Last month, Chicago-headquartered law firm, Mayer Brown, announced its collaboration with Singaporean legal practice, PK Wong & Nair, to establish a joint law venture (JLV) in the city-state.
The JLV, which sees the firms combine to form Mayer Brown PK Wong & Nair Pte. Ltd., will be led by managing director of PK Wong & Nair, Mark Wong (pictured right), and Mayer Brown partner Yu Jin Tay (pictured left), confirmed Duncan Abate, Mayer Brown’s Asia chair.
He told FinanceAsia that the partnership will comprise more than 30 lawyers, including 17 partners, initially, and explained that the lawyers will work together on the same premises, with PK Wong & Nair retaining a separate operation in order to undertake the “limited work that the JLV cannot do in Singapore”.
Present in Singapore since 2011, Mayer Brown’s local practice has spanned a broad range of cross-border transactions, projects and disputes across the Southeast Asian region. In the announcement, chair of Mayer Brown, Jon Van Gorp, highlighted the location as a centre for continued activity.
“The continued growth of the market as an international legal hub, along with the increasing prominence of Singapore law as a preferred governing law across Southeast Asia, has driven client demand for an integrated local and international service offering,” he said.
Wong added, “The increasing international dimension of the work we undertake for our clients, means that finding a partner with an aligned global platform is a strategic imperative.”
Tay, who leads Mayer Brown’s International Arbitration practice in Asia, explained to FA that the JLV was the result of several years of exploration and marks a first in Singapore, in recent years. He said the JLV will accelerate the pace of investment across the firm’s join practices over coming years.
Elaborating on the enhanced capabilities it enables, Tay shared, “The obvious gain is that Mayer Brown will be able to advise on the permitted areas of Singapore law practice through Singapore lawyers in the JLV. This comprises most transactional practice areas excluding conveyancing, litigation and trusts.”
“Mayer Brown and the JLV are in growth mode,” he continued, “building off successes across our existing practices including restructuring and insolvency, litigation and arbitration as well as corporate/M&A, and private equity.”
He underlined Mayer Brown’s commitment to growth in Asia – in particular, in Singapore, emphasising the firm’s investment to strengthen its capabilities in key industries, sectors and product areas across the region, including 10 lateral partner hires over the past 18 months.
“We also moved into new offices in Singapore in 2021 and are interested in investing in additional space in due course.”
