Category: Featured Lawyers
Creating sustainable infrastructure development in Asia. An interview with Jeremy Saw, Director, General Counsel, InfraCo Asia
Jeremy Saw is Director and General Counsel of InfraCo Asia. In this interview with Asia Law Portal, he explains the organization’s work, the current state of infrastructure development in Asia, the development of his career and the unique nature of his work as an infrastructure lawyer, […]
Dispute Resolution a Key Theme of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) 2019 Annual Meeting in Luxembourg. An Interview with Peter Quayle, AIIB Chief Counsel, Corporate
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is currently hosting its’ first annual meeting outside Asia, in Luxembourg (July 12-13, 2019). The theme of the meeting is “Cooperation and Connectivity” – “in recognition of the economic and social benefits to be realized through better connectivity within and […]
Opportunities for foreign investors in India. An interview with Zia Mody, Founder and Managing Director, AZB & Partners
Zia Mody is Founder and Managing Director of AZB & Partners, one of the most prominent law firms in India. Founded less than 25 years ago with 12 lawyers, the firm has now grown to more than 450 lawyers practicing in offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, […]
Building a successful law practice in Malaysia. An interview with Grace C. G. Yeoh of Shearn Delamore & Co
Grace C. G. Yeoh is Partner and Head of Corporate/M&A and Energy, Natural Resources & Green Technology practices at Shearn Delamore & Co., one of Malaysia’s oldest and most distinguished law firms. In this interview with Asia Law Portal, she provides insight into how to build […]
An interview with HFW’s Shanghai office head Nicholas Poynder on China’s hyper-competitive legal market and the firm’s goals for Asia
International law firm HFW maintains one of the most significant Asia-Pacific presences for a foreign-headquartered firm – with a total of 7 offices in the region. And not long ago, the firm launched a transactional practice in Shanghai. In this Q&A interview with Asia Law Portal, […]
An interview with New Law pioneer Kirsty Dougan as she joins Vario as Asia Managing Director
Dougan is NewLaw’s pioneer in Asia Kirsty Dougan co-founded NewLaw in Asia in late 2009 and last month, after almost a decade in the sector, she joined Pinsent Masons flexible NewLaw unit Vario as Managing Director for Asia. Dougan will be based in a new office […]
Infrastructure Development and the Legal Services Sector in Asia: An interview with Gerard Sanders, General Counsel, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
Gerard Sanders, General Counsel of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), is working to deepen ties between AIIB and Asia-Pacific regional arbitral hubs and other legal institutions to help facilitate coordination to promote infrastructure development. In anticipation of his upcoming visit to the Hong Kong International […]
Tanner De Witt enhances its litigation practice with appointment of Kevin Bowers as Consultant
Tanner De Witt announces with great pleasure the appointment of Kevin Bowers as a Consultant in the firm’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice. Kevin is a dual-qualified lawyer in England and Wales and Hong Kong and has practiced as a commercial disputes lawyer and partner with three leading […]
Seyfarth Shaw promotes first Australian partner
We are excited to announce that Erin Hawthorne has been promoted to partner. Although we have grown through lateral partner appointments over the past few years, Erin is the first promotion to partner from within the team since the Australian offices of Seyfarth Shaw opened in […]
The 2019 US landscape for Japan’s corporate investors: An interview with Frank Aquila, Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell
“Japanese companies have embarked on the biggest overseas acquisition spree in more than 20 years, echoing the deal boom of the 1980s,” as Lina Saigol detailed in the Financial News yesterday. In this interview with Asia Law Portal, Frank Aquila, Partner with Sullivan & Cromwell, explains what […]
Opportunities for Foreign Investors in Indonesia: An interview with Denny Rahmansyah, Managing Partner of SSEK Legal Consultants in Jakarta
As the Gulf Times reported this week, Indonesia is set to open more sectors to foreign investors. In this Q&A interview with Asia Law Portal, Denny Rahmansyah, Managing Partner of SSEK Legal Consultants in Jakarta, provides a detailed analysis of current opportunities and challenges for foreign […]
Diversity and intersectionality in the workplace within ASEAN
In this column, I highlight issues and solutions that arise within the legal context of ASEAN and which impact the diversity of the region’s social, economic, cultural and political life. Human rights are a contentious subject for many, presenting a number of challenges to companies and […]
Indonesia Looks to Simplify Business Licensing With OSS System
As part of the push by the administration of President Joko Widodo to improve the ease of doing business in Indonesia and increase investment, the government has issued Government Regulation Number 24 of 2018 regarding Online Business Licensing Services (GR 24), which was signed and came […]
Singapore’s new employment regime – a brave new world
By this time next year, Singapore will have a rather different employment regime from any it has had since independence. One aspect of this needs to be carefully thought through. About ten years ago, a distressed Norwegian client consulted me. His company’s Singapore office had a […]
Privacy is Dead
But we never wanted it anyway, muses Adrian Tan. Over the past few weeks, our inboxes were bombarded by emails about privacy. Companies wrote to us, in a state of panic, because of the General Data Protection Regulation. That is a new European Union law that […]
Driving innovation in the legal industry
Introduction Emerging technologies are creating significant waves of disruption impacting economies, industries and societies across the globe. Companies are struggling to keep pace with technological developments, whether maintaining agile business environments to leverage advanced technologies or creating the right risk and compliance strategies to plan and […]
Reed Smith and Resource Law Managing Partners explain the strategy behind their Singapore alliance
Reed Smith formed an alliance with Singapore’s Resource Law in 2016 to strengthen its local expertise and client offering of a one-stop-shop service, and to help it stand out amid a highly competitive environment for both international and local firms in Singapore. The alliance has also allowed the firm […]
Stefanie Yuen Thio of Singapore’s TSMP Law explains how to build a successful boutique legal practice
Stefanie Yuen Thio is Joint Managing Director of TSMP Law Corporation in Singapore, leads the firm’s M&A and corporate practice and co-manages the firm. TSMP is regarded as one of Singapore’s handful of “go to” independent firms for cutting edge Wall Street work and was named SE Asia’s […]
Innovating in-house legal in Asia Pacific
Peter Connor is Founder and CEO of AlternativelyLegal. The Australia-based former in-house counsel conducts ‘Everything But The Law’TM innovation sessions for in house lawyers throughout the Asia-Pacific region. He recently delivered the keynote speech at the InHouse Community Annual Congress in Hong Kong to over 600 attendees on the evolution of the […]
What makes Sports Law unique? An interview with Richard Wee
Richard Wee joined Kuala Lumpur-based MahWengKwai & Associates in 2016, where he established the firms Sports Law Practice Group. Now head of Richard Wee Chambers, Wee is recognized locally and regionally for pioneering this niche, in this Q&A with Asia Law Portal he describes what makes […]
China’s Belt and Road Initiative: What’s the view from Australia?
The numbers can be overwhelming. The expected investment from China and other participants in the One Belt One Road (OBOR) infrastructure initiative between 2015 and 2025 could hit US$ 5.3 trillion, and in 10 years will represent approximately 60% of global infrastructure investment. Too, Asia will likely represent […]
LexisNexis continues to help advance the rule of law in Asia-Pacific
Looking across the global landscape today, it’s not hard to see the serious and often severe challenges facing society, particularly for the four billion people living outside the umbrella protection of the rule of law. As a company, the LexisNexis core mission to advance the rule […]
In-house Associations HKCCA and ACC Form Alliance to Better Serve Hong Kong Legal Community
Though in-house lawyers may work across dozens of industries and for hundreds of different companies, their concerns, challenges, and goals share more similarities than differences. Peer-to-peer networking opportunities, education focused specifically on the needs of working in-house, and resources tailored to corporate practice are invaluable in […]
What is Driving Change in Asia’s Legal Profession?
The famous American jurist Clarence Darrow once said, “The trouble with law is lawyers.” And, when it comes to changing the way lawyers and law firms operate, some of the speakers and panellists at the Legal Inno’ Tech Forum, which took place in Hong Kong in […]
Facilitating cross-border trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific: An interview with Babita Ambekar of Duane Morris & Selvam
Babita Ambekar is Head of Duane Morris & Selvam’s India and Japan Practice Groups. She advises multinationals on transactions involving India, Indian companies on their global expansion, in Singapore and abroad. She regularly advises Japanese companies on regional and international matters and is actively involved in the […]
How LOD – Lawyers on Demand is changing the dynamics of NewLaw in Asia
In the first multi-continent merger of its kind, NewLaw leading firms LOD – Lawyers on Demand and AdventBalance joined together in October, 2016 under the joint name and brand LOD – Lawyers on Demand. As LOD – Lawyers on Demand detailed at the time, “the deal…saw the creation […]
Mills Oakley launches Asia-Pacific’s first legal startup accelerator
In a move that highlights the rapid expansion of the legal startup ecosystem in Asia-Pacific, Australia’s Mills Oakley has launched the region’s first legal startup accelerator. Central to this effort is Mills Oakley’s CEO John Nerurker. In our continuing coverage of the region’s legal startup scene – […]
The story of lexvoco: New Zealand’s first NewLaw firm
As Dr George Beaton of Australia’s Beaton Capital detailed recently: “lexvoco is the first NewLaw firm in New Zealand, entering by crossing the Tasman. While this might not necessarily be regarded as noteworthy, the speed with which lexvoco is spreading is truly remarkable.” In an effort to continue Asia […]
NewLaw expands in Asia with the addition of Hong Kong’s Korum Legal
As Australian legal commentator and analyist Eric Chin recently detailed, NewLaw in the Asia-Pacific is growing and its’ definition expanding to include alternative business models utilizing technology as a prime focus – above and beyond the traditional NewLaw secondment offer. Too, a number of large international […]
Asia-Pacific Legal Startups: An interview with BurgieLaw.com Founder & CEO, Lai Chee Hoe
The Asia-Pacific legal startup ecosystem is growing rapidly. And Asia Law Portal has and will continue to seek to provide a window into this ecosystem by interviewing the founders and entrepreneurs behind this exciting trend. In the most recent chapter of this effort, we interview Mr. […]
How can law help facilitate more efficient flow of Asia-Pacific trade? An interview with Prakash Pillai
The Singapore Academy of Law is organizing an international conference on January 21 and 22, 2016 in Singapore with a focus on the increasing homogenization of cross-border trade practices and regulatory mechanisms amid rising economic integration in Asia. As the event website outlines: “Among the business […]
TheMalaysianLawyer.com is launched: An interview with co-founder Marcus van Geyzel
As Office Parrots blog outlined last month, two “seasoned Malaysian legal professionals with more than ten years’ experience [recently came] together to launch TheMalaysianLawyer.com. Founded by Lee Shih, Partner with Skrine, and Marcus van Geyzel, Partner with Peter Ling & van Geyzel, who’s also founder of the widely-read Malaysian law blog LoyarBurok.com , […]
Facilitating investment in Japan – an interview with Tokyo-based lawyer Hiroaki Tsuda
As the Japan Times reported last year, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration developed an updated growth strategy calling for a doubling of the “outstanding amount of foreign direct investment in Japan to ¥35 trillion by 2020, with the government taking necessary policy steps and the […]
Tokyo Legal Startups find support and inspiration from “StartEd”
As Disrupting Japan blog author Tim Romero has outlined: “The startup scene in Japan is laying the seeds for [the country’s] next economic miracle.” And a part of that miracle may very well be Tokyo-based legal startups. Few would know more about this subject than Dublin-based lawyer Naoise Gaffney. […]
Facilitating China-Canada cross-border investment: A Q&A with Stephen D. Wortley of McMillan
Think Asia, Thing Hong Kong, a conference focused on facilitating trade and investment with China via Hong Kong, took place in Toronto June 8. Key among the participants was Stephen D. Wortley, Chair, Hong Kong Office and Co-Chair, China Practice Group at McMillan LLP. In conjunction […]
From lawyer to Tokyo startup entrepreneur: An interview with Nikola Pavesic of Justa
Elise Hu (@elisewho), reporting for NPR earlier this month, outlined how the startup scene in Japan is now beginning to gain momentum in an economy still centered around traditional companies that made it big in the latter part of the last century. The Japanese government, however, […]
The Current State of the Malaysian Legal Market: A Q&A with Eddie Law, Founder of eLawyer.com.my
The Malaysian legal market is currently undergoing structural reform while competition is increasing. Here’s an update on the market in the second quarter of 2015 from Eddie Law, Founder of eLawyer.com.my: How would you describe the overall current state of the Malaysian legal market? In general, […]
Opportunities for foreign investment in Vietnam state-owned enterprises
Dr Net Le, Partner at LNT & Partners in Vietnam and Head of the firm’s Arbitration and Financial Services Practices was among the panelists addressing the issue of state-owned enterprises amid the transformation of command economies on Saturday, May 9th at The Inter-Pacific Bar Association’s (IPBA) 25th Annual Meeting and Conference in Hong Kong. After Dr […]
Hong Kong-based Custom Legal seeks to make legal services accessible to all people
Earlier this year, Janice Chew co-founded Custom Legal Solutions with a firm belief in universal access to professional services. Malaysian by nationality, she was admitted to the High Court of Hong Kong as a Solicitor as well as the High Court of Malaya as Advocate and Solicitor. […]
Hong Kong-based LawTranslate eyes the global legal translation market: A Q&A with Founder and Director Barry Wong
Recently Asia Law Portal had the opportunity to sit down with Barry Wong, Founder and Director of Hong Kong-based LawTranslate (@lawtranslatecom) – to discuss the company and its core services offer and plans for the future. LawTranslate focuses on translation services to the legal services sector […]