Last week, London-headquartered global law firm, Simmons & Simmons announced in a media note the recruitment of Benson Lim to its international arbitration practice in Singapore.
A fluent English and Chinese speaker, Lim joins the firm as partner of the firm’s constituent Singapore law practice, JWS Asia Law Corporation. He brings experience in arbitration counsel work across the Southeast Asian and Greater China regions and plans to make a number of junior counsel hires across coming months, the note confirmed.
International co-head of the law firm’s International Arbitration Practice, Philippe Cavalieros highlighted in the note Lim’s role as three times sole arbitrator, appointed by the city-state’s International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).
The announcement pointed to his experience across infrastructure, construction, energy and natural resources, corporate, merger and acquisition, disputes involving tech companies, life sciences, international trade, investment, and commodities disputes.
“I strongly believe in Singapore’s role as a leading disputes hub for Greater China and Southeast Asia disputes. As a Singaporean lawyer who started practising here a decade ago, I am proud to be part of this Singapore success story and part of Simmons’ longstanding commitment to Singapore,” Lim said.
Confirming his appointment as effective from August 05, Lim shared with FinanceAsia some of the themes he is seeing across arbitration processes in Asia.
“The investment flowing out of Greater China and Southeast Asia has been happening for some years, and the corporates investing in Southeast Asia and Greater China have inserted ICC and SIAC arbitration clauses (Singapore seat) in their contracts. This is especially so for high-value investments in higher-risk jurisdictions, although we are starting to see other arbitral institutions in the regions too.”
“On this trend, we can expect more arbitrations in Singapore in the next couple of years. No doubt there is also greater competition with more law firms offering arbitration counsel work in this region.”
“The quality of lawyering makes a difference as to the outcome of a case for clients, so I expect that sophisticated clients will always keep that in mind when selecting counsel for the premium arbitration work.”
“I also expect alternative fee arrangements to take on greater significance with up-and-coming arbitration stars,” he added.
Triple qualified in Singapore, England and Wales, and New York, Lim awaits regulatory approval for his partnership across English and New York arbitration matters.
With 22 offices in 15 countries, Simmons & Simmons employs 2,200 staff members and has approximately 280 partners globally.
