GMAP Internship Report / GMAP インターンシップ報告書
No. 2018-02
I. Basic information / 基本情報
1) Name / 名前：Sooksun Popun-ngarm
2) Enrolled year / 入学年：2018
3) Period of internship / インターン期間：6 August – 26 September 2018
4) Place of internship / インターン場所：SAGA Asia Consulting Co., Ltd.
5) Person who accepted your internship / インターン受入担当者：Mr Yuji TSUTSUMI
6) Content of work in your internship / インターン中の作業内容
I had been assigned to work for many legal researches and legal document drafting matters, forexample:
 researching on how to conduct land freight business between Thai-Myanmar border;
 researching on the issues of injunction relief under Myanmar laws; drafting a work regulation for the client in insurance business; drafting a lease termination letter; and reviewing a draft joint venture agreement to ensure that it is compliance with the newCompanies Law of Myanmar.
In addition, I had chances to visit International Labour Organization and client’s factories to see theiroperation. I also participated a court hearing at Myanmar Civil Court.
II. Details and impressions / 詳細と感想
Including the following points: merits, demerits, lessons, contribution to your future career, personalexperience etc.
My work experience in Thailand sparked my interest in working with a Japanese law firm inSoutheast Asia. This was the reason I decided to apply for an internship at SAGA Asia Consulting
Co., Ltd. (“SAGA Asia”) immediately after I heard that the GMAP had an internship programmewith SAGA Asia.
At SAGA Asia, I had been assigned to draft several contracts and involved in some dispute
resolution matters. Amazingly, these two tasks were mutually beneficial to my professional
development. When I drafted contracts, I had learnt how to interpret contract clauses and understandtheir meanings between the lines. I could apply this knowledge to dispute resolution matters when I
had to interpret the contracts in dispute. Equally, I had learnt a great deal from the contract disputematters about the perils of bad contract drafting. The issues of contract dispute I had experience from1the dispute resolution matters are very useful to my contract drafting practice. I realized how prudent
and professional a lawyer should be while drafting a contract.
Moreover, at SAGA Asia, I rose to the challenge of working with Japanese and Myanmar lawyers. I
have learnt that differences in legal tradition and working culture can sometimes cause difficulties inworking. I realised that Japanese companies attach great importance to punctuality and politeness.
This required me to put more efforts into improving my behavior. I also found that it was quitedifficult to find reliable legal authorities (e.g. textbook, court judgments and government officer’sopinion) in Myanmar. As a result, I felt a little uneasy when drafting a legal opinion and advice forclients. In this regard, SAGA Asia really trained me to work more prudently and enhanced myproblem-solving skill. Moreover, as it is common for people in Myanmar to talk while working in
the office, I was sometimes unable to concentrate on my work with the noise. It took me some timeto get used to the working environment. Having said that, I regarded these difficulties in aninteresting and enjoyable way. I have learnt how to work in multicultural environments and I proved
myself that I could deal with such situation well. Through these experiences I have learned the valueof cultural adaption.
I am passionate about becoming a ‘regional lawyer’ who can work across borders involving multiple
jurisdictions in the Southeast Asian region. Throughout the two-month internship in Myanmar,
SAGA Asia had provided me with vast Myanmar and ASEAN cross-disciplinary experience. In
particular, all work assigned by Tsutsumi-sensei and other lawyers helped me develop a deeper
understanding of Japan’s cross-border transactions in the Southeast Asian context. Joining theinternship programme at SAGA Asia is a truly memorable experience for me.

Sooksun Popun-ngarm
20 October 20182

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