Asia will undergo infrastructure and arbitration booms in the next ten years and the expanding market has room to accommodate more foreign law practices.

“The pie is growing. Obviously it’s going to be more competitive but with the increasing use of Singapore laws as the governing law for cross-border transactions in this region, there will be significant growth in the market and client pool,” Rajah & Tann managing partner Lee Eng Beng said.

The latest arrival is UK law firm Nabarro, which was granted a foreign law practice (FLP) license in Singapore last week and is due to start operations later this year. The office will focus on the areas of construction, engineering and international arbitration, and will be led by construction partner Emerson Holmes.

“The initial focus of our practice will be giving advice to clients involved in onshore and offshore construction and engineering, including advice on dispute avoidance and arbitration. Our aim is to grow the office with strategic local hires,” Emerson told ALB.

In August 2009, Singapore allowed six foreign law firms to practice local corporate law and is tipped to award more licenses in December this year.

When asked if he thought the Singapore market was getting saturated with foreign practices, Nabarro’s international head Michael Hales pointed to the expansion in disputes work.

“There has been a significant increase in arbitration work in Singapore over recent years. Many of the disputes are in the construction and engineering field arising from the massive infrastructure development that is taking place throughout the region. These disputes are highly specialised. It is therefore natural for us to want to bring these skills to a region which has demand for them,” Hales said.

A partner of an Australian firm in Singapore who declined to be named said: “There is certainly room to grow. The reality is, for foreign law firms, we’re not just looking at the Singapore market, but the Asian regional market. Singapore is a gateway into India and also has strong connections with China.”

Nabarro will join the 72 other FLP firms currently with a presence in Singapore.

Hales said Nabarro’s immediate priority is to make a success of Singapore rather than opening any other offices in the region – at least for the time being. Recent Nabarro mandates from Asia include three arbitrations from India in the banking and construction sectors with a number of potential financing mandates from China as well.

“Singapore is a gateway to the region as a whole, not just China and India. Indonesia and Vietnam are two other countries where significant investment is taking place. We already regularly visit China and India. Having the office in Singapore will add to our effectiveness in those countries,” Hales said.

When quizzed on the Singapore option instead of Hong Kong, Hales said the firm believes that there is more work in the sector that they are targeting in Singapore than anywhere else.ALB

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