The predecessor of Taipei Medical University (TMU) Office of Legal Affairs was the Legal Center under the secretariat, which was a secondary unit established in March 2016, with the main purpose of dealing with reforms in the university structure and diversification of development.
However, with the continuous increase and expansion of business and services provided by the center, the center was upgraded to a primary unit in May 2017 and became known as the Office of Legal Affairs.
Feature
TMU Office of Legal Affairs is very unique in its setup and function, and is different to similar entities in other universities which are only involved in administrative operations in the universities. The TMU Office of Legal Affairs has a dual-prong function, being involved in both university and commercial affairs, in order to meet the demands of the university’s development. In particular, the Office plays an important role in providing legal services of a commercial nature, including new derivative startups, establishment and management of university-owned enterprises. This groundbreaking decision remains unmatched by other major universities in Taiwan, thus making the Office of Legal Affairs one of the most unique administrative units in TMU compared to other local universities.
Professionalism
Members of the Office of Legal Affairs are all law graduates, and some of them have experience in the industry. The Office’s operation and management imitates the legal department models of listed Taiwanese companies and high-tech industry organizations. In addition to serving the university, part of the Office operation also involves assisting hospitals affiliated with the university and university-owned enterprises. Furthermore, the expertise provided by the Office is able to take over most of the functions typically provided by external legal firms, thus able to effectively control the legal risks for the university while saving significant costs of retaining legal advisors.
Scope for development
Office of Legal Affairs is divided into the legal and compliance division, but due to the Office being a relatively new unit, its manpower is not yet completely up to the necessary standard to fulfill all the Office’s functions. The Office is expected to retain seven staff members in the future to develop more functions and to meet diverse legal demands and issues from TMU’s rapid expansion. Development of its mode of operation in the future will be similar to those of management centers in the enterprise groups, where its structure and functions will be expanded upon in order to provide more comprehensive legal services.
Office of Legal Affairs, TMU