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Expanding the regional presence of the business
Tasked with the responsibility of expanding the presence of global Pax8 in the Asia-Pacific region, Mel Storey revealed the specific actions that she is implementing to accomplish this goal.
Grace Robbie
In a recent episode of The Corporate Counsel Show, Mel Storey, the head of legal for global tech firm Pax8’s Asia-Pacific division, shared insightful strategies and practical steps that law departments can adopt to expand their business’s regional presence.
“I’ve looked under the hood, and I have identified what’s working really well and what can be working even better. Then, I started prioritising from there the three main buckets that everything I will be doing falls into people, process, and tech,” she stated.
The first pillar in Storey’s practical strategy is centred around people, which involves ensuring that the business has the right external advisers to handle a wide range of tasks.
“The people piece is making sure that I have the right external advisers, and making sure that I’m hitting different price points and different value propositions for the different types of work,” she outlined.
Equally crucial within this pillar is the development of internal resources. Storey shared how she prioritises expanding administrative support and establishing a physical office presence in the desired region to strengthen the law firm’s presence.
“The internal resources as well. I am also looking to grow admin support out of Manila. That’s a wider business directive to use back-office support, but actually to have a presence and not to outsource to a BPO, to have a presence with an amazing office that gives an experience, just like if you were an employee here in Brisbane,” she revealed.
The second pillar that Storey expressed focuses on refining processes to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of legal operations.
She articulated how she focuses on establishing a “legal front door” for intake management to mitigate the influx of messages received through other various communication channels.
“The process piece is: how do you come to legal? I’m getting Slack messages, Teams messages. I’m getting emails, I’m getting WhatsApps, I’m getting drive-bys in the corridor. I need a legal front door for intake,” she commented.
To streamline these communications, Storey explained how she plans to consolidate them into a single efficient process using SharePoint.
“At this point, I am going to be using the business’s existing tool, SharePoint, which is being headed up by a legal operations manager based in the US,” she stated.
She further underscored: “But I’m certainly influencing the process for coming to legal and also getting those tools there as well, so that a lot of FAQs and things can be handled before I even need to get legal advice.”
The third pillar encompasses utilising technology to automate and optimise operations, and engaging in conversations regarding strategies to achieve this goal.
“Then the third pillar is the tools piece – again, that goes to tech. So what kind of tools do we need? Can I start to get some things automated? Can we look at the contract repository? What kind of contracts do we even have?” she outlined.
She also stressed that contract assessment and reviews are encompassed within this pillar, as she considered them “a legal tool that we possess for the business”.
Storey acknowledged the importance of reviewing contracts for due diligence, as this can enable the firm to mitigate risks and maintain compliance across regions in which it aims to expand its presence.
“There’s a bit of due diligence there. There’s a mapping exercise I need to do to figure out where all the contracts are and how they are best placed for the region as well.
“I need to be reviewing unfair contract terms. I need to be reviewing some recent privacy law changes and making sure that the regional piece is there, and it’s covered as part of a global business and pushing for the region,” she noted.
Storey emphasised the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement to ensure that she stays on track to achieve these pillars.
“It’s all about stakeholder engagement. When you’re coming in new to the business and setting up a legal function in a region from scratch, I’ve got to come in and not assume anything. I’ve got to meet with the other executives and leaders, and ask them how they’re currently engaging with legal? What’s working well, what could work better?” she pointed out.
She added: “Absolutely focus on listening and first, you know, listen first to understand. And I am continuing to do that as I meet more people in the business, and uncover the needs that they have that are being met or unmet by the current legal process.”
