The Asia-Pacific legal markets in 2022 have seen growth in the number of legal startup founders and legal technology entrepreneurs disrupting the region’s legal services sector. This year’s edition of 30 people to watch in the business of law in Asia, therefore, primarily reflects the accelerating trend of legal technology innovation in the region. Other trends in the region include the ongoing rise of Singapore as a location for foreign law firms, the growth of arbitration hubs, and the ongoing expert analysis of the markets by legal journalists. If you have a moment, please also consider reviewing our previous annual lists of people to watch in the business of law in Asia for more legal leaders from throughout the region.
- Deeksha Sharma, Founder, SimuLegum, India. Deeksha Sharma is the founder of SimuLegum, a legal edtech company based in India. SimuLegum is a legal career accelerator where legal industry professionals educate students on the practical elements of legal practice. SimuLegum also helps facilitate internships at elite law firms in India.
- Ji En Lee, CEO, Chambers Lab, Legal Tech and Innovation, Singapore and Malaysia. Chambers Lab is a legal innovation startup focused on helping lawyers improve their practices with intelligent use of technology and global human resources. Lee was also founding Deputy Chairperson of the Asia-Pacific Legal Innovation and Technology Association (ALITA), Chapter Organizer of Legal Hackers Singapore, and part of an initiative from the Singapore Computer Society and the Singapore Academy of Law focused on helping the Singapore government develop strategies for the legal workforce in the context of tech disruption of legal services.
- Pablo Hontoria, Lawyer, Head of Singapore Office, Perez-Llorca, Singapore. Pérez-Llorca is set to open an office in Singapore in early 2023, becoming the first Spanish law firm there. The firm plans to use the office as an Asia-Pacific region hub. The launch helps the firm have a physical presence in the global financial capitals of New York, London and Singapore.
- David W Lawrence, CEO, PegLeg Legal, Thailand. PegLeg Legal is a legal tech company providing subscription-based access to legal services for expatriates in Thailand. Lawrence is an American lawyer, R&D chemist and business professional living in Thailand since 2010.
- Alyssa Toh, Director of the Professional Services Programme Office (PSPO), Singapore’s Ministry of Law, Singapore. PSPO is a joint office between the Ministry of Law, Economic Development Board, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore to help the legal, accounting, and financial services industries in Singapore grow. Toh says remote work has intensified competition for legal work and Singapore needs to remain ”ahead of the curve….”
- Parijat Sharma, Co-Founder, LegumTechnica, India. With AI-driven LegumTechnica, Sharma seeks to make law simplified and accessible to society at large — where no one will be left confused about their rights and remedies.
- Gautami Seth, Co-Founder, LegumTechnica, Lawyer, India. Seth sees a growing appetite in India to provide digital options for legal advice that supplement, not supplant, traditional in-person legal advice. Seth is a staunch believer in making law accessible to everyone and transforming the legal industry to become more client-friendly, while bridging the gap between law and technology. LegumTechnica also plans to launch VAQIL.AI, an AI-based mobile app/legal assistant, curated for the public, legal professionals and law students to promote legal education and awareness.
- Shashwat Awasthi, Advocate at Wadhwa Law Chambers Co-Founder/Managing Editor at The Contemporary Law Forum, India. The Contemporary Law Forum (TCLF) is a student run blog and medium of discussion between multiple stakeholders in the legal industry on contemporary legal issues.
- Brian Yap, North Asia Correspondent for Law.com, Japan. Yap joined ALM Media in early 2022, where is he primarily focused on reporting on legal news in Japan and South Korea, as well as China and Southeast Asia. The focus of his coverage is law firms, in-house legal counsel, and new regulatory developments.
- Weera Premananda, Founder of BrainyLaw, Lawyer, Law Lecturer, Malaysia. Premananda is the Main Founder of BrainyLaw. Established in 2017 BrainyLaw is a law blog and telecommunications platform for more than 1,500 young lawyers and pupils of the Malaysian Bar — focused primarily on guides to pupillage and articles on basic civil procedure practices.
- Lara Quie, Founder, Lara Quie Associates, Head of Business Development, Asia, Twenty Essex, Singapore. Lara Quie helps a firm of Barristers and Arbitrators generate new business while also maintaining her own consultancy focused on business development consulting and executive coaching for lawyers, leaders and founders.
- Lavanya Behl, Co-Founder & Chief Growth Officer at LawWiser.com, India. Behl leads collaboration and content strategy efforts for this video-based legal knowledge platform enabling peer-to-peer learning, thought leadership, policy discussions, and networking and visibility for lawyers.
- Jinwon Kim, Editor in Chief, Legal Times, Korea. Kim is an expert in the Korean legal market and law firm business management. He publishes Korea’s Legal Times and has written four books about Korean law firms. The Korean legal market has changed significantly since the market was liberalized in 2011, allowing foreign law firms to practice there.
- Nadia Choudhury, Co-Founder & CEO, UQEEL, Bangladesh. UQEEL is Bangladesh’s first online legal service platform — that helps users find expert legal advice in three easy steps.
- Anna Chung, Head of Office, Shearman and Sterling, Seoul, Korea. – Chung was recently elected the first female President of the Foreign Law Firm Association of Korea (FLA). Chung was elected in late 2022 to a two-year term.
- Shashwat Sikka, Co-founder at Provakil , India. Provakil is a legal tech startup focused on transforming legal operations for enterprises. Provakil offers next-generation tools for digital contracting, litigation, intellectual property, and compliance management.
- Soumya Shekhar, Founder, Remote Lawyer, India. Remote Lawyer provides commercial contract drafting, startup advisory, legal content creation and knowledge management services purely virtually.
- Rohan Bilimoria, Founder, Law Ninjas, Australia. Law Ninjas was first established as a social network for in-house lawyers in 2017. Since then, it has become a platform and community for thousands of lawyers and law students around the world to build relationships and learn how to be a successful lawyer.
- Sonali Khemka, Editor, Hong Kong Lawyer, Hong Kong. Hong Kong Lawyer is the monthly publication of The Law Society of Hong Kong and a source of thought leadership and analyses by legal professionals. Khemka is responsible for the journal’s editorial, production and online publishing processes.
- Md Asif Iqbal Saad, Founder at Lex Intell, Bangladesh. Lex Intell is an AI-powered online legal database and research platform including case laws, statutes, codes, gazettes, international resources, and more.
- Mohammad Iftekhar Hossain, Co-Founder at Lex Intell, Bangladesh. Iftekhar is a lawyer, legal tech entrepreneur and co-founder of Lex Intell, a Bangladeshi-developed, AI-powered, advanced online legal database and research platform offering primary and secondary legal sources.
- Ajuni Chawla, CEO Eye Z Legal, India. Eye Z Legal is a legal-tech startup uniting lawyers, citizens and key decision makers to advance access to justice — while making law better in India via a robust, sustainable legal ecosystem.
- Marshall Pribadi. Chair, Indonesia Regtech & Legaltech Association, Founder and CEO, Privy, Indonesia. Privy is a network processor for universal identity and legally binding digital signatures. It won first place at Finspire, a fintech startup competition co-organized by Mandiri Capital, Indonesia’s largest bank, and tech media conference brand Echelon.
- Joanne Chuang, Leader of Create+65 Innovation Lab (Clifford Chance’s Innovation Lab in APAC), Singapore. Chung is a lawyer and legal technologist directing a Clifford Chance initiative uniting firm lawyers, clients and the wider legal community to discover the future of legal services through research, education and collaboration.
- Mars Veloso, Chief Executive Officer, Apptitude, Philippines. Apptitude is a learning management platform that produces skill certificates on the blockchain for the purpose of linking education to jobs and finance. In 2021, Apptitude launched Legal Tech PH to serve as a venue where stakeholders from the legal practice and technology industries can discuss and advocate for digital transformation, digital property, and machine learning.
- Ridhi Jindal, COO, LawInternships, India. Jindal is COO at LawInternships (The Online Law School) and has taken leadership roles in projects providing internship opportunities, certificates courses, training sessions, and events.
- Marcus Lim, Country Manager, LUPL, Singapore. Lim leads the Singapore office of LUPL, an open industry platform for legal matters with support from a global community of legal departments and law firms. LUPL brings together the people, conversations, documents, data and knowledge for legal matters in one place, providing real-time 360-degree visibility and control.
- Parimal Chanchani, CEO/Co-Founder at PracticeLeague Legaltech Pvt. Ltd., India. PracticeLeague offers a suite of comprehensive solutions allowing legal depts and law firms to streamline workflows, facilitate collaboration and automate processes with platform-based solutions.
- Mariel Dimsey, Secretary General, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), Hong Kong. Newly appointed to the role of Secretary General at HKIAC, Dimsey is an international commercial and investment arbitration specialist. She has over 15 years’ experience in numerous international arbitrations.
- Joon-Nie Lau, Deputy CEO of the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC), Singapore. Lau develops and promotes international commercial mediation solutions and services from SIMC through building and developing relationships with public and private stakeholders in key markets.
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