Effectiveness is the measure of effort.

Báo Đầu tư•24/02/2024

Dr. Le Minh Phieu, Founding and Managing Partner of LMP Lawyers: Effectiveness is the measure of effort.

As a key term in the management and operations of LMP Lawyers, "efficiency," in Dr. Le Minh Phieu's dictionary, means ensuring two things: client objectives and speed.

Dr. Le Minh Phieu, Founding and Managing Partner of LMP Lawyers

According to Dr. Le Minh Phieu, since his student days, he has been passionate about researching law and proposing amendments and improvements to the legal system. During his three years of study, he completed two scientific research projects, one of which won first prize at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, and the other was a thesis written in French.

“It’s safe to say that during those three years, I did nothing but research and propose improvements to the law. After graduating from university, I went on a long journey working on my master’s thesis, then my doctoral dissertation. Now that I’m a lawyer and businessman, I continue to pursue this passion. I’m very happy that now my opinions and proposals are being sent directly to members of the National Assembly ,” Mr. Phieu said.

Mr. Phieu stated that Vietnamese law belongs to the civil law system, primarily based on positive law, meaning laws enacted to anticipate future situations. Therefore, it is very common for a problem to arise in practice that was not foreseen by the law, or was only partially foreseen. In such cases, the demands of citizens and businesses go unresolved, government agencies are confused, and this has a tremendous impact on the economy .

Dr. Le Minh Phieu is a lawyer with keen expertise in strategy, business, finance, taxation, accounting, and communications.

With 21 years of legal experience, he has extensive expertise gained from working as an in-house lawyer at a Japanese corporation, as well as at leading international law firms.

He has advised multinational corporations based in the US, Europe, and Japan, as well as listed companies and family-owned businesses in Vietnam.

Prior to founding LMP Lawyers, he worked at one of Japan's largest law firms and advised multinational corporations with demanding quality requirements and high expectations.

2023 was considered a breakthrough year for institutional reform and legal improvement in Vietnam. In particular, 16 amended laws were recently passed, including the amended Housing Law, the amended Real Estate Business Law, and the amended Land and Housing Law – laws that significantly impacted the real estate market, thereby creating momentum for continued economic growth.

In 2024, shifts in the real estate market are expected to create momentum for stable development from 2025 onwards. However, after the new law is enacted, many regulations will be unclear and overlapping. Therefore, authorities need to provide specific guidance to facilitate the process for citizens and businesses.

Besides contributing opinions to fill in the gaps that the law hasn't foreseen, the "captain" of LMP Lawyers has also been very successful in advising on numerous mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in various sectors. One particular deal in the logistics sector, due to its complex transaction structure, left a strong impression on him.

Specifically, the buyer already owns a logistics company in Vietnam, wants to retain this company, and wants to acquire 51% of the capital of another company in Vietnam. Thus, the buyer's existing company becomes a direct competitor of the target company, creating significant disadvantages for the seller – who will retain 49% of the shares after the transaction.

To avoid conflicts of interest, Dr. Le Minh Phieu advised that the seller, along with selling 51% of the shares, should also repurchase 49% of the buyer's shares. This would ensure that the ownership structure of both parties in the two companies is the same, resolving the issue of conflicts of interest between shareholders and creating a foundation for synergy between the two parties after the transaction.

Based on his experience, Dr. Le Minh Phieu observed that the characteristics of recent M&A transactions have changed significantly compared to the past. Firstly, there is a difference between the seller and the buyer in valuing the target company.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses were affected, resulting in lower-than-expected or even better-than-expected results compared to previous years. After the pandemic, the economy was again impacted, leading to unsatisfactory business performance for enterprises.

When determining business value, sellers typically aim to base their valuation on the assumption that the economy will not be affected by Covid-19 and the business will not be impacted by a recession. Conversely, buyers base their valuation on actual business performance.

Furthermore, given the complex fluctuations in the global and Vietnamese economies, projecting business plans is difficult to achieve consensus on, leading to difficulties in reaching agreement on enterprise valuation.

The second change in recent M&A deals is the buyer's demand for improved internal control and governance processes within the target company. Buyers are making extremely stringent demands regarding internal control and corporate governance, making negotiations on the terms of the acquisition agreement complex and protracted.

According to Dr. Le Minh Phieu, LMP Lawyers constantly strives and adapts to the changing market. Specifically, LMP Lawyers has applied artificial intelligence (AI) in its research, consulting, review, and drafting activities. The application of AI has helped him and his colleagues save significant time and effort, and improve work efficiency.

The rapid changes in the market economy during the Fourth Industrial Revolution have created many new legal relationships, new forms of transactions, and new types of disputes. This poses many challenges for lawyers, as they must constantly update their knowledge of new legal regulations and be sensitive to market trends.

Therefore, LMP Lawyers always prioritizes training, development, and enhancing the capabilities and adaptability of its staff. LMP Lawyers equips its lawyers with knowledge and skills through internal training sessions to share experiences and expertise in legal consulting, legal thinking, applying law to problem-solving, negotiation skills, and keeping abreast of new trends in technology.

Despite only operating in the legal consulting field for 10 years, LMP Lawyers has established a unique position in the market and has been honored by many prestigious organizations. In 2023, LMP Lawyers was recognized by the Organizing Committee of the 15th Vietnam Mergers and Acquisitions Forum (M&A Vietnam Forum 2023) as an outstanding M&A consultant for the period from 2009 to 2023...

“Every staff member at LMP Lawyers is carefully selected and thoroughly trained by me. My requirement for them is to provide comprehensive solutions in the shortest possible time,” Mr. Phieu said.

In addition to being the founding and managing lawyer of LMP Lawyers, Dr. Le Minh Phieu also teaches specialized courses at universities. The process of teaching and interacting with students has given him much new inspiration and motivation on his professional path.

“The image of these dynamic, inquisitive, persistent, and fearless young students who are not afraid to face challenges always evokes memories of my past self. Their passion for the legal profession is also an additional motivation for me to pursue a career in law,” Dr. Phieu confided.

In addition to his work at LMP Lawyers and teaching classes, Dr. Le Minh Phieu also dedicates time to sports. The sports he chooses all require high endurance and stamina, such as running, swimming, and gym workouts. “Regular exercise not only helps me improve my physical health, but also promotes the production of hormones that reduce stress,” Dr. Phieu said.

In addition, he also enjoys playing chess. At the start of a game, both players have the same number of pieces, but after a few moves, the situation can be vastly different, and a small mistake or oversight can lead to defeat. "It's the same in work; every move requires concentration and meticulous attention to predict the opponent's every move, and then develop a suitable strategy," Mr. Phieu shared.

Source