As Singapore’s economy continues to grow and diversify, there has been an increasing demand for niche legal services. Boutique firms have been able to capitalize on this trend by providing specialized expertise and personalized attention to their clients. In its annual list, ALB is spotlighting such firms that have stand out in the crowd and continued to make an impact on the market. The list is in alphabetical order and some firms have been profiled.
- As a reputable business hub and world-leading financial centre, Singapore has been seeing the rise of a number of quality smaller law firms that are punching well above their weight in terms of work handled and services delivered.
- For this reason, in March 2023 issue, ALB is spotlighting a list of Firms to Watch for Singapore. These are firms that are small but are already making waves, and either challenging (or with the potential to challenge) much larger law firms for their share of the work.
- While submissions are not absolutely necessary—we will combine our stock of industry knowledge with news reports, the general buzz around some firms and publicly available information to select some of the firms on the list—firms are still welcome to send in submissions for consideration.
- Only firms with 10 partners or fewer will be considered.
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BEDELL CRISTIN
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Bedell Cristin is a leading offshore law firm with expertise in Jersey, Guernsey, Cayman and BVI law. Its Singapore office was opened in 2012 to strengthen its presence and commitment to the wider Southeast Asia region, and is currently led by Kristian Wilson and Joanne Verbiesen supported by local non-fee earners and colleagues in the wider group. Besides several significant, senior and strategic hires across all its areas of practice, the firm has also increased headcount in its non-fee earning team in anticipation of future expansion in the current year. During its ten years in Singapore, Bedell Cristin has skillfully assisted its clients to navigate the substantial changes in the international and offshore regulatory environment in a considered and commercial manner. It offers legal assistance to manage and avoid issues related to shareholder disputes, business failures, and complex transactions in the virtual assets space, arising from the challenging global economy. Bedell Cristin is distinguished by its strong corporate practice, having advised on a number of joint ventures, financing transactions and large M&A deals in the region as well as providing technical regulatory and legal advice to clients including listed companies. Many of these deals have been commercially significant. For instance, the firm acted as BVI counsel (supporting White & Case) to Gopher Investments in relation to its $250 million acquisition of Finalto, the financial trading division of Playtech, an AIM listed company. The firm also acted as counsel to Blue Ocean (a subsidiary of Ying Peng Hui Kang Fund) in its capacity as a 65.4 percent shareholder in Global Cord Blood Corporation (an NYSE-listed company) in relation to a winding-up petition, injunctive relief, and related proceedings in the BVI and the Cayman Islands. The Singapore office of Bedell Cristin is notable for its partner-led approach, with fee earners who have real offshore experience, as well as experience from leading law firms and commercial entities. This distinguishes the firm in terms of the quality and experience of its staff and the calibre of their advice. The firm has a strong connection to the wider community, having been in Singapore for ten years, and is involved with several local projects and industry bodies. Bedell Cristin is also recognized for the collegiality of its lawyers and their cross-border collaboration. This approach amplifies the position of the Singapore office as it is a gateway to the wider firm and has strong support from all offices.
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ENG AND CO. LLC
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Established in 2018, Eng and Co. is a Singapore-based corporate law firm focusing on a variety of corporate and commercial matters. As a member of the PwC Legal Business Solutions network comprising over 100 territories worldwide with more than 4,000 legal professionals, the firm offers comprehensive legal guidance on complex cross-border commercial projects with close collaboration with top experts from other parts of the network. It will soon be able to better serve clients’ needs through PwC Legal Business Solutions global partnership with artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Harvey (built on OpenAI and ChatGPT technology) which gives exclusive access (among the Big 4) to the game-changing AI platform. Unlike traditional law firms, Eng and Co. has a strategy of training its lawyers to be commercially savvy, working as part of a community of solvers combining the efforts of other specialists on tax, corporate finance, and consulting. They aim to bring expertise and insights in projects related to M&A, data, and ESG projects, contributing legal input in the preliminary structuring stage of projects. With a rising trend of financial institutions and families from China and Hong Kong choosing to expand their presence in Singapore, the firm is poised for growth in assisting the incoming investors with licensing, compliance, and setup needs by working hand in hand with other PwC services. The firm is led by its founder and managing director, Rachel Eng, who has more than 30 years of corporate and capital markets experience, and who leads and manages many of the firm’s significant client relationships. Recent partner hire Yuh Huey Khoo has bolstered the private wealth and financial services regulatory practices, working closely with financial institutions and advising them on legal and regulatory matters. She also advises high-net-worth individuals and families, trust companies, and private banks on the establishment of trusts, wealth and succession planning, corporate structuring, family governance, and other private client issues. Eng and Co.’s recent major transactions include serving as legal counsel to Singapore Trade Data Exchange Services (SGTraDex), advising on a unique and innovative major national-level data-sharing project led by the members of the Alliance for Action on Supply Chain Digitalisation. The firm was also the lead counsel to the issuer, Vertex Technology Acquisition Corporation (VTAC), on Singapore’s first SPAC listing on SGX-ST.
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FULLERTON LAW CHAMBERS
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Fullerton Law Chambers is a boutique law firm focusing on dispute resolution. Since its establishment in 2018, the firm has handled numerous complex corporate and commercial cases before all levels of the Supreme Court and in arbitrations under various arbitral institutions, providing clients with top-rated legal representation and advice. Central to its exponential growth, the team of seasoned legal professionals has advised and acted for blue-chip corporate clients, high-net-worth individuals and families on matters of corporate and commercial disputes/investigations, energy, international trade and commodities, estate and wealth planning, infrastructure and engineering, insolvency and restructuring, insurance, real estate related disputes and shipping. Fullerton Law Chambers started with two partners and three associates and has almost doubled its headcount since then. Under the helm of Tham Wei Chern, Brinden Anandakumar and Edmund Eng, the firm envisions further growth and potential strategic alliances with firms in other jurisdictions. The firm has been repeatedly endorsed by various international legal publications for its expertise in litigation and arbitration, and has been involved in several high-profile matters in recent years against leading firms and practitioners in Singapore. These include the latest instalment of the continuing Raffles Town Club line of disputes, where the firm is acting for the majority shareholder of the club in a dispute before the Singapore Supreme Court. The firm is also involved in the litigation proceedings before the Supreme Court arising from the sudden and spectacular $3.5 billion collapse of the iconic Singapore oil trader Hin Leong in 2020. The firm is representing a major international bank in its dispute with other international banks and traders over the ownership of the oil commodities previously stored by Hin Leong in one of the largest storage facilities located in Singapore. In another long-running dispute before the Singapore High Court, they acted for a commodities trading company and its directors in their defense against claims brought by a Singapore commodities trader and the owner of a business-to-business commodities trading platform operating in the region. The plaintiff is owned by, amongst others, a “leading business-to-business platform in China”. The dispute relates to the sale of nickel ore from Indonesia and involves allegations of fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, breach of agency duties, dishonest assistance, conspiracy and lifting the corporate veil against the defendants. The court categorically dismissed all of the plaintiff’s claims against the firm’s clients and granted the counterclaim in part. It also awarded close to $700,000 in costs to the defendants. The firm also acted for the judicial managers of Hyflux, one of Singapore’s largest corporate insolvencies to date, involving liabilities amounting to almost S$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion). Hyflux was originally one of the largest companies listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.
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ICON LAW
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ICON LAW Established just months ago in October 2022, Icon Law is an evolution from the former Singapore member firm of ASEAN legal powerhouse ZICO Law Network. Founded and led by Soh Chun Bin and Jeremiah Huang, the firm showcases diverse legal talent, with decades of award-winning corporate, finance and transactional experience. Since its explosive start as ZICO Law’s new Singapore member, Icon Law has shown no signs of slowing down. The firm was recently made KPMG Law’s best friend in Singapore, as the latter continues its rapid and successful expansion across Asia. Apart from being routinely featured on ZICO and KPMG’s mega-transactions, the Icon Law team is deep-rooted in the Singapore market and has a stellar reputation and track record of delivering quality legal services and presenting innovative and successful solutions. It can boast about its involvement in numerous market-shaking deals such as acting for SGX-listed Hyphens and its digital health-tech unit DocMed Technology in its Series A round which retail giant Metro participated in, SGX-listed Sinjia Land in its potential acquisition of 100 percent of the issued and paid-up capital of Binex Singapore for a consideration of no less than S$2 billion ($1.47 billion), and as Singapore counsel to Semperit Technische Produkte GmbH’s disposal of its medical business (com-prising the manufacture, distribution and sale of medical examination and surgical gloves) for an enterprise value of approximately 115 million euro ($ 121 million). Icon Law is also active in the funds, family office and start-up space, and is regularly appointed to act in both equity investments and venture debt lending, particularly in fintech and other tech-based industries. Leading the solid team of award-winning talents are Soh Chun Bin and Jeremiah Huang, who are routinely the subject of word-of-mouth marketing and referrals from clients and counterparties. This, coupled with the strategic combination brought by ZICO and KPMG, poises Icon Law for rapid growth, and to become a key name in the corporate space.
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JOSEPH LOPEZ LLP
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Joseph Lopez LLP, founded in 2014, is an established full-service law firm in Singapore, providing a comprehensive range of legal services with a particular focus on varied forms of dispute resolution, including litigation at all levels of the Singapore courts, domestic and international arbitration, and private and institutional mediation. The firm is led by managing partner Mr. Joseph Lopez, with a team of lawyers. The firm boasts an extensive client base in the industry sectors of banking and finance, technology, education, media and telecommunications, shipping, international trade, commodities, mining, oil and gas, construction, engineering, and F&B. Building on the longstanding expertise in shipping and maritime, building and construction, international trade, in particular commodities, and energy matters, the firm has worked with its worldwide associates to assist clients across numerous jurisdictions by providing them legal, commercial and strategic solutions across multiple continents. In the recent year, the firm has considerably expanded its clientele in the European and American markets and set foot in a wider range of practices beyond its traditional competency, such as crypto-related issues and insolvency proceedings in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. One ongoing matter that the firm is handling is a Singapore-seated arbitration under the SIAC Rules on alleged breaches of a corporate guarantee related to two JVAs for complex financing arrangements valued at approximately $121 million. The firm represented and defended one of the largest Bruneian marine off-shore support companies in the oil and gas industry against the claimant of a special purpose vehicle of a global investment manager based in the United States managing around $50 billion worth of assets on behalf of almost 2,000 institutional clients and private investors. The proceedings are still underway despite having commenced more than six years ago. The substantive dispute involves novel legal issues on guarantees that were only canvassed in very recent English case law. In addition, advanced post-evidentiary hearing procedural and jurisdictional issues are being dealt with by the SIAC. Aside from setting aside and/or enforcement proceedings arising from Singapore seated arbitrations under the SIAC Rules in connection with transactions and ownership of shares amounting to multi-million dollars in total that the team expect to be involved in, the firm also continues to be engaged in trials for various cross-border commercial disputes, including a New York seated arbitration under the AAA Rules with a claim amount of almost $70 million, a London seated arbitration under the LCIA Rules with a claim amount of over $18 million, and a Singapore seated arbitration under the SIAC Rules in respect of a claim purportedly subject to insolvency under the Indian National Company Law Tribunal in India.
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PK WONG & NAIR
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PK Wong & Nair is a premium, full-service law firm that traces its roots back to 1986 with the establishment in that year of the firm of PK Wong & Advani, later PK Wong & Associates, and the merger of that firm with Nair & Co LLC on 1 January 2020. The firm has since grown in size and capability and on 1 January 2023, PK Wong & Nair established its Joint Law Venture with Mayer Brown LLP (the “Mayer Brown JLV”). With the Mayer Brown JLV, the firm has been able to exponentially widen its international reach and service offering. This is the first Joint Law Venture in Singapore in nearly 7 years and enables the firm to work cohesively with Mayer Brown’s global network of offices to offer clients practical and innovative legal solutions. The firm’s expertise has been sought after in a number of major deals, including the proposed $750 million restructuring of Antanium Resources. This case has raised a number of novel issues, such as whether or not super priority is available for arbitration funding and whether a scheme of arrangement may impose new obligations on scheme creditors to make contributions to operational expenses. Some other prominent matters that the firm has recently handled include acting for British Malayan Trustees as trustee of Unsecured Notes valued at S$70 million ($52.04 million) issued by Laguna National Golf & Country Club, and acting for the Singapore branch of Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank in a $23 million dispute involving English Law in the Singapore International Commercial Court in 2022. The firm, led by Mark Wong, Suresh Nair and the team of accomplished directors, is committed, together with its joint venture partner Mayer Brown, to provide top legal and industry knowledge and expertise to all clients worldwide.
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REMY CHOO CHAMBERS
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Incorporated in July 2022, Remy Choo Chambers is a boutique dispute resolution firm that prides itself on punching above its weight. Despite having recently commenced operations, the firm has handled a number of notable disputes, including successfully acting for a Vietnamese HNWI in a dispute against two leading financial institutions involving an amount in excess of S$34 million($25 million); successfully defending the founder of Indonesia’s largest micro-financing companies in a commercial dispute involving over S$14 million in the Appellate Division of the High Court; successfully advising a Fortune 500 company in resisting an invalidly exercised option to renew a contract valued at upwards of S$20 million against a state-linked entity in Singapore; and acting for the founder and director of one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency financial service providers in the General Division of the High Court in ongoing proceedings involving crypto-assets exceeding $55 million in value. The firm comprises a team of dispute resolution specialists who have acted for private clients and corporations in both commercial disputes and white-collar criminal matters. With seasoned trial and appellate litigator Remy Choo at the helm, the team combines premier litigation solutions with personalized client care and nimbleness in execution. One of its clients, the founder of a private wealth management company, describes the firm as a “best-in-class litigation firm” staffed by driven and strategically minded litigators who execute “like clockwork”.
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THE LIST
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ALB SINGAPORE FIRMS TO WATCH 2023 |
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BEDELL CRISTIN BIH LI & LEE BLACKOAK BLACKSTONE & GOLD BTPLAW CHP LAW DAVID LLEWELYN & CO DUXTON HILL CHAMBERS ENG AND CO EUGENE THURAISINGAM FOCUS LAW ASIA FULLERTON LAW CHAMBERS GATEWAY LAW CORPORATION
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GLORIA JAMES-CIVETTA & CO ICON LAW JOSEPH LOPEZ JOSEPH TAN JUDE BENNY JURISASIA KING & WOOD MALLESONS PK WONG & NAIR PROVIDENCE LAW ASIA RAJAN CHETTIAR REMY CHOO CHAMBERS REV LAW RUBICON LAW WTS TAXISE
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