Celebrating 30 years in Singapore
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Allen & Overy Singapore is proud to be celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. From opening our Singapore office in 1992 with one partner and five associates, today we boast a growing team of 97 lawyers (including trainees) across our Banking, M&A, Projects, International Equity and Debt Capital Markets, International Arbitration, Islamic Finance, Restructuring & Recovery and Regulatory practices, providing clients with the highest quality Singapore, U.S. and English legal advice and leveraging our strength in local law capability to manage the more complex deals with Singapore law elements.
Over the last 30 years we have successfully grown in both Singapore and across ASEAN, where we are one of the few international law firms to provide domestic and cross-border matter support based on our ability to advise on local law capability in Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia through our on-the ground presence. Our Singapore team is also well known for its expertise in India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, the Philippines and Taiwan as well as other parts of ASEAN, where we have been involved in numerous pioneering transactions over many years.
Gautam Narasimhan, joint managing partner of A&O’s Singapore office, commented: “I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished in Singapore and across ASEAN. Not only are we advising on some of the world’s most innovative and market-first transactions, we have made tremendous strides in building-out a diverse office with 20 different nationalities in Singapore providing our various stakeholders with diverse perspectives. We have also made a significant impact through our local pro bono and community investment efforts”.
Through our work with Beyond Social Services on the Kebun Baru Void Deck WiFi Project, the charity was able to provide free WiFi for over 300 low-income households in Singapore encouraging digital inclusion to a group that previously couldn’t afford it. Additionally for long-time pro bono client Discovering without Borders (DwB), our recent support enabled DwB to film and distribute STEM programmes digitally and reach over 15,000 children across APAC ensuring that their education remained intact despite Covid.
Commenting on the future, Tim Beech, joint managing partner of A&O’s Singapore office, added: “We’re excited by our trajectory in the region and A&O’s plans for growth over the next year, and we’re grateful to our clients for their on-going support and our staff for their continued steadfast focus and determination. As we plan out the next few years, we’re seeing strong demand for efficient delivery solutions and alternative resourcing models, together with an increased emphasis on delivering social and environmentally responsible outcomes. We are meeting this challenge head on as a firm and our capability in Singapore has a big part to play”.
Our Singapore office was one of the first batch of international firms to be granted a Singapore QFLP licence in 2008, and in 2020 we received approval from the Ministry of Law in Singapore (MinLaw) to renew our Qualifying Foreign Law Practice (QFLP) licence for an additional five years until 31 December 2025.