{"id":6423,"date":"2021-03-14T09:30:55","date_gmt":"2021-03-14T01:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/?p=6423"},"modified":"2021-03-16T15:52:44","modified_gmt":"2021-03-16T07:52:44","slug":"5-questions-withmark-teng-founding-director-at-that-legal-llc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dollarsandsense.sg\/business\/5-questions-withmark-teng-founding-director-at-that-legal-llc\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Questions With\u2026Mark Teng, Founding Director At That.Legal LLC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When we work with individuals who are in professional services such as lawyers, accountants and architects, we sometimes forget that while they provide us with important paid services that we need, they may also be entrepreneurs themselves, having to deal with the challenges of running a business, on top of the professional services that they provide for their client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such individual is Mark<\/a> Teng<\/a>, a founding director at That.Legal LLC<\/a>, a boutique law firm that specialises in intellectual property (IP) law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That.Legal LLC aims to provide timely,\ncost-effective and commercially practical solutions such as IP Protection &\nPortfolio Management, IP Disputes & Litigation and IP Exploitation &\nCommercialisation. It also maintains a strong international network of\nintellectual property lawyers to assist Singaporean SMEs to go global. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since graduating from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2011 with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) (Honours), Mark has worked as a lawyer who specialises in intellectual property. In 2019, Mark decided to take the entrepreneurial leap to start his law firm \u2013 That.Legal LLC, with a partner, Jonathan <\/a>Foong<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark is currently serving as the Chairman of the IP Enforcement Sub-committee at the Law Society of Singapore and was named one of Singapore\u2019s Top 20 Under 40 Lawyers back in 2017. He has also worked on a couple of high-profile cases, most notably the case of Global <\/a>Yellow<\/a> Pages vs. Promedia Directories<\/a>. He is also currently the lead counsel in a highly publicised defamation lawsuit between marathoners Ashley Liew (our client) and Soh Rui Yong (the Defendant). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this edition of 5 Questions With\u2026<\/a>, we talk to Mark about the reasons that led to him starting his own law firm and how it\u2019s like not just being a lawyer but also an entrepreneur. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Timothy Ho (Timothy): Lawyers don\u2019t typically get interviewed often on a personal level (unless they are talking to reporters on a case that they are working on). Since you agreed to this interview, we want to take the chance to ask you how hectic is a regular day like for you? Is it similar to what we watch on Suits, where work starts at 7 am and ends past midnight?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Teng (Mark):<\/strong> I wish we had as many high-profile cases as Suits had, but I\u2019m still working on my Harvey Specter persona so that\u2019ll have to wait. For now, my regular day is probably not far off from what you\u2019d imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I embarked on my new firm, I was\nrecommended \u201cThe 5am Club\u201d by Robin Sharma, which gave me insights into the\nworld before dawn. Waking up at 6am<\/strong> and watching the sunrise over a\ndouble ristretto gives this sense of freedom sans distractions and is a beautiful\nway to start the day. In this relentless age of complexity, these precious\nhours lend much-needed serenity, and provide this bubble of protection and\narmour for the challenges to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I start my first task of the day at 8am<\/strong>\n\u2013 prioritisation. With age and experience come the realisation (and admittance)\nthat attempting to tackle everything at once never ends well. Single-tasking\nallows for focus and tranquillity, which is why prioritising of tasks takes\npriority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 9am<\/strong>, I dedicate the next 2 hours to\nthe most pressing item on the to-do list for the day. Channelling my full,\nfresh self into crucial parts of the day\u2019s agenda allows for peak performance,\nand also counters the natural urge to procrastinate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bulk of my day, 11am \u2013 6pm<\/strong>, is set\naside for meetings. These could entail external discussions on client matters,\nor internal huddles to smoothen processes out, for efficient running of the\nfirm\u2019s many chains of operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I look forward to 6pm<\/strong> daily, because\nthat\u2019s when I allow myself my only meal of the day. The \u201cone-meal-a-day\u201d\nintermittent fasting regime has been likened to a warrior diet, and over the\npast year, I have come to understand the analogy. Weight loss aside, having 1\nmeal a day has helped avoid the post-meal fatigue in the middle of the day, and\nhas brought forward the time I leave the office to spend time with family back\nhome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a full day\u2019s work, 7pm <\/strong>calls for\nmuch-needed reverie. Some days, this comes in the form of hitting at balls at\nthe driving range; other days, Netflix wins. My 12-year-old Golden Retriever\ngoes to bed at 11pm<\/strong>, and my wife and I follow suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many lawyers who have come before me have\ndescribed lawyering as being more akin to a marathon than a sprint, and I fully\nconcur. Pacing oneself definitely leads to better decisions and better health,\nwhether physically or mentally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This daily routine would not make it into any episode of Suits (we can\u2019t afford a real princess in our cast), but I wouldn\u2019t have it any other way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n