wong joined Konexo in 2020, following a seven-year tenure at Wong & Partners, a member firm of Baker McKenzie International, where she served as a banking lawyer. As one of the first hires in Kuala Lumpur, Wei Guan provided loan documentation review and negotiation support to a major global bank. Due to the positive impact of Wei Guan and the team’s work during the initial trial period, our services were rapidly scaled up at the client’s request to encompass a range of banking facilities across Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. Leveraging the extensive knowledge and experience of our team and under Wei Guan’s adept leadership, the team successfully supported the client on strategic initiatives, including the transition of its existing IBOR contracts. In her role, Wei Guan oversees the delivery of managed services to financial services clients, ensuring meticulous, efficient and high quality service.

> Natalie Ng

Natalie Ng joined the team in 2022 from a local boutique law firm specialising in corporate and commercial matters. Natalie now leads the commercial contracting team in KL and played a pivotal role on a joint Eversheds Sutherland/ Konexo data privacy remediation project delivered by teams from Hong Kong, Malaysia and the UK for a large international airline. At the end of the project, our client said, “I wanted to take a moment to say a huge thank you to the Eversheds and Konexo teams. It was a real pleasure collaborating with everyone on this very important initiative for us and I’m truly grateful for all the hard work, dedication and collective effort put into this project. You all have been fantastic to work with and I look forward to working with you in the future.” 

> Jish Lim

Jish Lim an Oxford graduate, returned to Malaysia after five years of practising corporate law in Sullivan & Cromwell, London. Jish’s experience in Big Law allowed him to understand client needs intuitively, pick up new work-types quickly and deliver exceptional service. Jish supports on banking work for a large global bank, working with in-house teams of the bank in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. “We work on the client’s network, doing our best to provide seamless service and to be seen as an extension of the in-house team. Delivering work in such an integrated way makes you feel you are a part of the client’s team. The interesting thing about working for a service provider is having the ability to support multiple jurisdictions and help the client streamline.” 

> Esther Liew

Esther Liew spends her day reviewing and negotiating commercial contracts for a leading global bank, covering multiple jurisdictions – US, UK, Europe, Middle East and Asia*. She is part of a team comprising Konexo members from Leeds and Kuala Lumpur. A litigation lawyer by training, Esther was able to pick up the work quickly when she joined in 2021 with clear guidance from more experienced practitioners and good playbooks which set out pre-agreed positions. “What I appreciate about this place is the support provided by colleagues in Konexo, the Eversheds Sutherland law firm infrastructure and the ability to work with people from all over the world. There is certainly an expectation of delivering excellent work, but there are no billable hours or targets.”

Get in touch

Jocelynn Liu has been with Konexo Malaysia since its inception, prior to joining, she was a consultant at an ALSP, providing in-house corporate, commercial and banking work. Jocelynn, who is dual-qualified (England and Wales and Malaysia), trained and practised as a banking associate at a London Magic Circle firm and subsequently as a banking lawyer in one of the first law firms in Malaysia. She has also served as a policy-maker at the central bank of Malaysia. Jocelynn read law at Oxford and obtained her LLM from Cambridge.

If you are interested to find out more, please get in touch jocelynnliu@konexoglobal.my