We Profile the Rising Stars of Malaysia • M&A Decline
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MCI (P) 041/02/2020 ISSN 0219 – 6875 KDN PPS 1867/10/2015(025605) PLUS: WE PROFILE THE RISING STARS OF MALAYSIA • M&A DECLINE: HOPE AMIDST THE GLOOM • INDONESIA GETS AN AMENDED MINING ACT ALB LAW AWARDS 2020 SAVE THE DATE! MALAYSIA - August 14* CHINA - September 17 JAPAN - September 24* INDONESIA - October 8 SE ASIA - October 15 KOREA - November 12 PHILIPPINES - November 20 HONG KONG - November 27 ONGOING SUBMISSIONS FOR HONG KONG *ALB Malaysia Law Awards 2020 & ALB Japan Law Awards 2020 will be hosted virtually. SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES NOW AVAILABLE! Contact Amantha Chia at [email protected] for more information on sponsorship and get publicity across the region. Contact Mary Aquino at [email protected] to join the mailing list to receive event updates and submission details. SHARE YOUR ALB MOMENTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA #ALBAWARDS WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM/LAW-AWARDS CONTENTS 8 Explainer COVER STORY FEATURES BRIEFS 20 18 the feasibility of 28 3 ALB Singapore’s Malaysia Rising doing business in Talking retail The Briefing Top In-house Teams Stars 2020 Indonesia’s natural The COVID-19 2020 Young lawyers are resources sector. outbreak has added 4 Being a legal hub making great strides an extra layer of Forum for the Southeast in Malaysia’s legal Plus: complexity to China’s Asian region, industry as they - Amended Mining Law: retail industry, 8 Singapore rightfully work on various A Step Forward offering lawyers in Explainer boasts top-quality complex matters. Towards Good these companies lawyers in both the ALB profiles six Governance in yet another 9 private practice and lawyers from the Extractive Industry challenge to tackle. Deals in-house spaces. Malaysian legal General counsel at But this year, as market who have 26 retail companies 12 the impact of made an impact in Deal dip discuss how they Appointments COVID continues the industry. The coronavirus are assisting their to cast a shadow, pandemic has companies in this 14 in-house teams 24 resulted in a drop in ever-evolving market. Q&A are under even A new era of mining M&A transactions greater pressure. Indonesia recently across the Asia- 16 This year’s list ratified a long- Pacific region. League Tables celebrates lawyers anticipated bill Lawyers say that who stand out for amending the while they are still Plus: their innovation, country’s 2009 seeing deals, there - PART ONE: Highlights their leadership Mining Law. are differences in of CIETAC Guidelines qualities and the Lawyers say that both the nature of on Proceeding with value they add to the large-scale the transactions Arbitration Actively and their businesses. revisions to the as well as the deal Properly during the By Elizabeth Beattie law could improve terms and process. COVID-19 Pandemic WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS – JULY 2020 1 HEAD OF LEGAL MEDIA BUSINESS, ASIA & EMERGING MARKETS Amantha Chia [email protected] MANAGING EDITOR Ranajit Dam [email protected] JOURNALIST Elizabeth Beattie The in-house side continues to grow stronger. [email protected] Not too long ago, in-house was the “poor cousin” to EDITORIAL ASSISTANT private practice, seen as a safe route for those who Aparna Sai couldn’t quite cut it as external counsel. How times have [email protected] changed. Today in-house counsel are doing increasingly COPY & WEB EDITOR significant and interesting work, and the Rowena Muniz benefits, including higher pay, better [email protected] hours and a chance to rise to the top of SENIOR DESIGNER a company, means that in-house roles John Agra are sought after like never before. The [email protected] rise of the in-house side – in both impor- TRAFFIC/CIRCULATION MANAGER tance and profile – is one of the most Rozidah Jambari significant developments in Singapore’s [email protected] legal industry. SALES MANAGERS Keeping this in mind, ALB cele- Amy Sim brates Singapore’s best in-house teams. Sales Director, SE Asia, India and Japan (65) 6870 3348 These are corporate legal departments [email protected] who are doing cutting-edge innova- Felix Cheng tive work, assisting their companies Sales Manager (852) 2843 6943 navigate an increasingly treacherous [email protected] regulatory landscape, and also being Krupa Dalal actively involved in the overall growth Sales Manager and prosperity of the business. To them, (91) 22 6189 7087 we offer our congratulations! [email protected] Jeremy Lim Finally, just a reminder that two of Sales Executive our big annual rankings and lists – the (65) 6870 3789 [email protected] RANAJIT DAM ALB Asia 40 Under 40 and ALB Asia M&A Rankings – Managing Editor, are now open for submissions, and we will shortly begin John Guo Sales Executive Asian Legal Business our research for the ALB Asia Top 50. Please reach out (86) 135 2127 6707 Thomson Reuters to Rowena Muniz at the email address listed on this [email protected] page for submission forms and other information. Romulus Tham Delegate Sales Executive (65) 6870 3035 [email protected] Steven Zhao Account Manager (86) 10 6627 1360 [email protected] Yvonne Cheung Sales Director, Key Accounts and South China (852) 2847 2003 [email protected] SENIOR EVENTS MANAGER Julian Chiew Asian Legal Business is available by subscription. Please visit www.legalbusinessonline.com for details. Asian Legal Business has an audited average circulation of 11,402 as of 30 September 2016.Copyright is reserved throughout. No part of this publication can be [email protected] reproduced in whole or part without the express permission of the editor. Contributions are invited, but copies of work should be kept, as Asian Legal Business can accept no responsibility for loss. AWARDS MANAGER MCI (P) 041/02/2020 Caryl Aquino ISSN 0219 – 6875 KDN PPS 1867/10/2015(025605) [email protected] Thomson Reuters 18 Science Park Drive Singapore 118229 / T (65) 6775 5088 / F (65) 6333 0900 10/F, Cityplaza 3, Taikoo Shing, Hong Kong / T (852) 3762 3269 www.thomsonreuters.com 2 ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS – JULY 2020 WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM THE BRIEFING: YOUR MONTHLY NEED-TO-KNOW QUOTE UNQUOTE “THE DECISION IS HONG KONG DETAILS 8% Percentage of NEW POWERS GCs who play an A BRAZEN executive role in their companies, according UNDER CHINA LAW to a study conducted ASSAULT by Gartner, even Hong Kong has released additional though 46 percent ON THE RULE OF LAW.” details of China’s new national claimed that it was security law for the former British their ideal role. Some 59 percent said that Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, director of colony, according to Reuters, saying they simply served the International Bar Association’s Human security forces had overriding as lead attorneys for Rights Institute, criticises the conviction authority to enter and search their corporations. of Philippine journalists Maria Ressa and properties for evidence and stop Reynaldo Santos Jr on retroactive cyber libel charges. people from leaving the city. Hong Kong returned to China on July 1, 1997, under a “one country, two systems” formula guaranteeing IN THE NEWS wide-ranging autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, including an independent WITH LAWYERS WORKING judiciary. But under China’s new FROM HOME, FIRMS PONDER legislation, crimes of secession AI platform Luminance has and sedition will be punishable by NEED TO RENT SPACE integrated with Ansarada, a up to life in prison, Reuters added, software-as-a-service information- stoking concerns of a much more The coronavirus pandemic has governance platform and authoritarian era in a city which has forced lawyers across the U.S. to AI-powered virtual data room been racked by anti-China protests work from home, leading many provider. The move is expected to for the past year. managing partners to ask why improve the due-diligence process firms are paying for all that space, for lawyers under a remote-work reported Reuters. The number of arrangement. law firms signing new or renewing leases was down 75 percent compared to the average number during that same period in 2016- 2019, real estate data company More than 70 firms in the U.S. 70 PERCENT CoStar Portfolio Strategy has have shown support for racial found. And in a recent survey of justice as protests against racism Proportion of female lawyers of colour in the 222 law firm leaders, 72 percent sweep the country. They include U.S. likely to seriously consider leaving the said they expect they will need profession, according to a study conducted by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & the American Bar Association (ABA). less office space, and 19 percent Flom, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Akin Most report feeling undervalued and said expected that drop to be by Gump and Morrison & Foerster. experiencing barriers to career advancement. more than 25 percent. WWW.LEGALBUSINESSONLINE.COM ASIAN LEGAL BUSINESS – JULY 2020 3 BRIEFS FORUM The pandemic has so far had a broadly negative impact on businesses across the region, but surprisingly, the period has also seen a number of law firms open in various Asian markets. Their founders say they are BOLD MOVES using this period of upheaval as a time to start afresh, establishing new operations with energy and a determination to do things differently. YOU OPENED AT A TIME WHEN THE PANDEMIC WAS IN FULL SWING. WHAT HAS YOUR EXPERIENCE BEEN LIKE SO FAR, AND HOW MUCH HAS COVID-19 IMPACTED YOUR WORK? SARAVANA KUMAR, partner, to be empathetic with our clients whilst we work Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership, Malaysia to resolve their legal concerns both with business On Feb. 20, five of us set up our law firm, Rosli partners and in court.