This month in Asian-Counsel, our most comprehensive survey of ADR across Asia to date, with contributions from leading practitioners in four jurisdictions. In the current economic climate, avoiding lengthy and costly legal proceedings is as important as ever . . .

Off the back of an extraordinary year of growth, modest economic expectations in the year to come are the current trend. Asian-Counsel provides a regional overview in addition to special features on Islamic finance in Japan, recent developments in Malaysian securities law and regulations and Islamic banking and finance regulations in the United Arab Emirates.

Throughout Asia, 2007 may be remembered as a year of significant labour law reform. While amendments may be symptomatic of the strength of the region’s economy as a whole, the changes are unique to the realities of the nations who have enacted them.

Asian-Counsel takes a look at the state of arbitration in various jurisdictions across the region, and uncovers the lofty aims of several arbitration centres.

In the ongoing transformation of Asian capital markets, money flows are changing direction and new industries are rising across the region. But Hong Kong and Singapore regulators still set the pace, reports Eric J. Brooks.