The financial year 2015/16 was a difficult one for Ince & Co. Globally, it announced a 4 percent drop in revenue – which followed an 8 percent fall in 2014/15 – while the Singapore office saw a number of high-profile departures. These included Martin David, Ince's former Asia-Pacific energy head who moved to Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow, as well as then-managing partner Richard Lovell, and Mohan Subbaraman, head of Ince’s local alliance firm, who both left for Reed Smith.

Fast forward to today, and the picture looks much rosier. Globally, the firm expects to see a 15 percent year-on-year increase in turnover for 2016/17, and the Singapore office has become profitable. In the past three months, Ince Law Alliance – the Singapore joint law venture between Ince & Co and local firm Incisive Law – has hired a director from Allen & Gledhill and a partner from Oon & Bazul. And managing partner John Simpson, who succeeded Lovell in 2015, tells ALB that the mood is “excellent.”

How is the current mood at the Singapore office?

The mood in the office is excellent; our lawyers are busy and we are making a profit. Our Singapore office now comprises 13 fee-earners, [and one more will] join on Feb. 1. This compares favourably to the ten fee-earners we had immediately before the departures. No one has left the team at large since, which demonstrates that we have a core of extremely committed people who have worked hard together to make a success of the business and their careers. Together with our alliance partners at Incisive Law, we now have a dynamic and friendly team who fit in well with our inclusive and collegiate culture.

How would you describe the strategy behind the various hires? What do they add to the office, individually and collectively?

The new hires are very much in line with Ince & Co’s global strategy of concentrating our resource in areas where we see profitable growth.

Incisive Law has enhanced and consolidated its shipping litigation team to better support our clients. We have future-proofed the Ince Law Alliance by moving away from one to multiple rainmakers, who all work together for the good of the alliance. Since November, they have acted on a number of high profile matters, including the arrest of Hanjin New York following a collision in Singapore waters, which was investigated by the Ince casualty team; and setting aside the arrest of the vessel CS Stealth, on which Incisive Law successfully obtained damages for wrongful arrest for our clients.

Incisive Law has also hired two directors with experience in insolvency matters. The Swiber judicial management and the Hanjin insolvency have kept them extremely busy, so the decision to push forward in this area is already paying off.

On the Ince side of the alliance, we have strengthened our finance capability by promoting one of our senior lawyers to the partnership. The finance team has been involved in a number of high-profile transactions, including the $360 million financing for the purchase of two LNG newbuildings by SPVs owned by BW Pavilion. The Ince finance team will also be joined by a senior lawyer with in-depth experience in FPSO and port and infrastructure projects on Feb. 1 to enhance our asset and project finance offering.

Finally, we have expanded the Ince disputes team with a partner hire to enhance our ability to represent international trade clients, with a particular emphasis on the Chinese market. 

This growth will complement our existing shipping and oil and gas disputes team, which is currently dealing with some high-profile offshore oil and gas construction and shipbuilding arbitrations.

Ince had a rough year globally in 2015/16, but 2016/17 looks set to be better. What role has the Singapore office played in this revival?

Despite challenging market conditions, which had an impact on our financial results, 2015/16 was a year of positive change for Ince & Co. We invested heavily in our business and as a result, Singapore is once again profitable. We have also introduced some high-profile disputes work to the firm, particularly on the energy side. This has helped us to achieve a much better 2016/17 so far in Singapore. In turn, this has contributed to the general success of the global firm, which is projecting a 15 percent year-on-year increase in turnover by financial year-end. 

You've been managing partner for about a year now. What has the stint so far been like, and what lessons have you picked up along the way?

The first few months were a steep learning curve, and I’m grateful for the support of my partners, in particular Martin Brown [business and finance head, Singapore office]. I concentrated on retaining our team of talented staff and lawyers by sharing with them my vision for our office and clearly defining the role I saw [for each of them]. Possibly most importantly, Martin Brown and I committed to transparency within the Singapore office as well as reopening the communication channel between Singapore and our HQ in London. The support from my London and Asian counterparts continues to be more strategic and more forthcoming.

By continually investing in delivering the vision we set out in the early days, we have strengthened our team and now have committed staff who have full transparency of their career progression and the value they bring to our clients, their peers and the business at large. This has allowed us all to concentrate on our clients and to ensure that we deliver the best possible service to them, which is the only way that we will continue to be successful.

The camaraderie of the office is one of the best things to come out of the challenges of last year. After 17 years at the firm, initiating change was not the easy choice, but our new culture is something that rarely goes unnoticed. Harry Hirst [partner and master mariner, Singapore office] has been rock solid from day one – there aren’t many who would drop everything and move their life from Hong Kong to Singapore in the way he did. While it was a challenging first six months at the helm, there’s not a lot I would have done differently. Personally and professionally, I’ve grown a great deal, and I am grateful for the opportunity to do so. In all honesty, the challenges made me even more determined to succeed. 

What is your strategy for the Singapore office in 2017 and beyond?

After consolidating our business during the first half of the financial year (and investing in a number of strategic hires), our aim is to increase the transactional capabilities of the Singapore office in line with our global strategy. We have also expanded our international trade disputes offering in Singapore, which helps us to broaden our range of services within the industries in which we specialise.