There has been a continued rise in prominence of the role of chief diversity officers in law firms globally as the legal industry has gradually taken stock of the need to pursue DEI goals. Apart from creating a forward-looking workplace, cultural awareness also adds value to the firm’s calibre in the eyes of clients. ALB hears from diversity leaders on how empowering inclusion can make a law firm stronger.

U.S firm Cooley has boosted its capital markets practice with the hire of Tim Pitrelli as a partner in the firm’s Singapore office from Goldman Sachs, where he served as a Singapore-based executive director and senior counsel in the investment banking division.

Cooley, CYL & Partners and DeHeng Law Offices have advised China’s Asymchem Laboratories on its HK$6.85 billion ($878 million) secondary listing in Hong Kong, with Latham & Watkins and JunHe representing the joint sponsors.

White & Case has advised U.S. payments giant PayPal Holdings on its $2.7 billion agreement to acquire Japanese buy now, pay later (BNPL) firm Paidy, which was represented by Cooley and Mori Hamada & Matsumoto.

Cooley has advised Indonesian buy now, pay later platform Kredivo on its parent company FinAccel’s planned $430 million NASDAQ listing via merger with VPC Impact Acquisition, which was represented by White & Case.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and Hogan Lovells have advised Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart on its $3.6 billion funding round led by investors such as SoftBank, which was counselled by Cooley.

IndusLaw has counselled Indian company Mohalla Tech, which owns social media platform ShareChat and short video app Mo, on its $502 million fundraising round. The funding values Mohalla Tech at $2.1 billion.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Hughes Hubbard & Reed have advised Grab Holdings, the largest ride-hailing and food delivery firm in Southeast Asia, on its agreement to merge with special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Altimeter Growth Corp.

Silicon Valley law firm Cooley has hired fund formation expert Sean Murphy as a partner in Singapore from fellow U.S. firm Shearman & Sterling, where he was a counsel.

U.S. law firm Cooley has launched Cooley GO, a resource centre for entrepreneurs with businesses at different stages of the growth cycle, in Asia.