After a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus made virtual events the default option, the ALB Awards series returned to in-person mode with a bang on Wednesday, May 25, with Singapore’s Grand Hyatt playing host to the 18th annual ALB SE Asia Law Awards.

Sri Lanka has hired heavyweight financial and legal advisers Lazard and Clifford Chance as it prepares for the difficult task of renegotiating its debts, a trio of sources told Reuters on Monday.

Withers KhattarWong has obtained a worldwide proprietary injunction on behalf of a Singaporean non-fungible token (NFT) investor to freeze the sale of a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT previously owned by him.

Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, Japan’s second-largest law firm, has established a risk advisory team to assist clients impacted by fast-moving geopolitical situations.

​​​​​​​Manila-headquartered boutique Gulapa Law has opened an office in Ho Chi Minh City, the commercial capital of Vietnam. This is the firm’s first Asian office outside of its home base of the Philippines.

Almost two decades from the first introduction of the concept of environmental, social and governance (ESG), ESG issues have now become one of the core values of not only project owners, but also financial institutions across the globe. In considering, whether to finance the development of a project, financial institutions normally scrutinize a project from various perspectives to ensure the project’s viability and, if required, impose measures to be implemented by the project in order to minimize the negative impacts of the project on the surrounding environment. In this connection, it is helpful that financial institutions have internationally recognized guidelines to refer to.

In this listing, ALB will pick the most highly recommended private-practice lawyers based permanently in the Philippines. The list will be published in the June issue of ALB Asia.

We are now accepting submissions for ALB Asia’s Rising Stars Malaysia list, which spotlights the next generation of the country’s lawyers. The list will be published in the June 2022 issue of ALB.

The role of in-house counsels has become more strategic over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. It has yet again shown that the role of in-house counsel is infinitely expandable. They were closely involved in decisions about the increased digitisation, handling a remote workforce and crisis communications and were part of the C-suite business executives and then as legal experts.