Experienced lawyers

With over 1,000 lawyers worldwide, we have one of the largest and most international teams of banking and finance lawyers of any global law firm. Few practices can match our top tier position across the full range of financial products.

With such a deep team and global reach, international and industry-leading ‘first-of-a-kind’ transactions are our hallmark. We have been instrumental in nearly all the major developments in the modern financial markets.

Our market-leading Singapore-based practice, with expertise in finance across all Southeast Asian jurisdictions, with a particular focus on leverage finance, acquisition finance, private equity driven finance, property/real estate finance, share-backed finance and general corporate financings. We are recognised as the market leader in the financial sector (by independent publications) globally.  We offer English and U.S. law capability. We have domestic law capability in Hong Kong SAR, Singapore and Thailand and knowledge of laws and regulations in the People's Republic of China. 

Our global corporate practice brings together more than 700 lawyers worldwide with a client base that includes many of the world's leading corporations. Besides general corporate advice, we have specialist disciplines in intellectual property, insurance, environmental, public/administrative and antitrust law. We also advise on commercial contracts across different sectors and jurisdictions.

Our Corporate division involves a diverse range of transactional and advisory work for domestic and international corporate clients and investment banks. We have one of the world’s pre-eminent Corporate/M&A practices covering the full range of M&A work, including public takeovers, complex multi-jurisdictional deals, joint ventures, disposals and corporate restructurings. We were recently awarded M&A Team of the Year at the IFLR Asia Awards 2016.

The quality of our Singapore-based regional M&A practice, which also advises on Singapore law (A&O being one of only a handful of foreign firms permitted to practice Singapore law), is validated by our band #1 ranking by Chambers & Partners year upon year. We specialise in highly complex cross-border transactions. From structured acquisitions and financings, and some of the largest cross-border buy-outs seen in the market, to the provision of venture capital to start-up businesses – we’ve done it all. We are constantly praised for a level of service that very few law firms can match.  

Our Debt Capital Markets team is a market leader in Asia Pacific. Representing underwriters, issuers and trustees, we have experience in international bond issues, regulatory capital offerings and debt issuance programmes. Our transactions are usually multi-jurisdictional. Here, our ability to offer a seamless service across our global network of offices stands us in good stead.

Our Equity Capital Markets (ECM) team consistently ranks as one of the leading practices in Asia Pacific. We advise issuers and underwriters on the full range of ECM services, including IPOs, domestic listings, dual listings, rights issues, private placings, block trades, accelerated book builds, equity-linked bonds, exchangeable bonds, convertible bonds and depositary receipts.

We have one of the foremost international arbitration practices in the world. Our APAC arbitration team advises businesses and governments on numerous high-value international and domestic arbitrations and treaty claims in Asia, in the African and American continents and across Europe.

We operate under all the major arbitral bodies, including HKIAC, SIAC, ICC, UNCITRAL, LCIA and ICSID.   These arbitrations have been subject to many systems of law and have been conducted under the auspices of a diverse range of ad hoc and institutional rules.

Singapore is a key hub in our integrated Asia-Pacific arbitration practice with teams based in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. Over the last decade, the number, complexity and value of international arbitration proceedings has grown dramatically. Unlike many other firms, we regularly act for both investors and states, which gives us a unique insight into the strategies and tactics adopted by both sides in these complex cases.