”It is tremendously rewarding setting up legal and regulatory departments from scratch.”

Leonard D’Cruz, Head of Legal & Compliance at Ascend Airways Malaysia, reflects on what it really means to “give birth” to an airline – and how in-house legal leadership makes that possible.

What has been the most defining moment of your career as an in-house lawyer so far?

As in-house counsel specialising in airline start-ups, I would say the most defining moments of my career are the two occasions when we secured our commercial and operating licenses from our Malaysian regulators to operate commercial air transportation services using commercial jets. I did this twice with my previous airline, MYAirline and the current one, Ascend Airways Malaysia. A tremendous amount of legal and regulatory work goes into such matters, from drawing-board/concept stage to full certification, which usually takes around one and a half years on average. It is tremendously rewarding setting up legal and regulatory departments from scratch and working together with all the operational and commercial teams within the airline to achieve the goal of getting our commercial and operating licenses and then transitioning to launch and operations. I love giving birth to fully certified and operational airlines! 

In what ways do you see the role of the GC changing over the next 5–10 years?

– GC’s need to transition away from being perceived as a business blocker and nay sayer to a business enabler and guide;

– GC’s role is no longer to spot risk and slow things down but rather to manage risk while keeping the pace with the business;

– GC’s need to avoid looking for perfection in everything (as lawyers are trained to do) and get comfortable with making decisions without everything being in place based on the best risk matrix that can be put together;

– GC’s need to build influence and rapport with all the other teams in the organisation so that Legal becomes a trusted source for counsel/guidance and not a department that is perceived to slow growth, kill off ideas and to be best avoided;

– GC’s need to win over the trust of the CEO by acting primarily as a business partner with legal background and not merely a lawyer. 

What qualities do you believe distinguish truly impactful GCs from good ones?

– Good GC’s act beyond the law and learn the business from the bottom up.

– Good GC’s anticipate risks and opportunities before they happen, strategise, and advise accordingly.

– Demeanour is critical, GC’s need to project calm and confidence during crises with decisiveness in decision making.

– Influence and trust building across the organisation is also critical. Everyone needs to trust their GC.

– Leadership of legal teams is also important. A GC succeeds when they mentor others to succeed and help them grow. 

How do you balance the pressures of your role with personal wellbeing and resilience?

I have two non-negotiables. I wake up early at 5am for one hour of spiritual discipline in the morning (prayer, etc.). I get in one hour of exercise after work. Everyday. Non-negotiable. 

If you could change one perception about the in-house legal profession, what would it be?

That in-house counsels are somewhat a “lesser” species of lawyer than those in practice. I am guilty of this wrong perception, too. During my practice days, I always felt that lawyers who moved in-house were those who couldn’t hack the rigorous demands of private practice. I was dead wrong and I learnt this when I also moved in-house. An in-house lawyer deals with everything even beyond the law. The work hours, stress and demands of the job are at the very least equal to that of private practice.