Edith Shih, Board Secretary of CK Hutchinson.

EDITH SHIH IS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND COMPANY SECRETARY for Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd.

Shih studied at the University of the Philippines and then at Columbia University. She received her legal education at the University of Law, Lancaster Gate, London. Later, she worked at Cameron McKenna, London, as a trainee solicitor, and at Johnson Stokes & Master, Hong Kong (now Mayer Brown JSM) for five years where she was an assistant solicitor, focusing on commercial and company law. Shih was the head group's general counsel from October 1993 to April 2017. She was named executive director of the group in 2017. Shih was the first member of the legal department. Her company is a conglomerate engaged in five core businesses. These include container terminals, retail, infrastructure, energy and telecommunications. It has a yearly revenue of about $50 billion. It is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The group operates in 52 countries with about 290,000 employees. The legal department is managed from the head office. Each of its core business units has its own legal team with subgroup legal teams reporting into the core business units. Her focus is legal, corporate finance, corporate governance, regulatory compliance and corporate secretarial of most subgroup companies. She also heads the IP department.

LEGAL TEAM: The company has about 250 legal counsel and 80 legal executives and 40 legal secretaries. The smaller operations more often use generalists, and the larger business units have generalists as well as specialists. Legal executives include chartered secretaries, IP executives and real estate specialists. The head office of most core business is in Hong Kong, and subgroup legal counsel are in over 20 cities globally.

OUTSIDE COUNSEL: "We normally instruct external counsel on transactions of a certain level of significance and dollar value, working alongside our own team comprising of members from the head office, business unit and subgroup legal teams," Shih says. "External counsel are also normally engaged on dispute matters [and] capital and debt raising transactions."

TYPICAL DAY: "My typical work day starts at 9 a.m. and ends after 8 p.m.," Shih says. "However, leaving the office doesn't mean the end of the day. Our European operations normally start getting busy as the Hong Kong office day ends. My work doesn't stop at my departure from the office. It continues beyond." "There are the transactions at hand that I spearhead, and new ones that surface every day," she says. "During the day, I would generally be involved in meetings, kick-starting, structuring and coordinating with other departments within the company—finance, tax, insurance, HR, PR, etc., on transactions to ensure full collaboration. All corporate secretarial matters are run through me and I would have a general review before releasing resolutions for circulation, minutes for approval and filings for submission."

Hong Kong is her home. "It is a demanding city and people are generally competitive and extremely hard working," she says. "It is an international city with a vibrant commercial and financial foundation. The company I work for is the largest home-grown one. The variety and the scale of its core businesses offer unlimited challenges to the intellect and technical expertise required. The philosophy of the company maintaining and respecting a strong legal regime provides tremendous support for the legal team and my work."

LAST BOOK READ: The last book she read is "After You" by Jojo Moyes. She also likes reading and listening to classic Chinese novels and poetry.

ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE LEGAL PROFESSION: "In-house teams have historically been staffed by more female lawyers," Shih says. "In the formative years of my legal department, about 85 percent of the legal team [was] female, probably as a result of male lawyers preferring partnership opportunities in private practice. Over time, the balance has harmonized—I see more and more male lawyers going in-house. We now have a 60 female, 40 male distribution. This is partly because [of] the growth of in-house legal teams and the respect afforded to quality in-house teams. Opportunities for female lawyers have not diminished as the pie has grown much larger. There is room for capable female lawyers to thrive in the profession. In fact, I find female lawyers to be more focused, more detailed and more hard-working. Capability is recognized, and gender is not an issue, at least from my perspective as a female department head."