Melvyn Lim: Senior Legal Counsel

As Senior Legal Counsel with ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, my time is divided between providing legal support to the chemicals trading and supply chain business units, and Projects / M&A. This role includes coordination and oversight of legal support provided by country lawyers for significant chemicals trading issues in the Asia-Pacific region. The latter is a new role which builds upon my previous experience advising on regional downstream projects and upstream Indonesia.

As legal counsel for ExxonMobil Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, I advised primarily on downstream oil and gas matters. This was a regional role in which I was required to provide legal support to businesses in Asia Pacific countries in addition to Singapore, including India, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Japan. My crude / product trading and shipping responsibilities between 2011 to 2019 included advising on crude and product trading activities in the Asia-Pacific, commodity derivatives trading, and on shipping and supply / logistics operations associated with physical transactions. Between 2015 and 2016, I was also assigned to provide legal support for the Indonesia upstream activities on a part-time basis, which required me to travel to Jakarta every month. Some of the significant legal matters which I have been involved in include the negotiation and drafting of divestment agreements and long-term crude & product sale agreements, and advising on and coordinating the business' response to Government authorities in relation to product liability, customs and anti-dumping laws.

As Assistant Director (Legal), I provided legal advice to the Ministry of Health on a wide range of legal matters, covering areas such as general civil, constitutional & administrative, contract, tort, healthcare, charities, intellectual property and international law. My work included : - Drafting, reviewing and interpreting primary and subsidiary legislation under the purview of the Ministry - Negotiating and drafting a variety of commercial and non-commercial agreements, such as tenders, contracts, confidentiality agreements and tenancy agreements - Drafting international agreements, such as MOUs with other countries and foreign entities - Advising on international law obligations, in respect of trade / free trade matters and health - Rendering criminal law advice to Ministry enforcement officers - Participation in press conferences, and advising on legal issues in relation to media releases - Instructing local and foreign external counsel on the conduct of legal proceedings involving the Ministry I also held a secondary appointment as an enforcement officer for certain legislation under the purview of the Ministry, and was involved in enforcement operations in this regard.

As legal counsel and military prosecutor, I was responsible for advising the Ministry of Defence and Singapore Armed Forces on a wide variety of international, commercial, criminal and defence-related laws and legal policies. In this connection, my work included negotiating and drafting agreements with commercial and foreign Government entities, reviewing internal directives, military prosecution and participating in committees of inquiry on the death and injury of service personnel.