Singapore Gets New Offshore Law Firm
Offshore law firm Forbes Hare, which provides BVI and Cayman Islands legal and fiduciary services, is set to open a new office in Singapore on July 1.
The Singapore office will be co-led by newly promoted partner Sam Robertson. The 10-year-old Forbes Hare also has offices in the BVI, the Cayman Islands and London.
“The Singapore launch is an important milestone as we celebrate ten years of business in 2015,” said corporate partner Jose Santos in a statement. “We have seen a marked growth in demand from Asian clients across all our practice groups. We are delighted now to have a presence in Singapore, and we look forward to being of further service to clients old and new.”
EY Law Singapore Has Local Licence Approved
EY Law is set to practice local law in Singapore for the first time after a firm that is a member of its global network was granted a Foreign Law Practice licence.
The firm is still finalising the registration process, but hopes to set up shop with local counsel in July after the licence was granted to DA Partners Pte Ltd, an independent member firm in the EY network. The accountant first applied for the licence in October last year after entering into an alliance with Singaporean firm PK Wong & Associates.
The two network firms will "collectively form the Association of South East Asian Nations hub for the provision of legal services to global clients", according to EY.
It is understood that there will be no new hires into the offices as a result of a licence.
EY global leader Cornelius Grossman said the firm was not targeting winning any particular type of work in Singapore, but wanted to take advantage of the jurisdiction as a "growth market".
Rajah & Tann Has New Bangkok Partner
Rajah & Tann Thailand has hired corporate lawyer David Gibbons as a partner in its Bangkok office.
Gibbons has more than 20 years of experience on cross-border M&A transactions, private equity deals, venture capital investments and capital markets offerings.
Gibbons previously worked in-house with Temasek Holdings and GE Capital, as well as with DLA Piper in Singapore. He has seven years of experience in Thailand, where he worked with Baker & McKenzie and Chandler & Thong-Ek.
With the addition of Gibbons, Rajah & Tann Thailand now has 45 lawyers in Bangkok.
