| The steady liberalisation of the Singapore legal market by its government this year led to a clutch of firms applying for coveted Qualified Foreign Legal Practice licenses from February onwards. The QFLP licenses permit foreign firms to practice limited areas of Singapore law.
Going one step further, the Lion City’s regulators are now considering applications for international law firms who are looking to cement their presence further by forming law alliances with local firms. In this regard, Clifford Chance has been the first firm to do so, forming a Formal Law Alliance (FLA) with boutique local firm, Cavenagh Law LLP. The Singapore government changed the law this year to allow FLA firms to share profits. Clifford Chance was previously partnered with WongPartnership (in a joint venture from 2003 – 2009) and it is notable that the three founding partners of the new litigation boutique firm, Cavenagh LLP (Harpreet Singh, Paul Sandosham and Nish Shetty) are ex-WongPartnership as well. Managing Partner for Clifford Chance Singapore, Geraint Hughes, commented that “as transactions and consequently disputes become ever more cross border, clients need and want to access this expertise from one platform in Singapore.” The FLA which was established on 11 December will be known as Clifford Chance Asia. |
