There’s a moment in Boston Legal, the single best legal drama to ever exist, where the incomparable James Spader utters these words in court, via his character Alan Shore: “Objection, your Honour. You can’t preface your second point with ‘first of all’.”
This scene underscores two things: 1) That lawyers are crucial guardrails that help us navigate the remit of various forces of authority in modern life, and 2) Depending on who they are, they go about their duties with a swagger that is as erudite as it is dashing. We happen to know one such member of this formidable class of them, Sean Lee.
Upon earning his Diploma in Electrical Engineering from Ngee Ann Polytechnic, he read law at the University of Liverpool, obtaining, after his ardour, a Bachelor’s degree in the discipline. Along the way, he acquired and honed a diverse arsenal that includes negotiation, the ins-and-outs of regulatory compliance and intellectual property law, legal research, corporate law, and commercial litigation. The switch from Engineering to Law was a momentous one, to be sure, but Sean took it in his stride with a coolness that is fast becoming his trademark.
He has taken his abilities to some of the biggest corporate names out there, including a role in the Grab legal team from 2019 to 2020. His team successfully represented Grab in a landmark High Court Judgment (3 Corporate Services Pte Ltd v Grabtaxi Holdings Pte Ltd [2020] SGHC 17). 3 Corporate Services had sued Grab for its use of the domain grab.co.id, but Sean and the team at Niru & Co found that the Plaintiff had failed to prove tbat it was not a cybersquatter, and public policy considerations did not preclude the enforcement of the contract.
Today, he is Corporate Counsel at Antina Pte. Ltd., a joint venture between M1 and StarHub. Here, he manages Antina’s regulatory compliance and government relations with various government agencies, including IMDA.
Conversing with him is revelatory. Calm, collected, utterly in his element, and, also, capable of striking with a quip/observation/truth-bomb, Sean is keenly aware that his path to a career in law has been an unconventional one, but a point of pride nonetheless. “I hope to inspire younger folks who don’t come from a traditional educational background to become lawyers”, he says, affirming the role that agency has played in steering him to his calling.
Who better to speak about how a gentleman should conduct himself in polite society? In this age of accelerated noise, distraction, and confusion, the illumination he provides on the subject is pure and flawless: “Be well-dressed, be confident, and make the first impression count.”
No matter what we tell ourselves about how far we, as a society, have come in how we esteem each other, we cannot upend one sacrosanct edifice: that the cut of one’s jib still matters very much. Sean is keenly aware of this and the confidence he urges from his fellows is tempered with an awareness that we live in a world with codes of conduct we’d be wise to respect. Also, respect — that is the shrine the first impression he’s alluding to emanates from.
“Show respect to everybody, whether the boss or the most junior person in the room”, he urges, because all the fineries of dress and speech are inconsequential if the source is not humane. Now, as always.
There are so many depictions of eagle-eyed corporate types in our zeitgeist. Vulturous go-getters; silver-tonged devils, and so on.
And then, there’s Sean. A young, learned man marching to the beat of his own drum in an arena where surprises await at every turn.
In such a space, his grasp of the constants and principles is indeed humbling — and inspiring.
