Stringent pandemic curbs, domestic economic headwinds, and tightening regulatory controls have put a dampener on mergers and acquisitions activity in China so far this year. And the leader of the world’s second-largest economy has hardly reassured market observers hoping for a robust revival for the remainder of 2022.

Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance has advised JP Morgan and SBI Digital Assets Holdings on the first successful industry pilot in Singapore for cross-currency transactions on tokenised deposits.

U.S. law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has hired disputes partner Paul Tan from Cavenagh Law, Clifford Chance’s formal law alliance firm in Singapore, where he was head of litigation.

With the pandemic resulting in a shifting of business priorities, Alternative Legal Service Providers (ALSPs) are having their moment in the sun. One segment that’s rising in prominence is that of flexible lawyers, who are able to provide in-house teams with a high level of expertise at a manageable cost. Players in this segment share with ALB how the pandemic is facilitating their growth, how they are staying competitive, and what the future holds.  

Cyber-attacks have been vexing law firms over the past few years: According to the 2019 ABA Cybersecurity Tech Report, 26 percent of law firms experienced a form of data breach, while the UK’s SRA believes about 75 percent of firms have been hit. But the threat to law firms extends beyond that, with incidents like power outages, equipment failures, terrorist attacks and natural disasters threatening infrastructure and sensitive data. Leaders say a comprehensive disaster recovery plan requires both hardware competency and a sharp level of alertness.

Intensifying climate disasters along with stark warnings by global scientists in recent years have illustrated a perilous future for the planet if inaction continues. Hurricanes, floods, heatwaves, and wildfires are wreaking havoc in advanced and developing economies alike, even though poorer countries often bear more of the brunt.

As most of the world starts shaking off the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, an increasing number of companies, including industry titans such as Apple and Tesla, are demanding an end to remote work and that employees return to the office. But some employers have found themselves still dangling hybrid options to lure back workers acclimated to the flexibility and autonomy of the work-from-home arrangements.

Years in the making, Indonesia’s first comprehensive data protection law was finally passed by lawmakers on Sept. 20 as the COVID-19 pandemic prolonged the bill’s already thorny deliberations. That made Indonesia the fifth country in Southeast Asia to have its own data regulatory framework.

Renowned arbitrator and counsel Jern-Fei Ng now calls Singapore home after living in the UK for 25 years. The Malaysia-born star disputes lawyer shares with ALB about the trends and talents in Asia’s arbitration scene, and why he’s confident that the region will continue to grow as a disputes powerhouse.

As part of its green transition, the United States recently introduced a tax-break scheme that favoured domestically produced electric vehicles. This has excluded Asian automakers, which currently produce a significant number of the electric vehicles purchased in the U.S., leading them to accuse the Biden administration of breaching international law. Trade lawyers dissect the potential disputes arising from the law, the legal remedies in place, and the ramifications ahead.