"Financial crisis" and "global challenges" were the two most frequently talked phrases at the ALB Beijing in-house Legal Summit held in early November. The Beijing Summit is the final one of ALB's in-house legal summits series in 2008 and is the largest one this year.

The one-day event lined up seven workshops, 16 main speakers and 11 exhibitors and attracted more than 250 delegates from nearly 100 organisations and companies to attend.
 
Zhang Wei, head of legal department of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) headquarter, opened the summit with a keynote address on the evolving roles and responsibilities of in-house legal departments during the globalization of their companies.

He pointed out that while a large number of Chinese companies have become stronger and wealthier and are actively expanding their businesses and markets into overseas jurisdictions, the role and the nature of work in in-house departments of these companies are changing from a single-jurisdiction focus to a multi-jurisdictional approach.

At no point in history has the role these in-house lawyers play assumed such importance. Zhang shared his department's experiences, saying that today his legal department has to understand and ensure companies compliant with the legal environment and regulatory framework in all different jurisdictions that they are operating in; they must assist companies in managing an increasingly sophisticated array of multi-jurisdictional legal risks and issues; and prevent a single legal matter in one jurisdictions from developing into a world-wide public relations crisis.

Responding to the evolving roles and global challenges, Zhang and his department have adopted a number of measures which have been proven effective. In addition to keep improving the quality and management of the in-house departments, and educating the board of executives and senior management to recognize that in-house legal function is a core part of the business operation, Zhang also highlighted, during his speech, the importance of working with external counsel.

"External counsel are increasingly instructed to help in-house departments overcome gaps in capacity and expertise in high-stakes transactions," said Zhang. "Their unique specialist expertise and resources are very valuable to the healthy development of globalizing companies."