Linklaters, Sidley Austin Win Singapore Law Licenses

Linklaters LLP, Sidley Austin LLP
Gibson, Dunn Crutcher LLP and Jones Day won licenses to
practice local corporate law in Singapore as the Southeast Asian
city further opens its legal market.

The firms have six months from April 1 to start their
operations as Qualifying Foreign Law Practices and the licenses
are valid for five years, Singapore’s law ministry said in an e-
mailed statement today. Twenty-three law firms had applied.

International law firms have expanded in Asia citing a
shift in global business activity to the region. Singapore has
opened its legal market to boost its reputation as a financial
center and as cross-border deals rise. The city awarded the
first six licenses allowing foreign firms to practice Singapore
corporate law and hire locally-qualified lawyers in 2008.

The second round of licenses “marks Singapore’s continued
push to broaden and deepen its legal services market,” the law
ministry said in the statement.

The four firms, ranked among the world’s top 20 law firms,
have extensive global networks and expertise in key practice
areas that will support Singapore’s economy and the development
of its legal services, the ministry said.

“We’ve seen a substantial increase in the frequency and
complexity of transactions negotiated from Singapore,” said
Sushma Jobanputra, partner-in-charge of Jones Day’s Singapore
office, which has 27 lawyers. “We have fairly aggressive plans
for Singapore.”

Deals Rise

Mergers and acquisitions in Southeast Asia rose 45 percent
to $140.9 billion in 2012, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg. The value of such deals globally fell 7.8 percent to
$2.23 trillion, the data show.

London-based Linklaters, the No. 2 legal adviser on mergers
and acquisitions in 2012 according to data compiled by
Bloomberg, last year ended an 11-year-old joint venture with
Singapore firm Allen Gledhill LLP.

The license will “open up further opportunities for
Singapore lawyers in international practice and help
internationalize the Singapore legal profession,” Kevin Wong,
managing partner of Linklaters’ Singapore office, said in an e-
mailed statement today.

Chicago-based Sidley Austin opened office in Singapore in
1982, its first in Asia. Gibson Dunn, based in Los Angeles, has
over 1,000 lawyers in 17 offices.

Washington-based Jones Day, which opened its Singapore
office in 2001, was one of 20 firms which applied in the first
round in 2008 on the day Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for
bankruptcy.

Market Growth

All four winners had revenues of at least $1.17 billion in
the latest fiscal year, placing them among the world’s 20
biggest law firms, according to trade magazine American Lawyer.

Singapore’s legal services market has expanded 27 percent
to S$1.9 billion ($1.5 billion) in 2012 from S$1.5 billion in
2008, according to the law ministry.

White Case LLP, Latham Watkins LLP, Clifford Chance
LLP, Herbert Smith LLP, Allen Overy LLP and Norton Rose LLP
had committed to doubling their revenue, staffing and profits in
the city in five years when they won licenses in 2008.

The second batch of licenses comes as some international
firms including DLA Piper LLP, Allen Overy and Eversheds LLP
move jobs to cheaper locations or cut positions to trim costs.

Singapore started opening its legal market in 1981 by
allowing foreign banks to bring in lawyers from New York, London
and Hong Kong to advise on some offshore transactions. In 2000,
the Asian city formalized collaborations between foreign law
firms and local ones by allowing joint ventures and alliances.

Available Work

Since then, the number of foreign lawyers registered in
Singapore has more than doubled to 1,304 as of September from
630 in 2007, according to figures from the Attorney-General’s
Chambers, which also regulates foreign lawyers.

“I’m not so sure if there’s enough depth or available work
for the foreign firms here,” said Patrick Ang, deputy managing
partner of Singapore’s Rajah Tann LLP, Southeast Asia’s
largest law firm. “There’s more scope for the foreign firms who
come here and use Singapore as a base to work in the region.”

In 2008, the city-state enhanced the joint law venture
program, allowing the foreign law practice to share as much as
49 percent of its Singapore partner’s profits in permitted areas
and directly hire local lawyers.

Singapore announced last February that foreign law firms
can own stakes in local legal practices and relaxed the rules
for the admission of experienced foreign trial lawyers.

Attorney General Steven Chong has signaled that the city
will probably further open its legal services market.

“Singapore is already thinking ahead and looking for new
ways in which we can continue to further develop Singapore as a
key regional center for the provision of legal services,” Chong
said in a speech on Nov. 27. “Liberalization is a journey.”

To contact the reporter on this story:
Andrea Tan in Singapore at
atan17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Douglas Wong at
dwong19@bloomberg.net

Linklaters, Sidley Austin Win Singapore Law Licenses