S'pore firms win big at law awards ceremony

SINGAPORE - Top Singapore law firms dominated a cross-border corporate law awards ceremony on Friday, holding their own against the challenge from international players that have set up shop here.

Heavyweight firm Allen & Gledhill scooped up 11 awards at the South-east Asia Law Awards 2013 ceremony while WongPartnership's leader Rachel Eng was named Managing Partner of the Year for a second time.

The wins showed Singapore law firms continue to punch above their weight in areas like mergers and acquisitions, arbitration and commercial litigation, say industry sources.

Singapore firms Allen & Gledhill, Duane Morris & Selvam, Rodyk & Davidson, Shook Lin & Bok, Stamford Law Corporation, and WongPartnership together with Loyens & Loeff were jointly awarded the top-billed SEA Deal of the Year award for their work in Heineken's acquisition of Asia Pacific Breweries last year.

Drew & Napier was Commercial Litigation Law Firm of the Year. Several other categories like International Arbitration Law Firm of the Year and Construction Law Firm of the Year were also won by Singapore firms.

The awards covered South- east Asian countries. Among the most highly regarded, they are organised yearly by Asian Legal Business (ALB), a Thomson Reuters company and a leading pan- Asian legal publication.

More than 300 of the region's most influential lawyers, bankers and chief executives attended the event at the Shangri-La Hotel.

ALB editor Ranajit Dam said: "I believe it will only be a matter of time before a Singapore law firm becomes a pre-eminent multinational brand in its own right, in the same way that SIA and DBS have become viewed as global icons of excellence."

Allen & Gledhill bagged the Corporate Citizen Law Firm of the Year. The new award recognised its pro-bono efforts for several charities, and its scholarship fund for National University of Singapore law undergraduates.

Ms Eng beat nine candidates to be named Managing Partner of the Year. She also won it in 2011, making her the first person to win twice in the award's history.

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