Group General Counsel

Company Description

XCL Education is a future-focused family of schools with an extensive international network across Southeast Asia, including Malaysia. In Malaysia, XCL Education operates seven campuses and over 40 preschools, offering high-quality education through diverse educational institutions like Sri KDU International Schools and REAL Schools.

Main Purpose

The incumbent will be providing legal advisory and managing the legal and compliance risks for the company in XCL Education Group in Singapore, XCL Education Malaysia, and other countries in Southeast Asia where XCL Education schools are located.

Roles and Responsibilities

Legal Advisory:

• Provide expert legal advice and guidance to senior leadership team on a wide range of matters including regulatory compliance, corporate governance, contractual issues, risk management, corporate development and M&A projects.
• Collaborate with our legal/tax advisors, review and simplify our legal structure (Group, Malaysia, and other countries)
• Collaborate with various departments to ensure legal compliance in schools’ operations and transactions.
• Stay abreast of changes in laws and regulations affecting the education industry in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam and advise the key stakeholders accordingly.

Contract Management:

• Review, draft, and negotiate a variety of contracts and agreements, including but not limited to vendor contracts, distribution agreements, and customer agreements.
• Review the current legal organization of XCL and optimize it: internal capabilities versus external advisors.
• Develop a Contract Management Policy for the Group, Malaysia and other countries where were operate, define end to end contract management, its process cycle and ensure the respective process owners have full visibility in the process.
• Establish Contracts Inventory (listing, contracts depository, owner).

Litigation Management:

• Oversee and manage litigation matters, working closely with appointed external counsel when necessary.
• Develop strategies for dispute resolution and manage legal risks associated with litigation.
• Review and approve our responses to litigations
• Develop Litigation Tracking and Reporting framework: what to report, owner, status, etc.

Regulatory Compliance:

• Identify the key regulatory requirements in our business, identify the PICs who ensure compliance with these regulatory requirements, and assess if we have a good process to ensure compliance (education licenses, business licenses, trademarks, employee matters, safety).
• Report to the leadership team on new changes to laws and regulation that impact our business (impact, plan action to address).
• Develop and implement compliance policies and procedures to mitigate legal risks.

Corporate Governance:

• Provide guidance on corporate governance matters, including board governance, board committees, and disclosure requirements.
• Ensure compliance with corporate governance best practices and applicable laws and regulations.
• Working in collaboration with the country HR in maintaining a stocklist for key Ethics and Compliance Policies e.g Conflict of Interest, Anti-Bribery, Code of Conduct, Whistle-blowing.