Reed Smith, RPC and Big Four auditor EY have all bolstered affiliated Singaporean law offerings by adding new partners.

Resource Law, Reed Smith's Singaporean alliance partner firm, has recruited corporate director  Johnny Lim from local firm Shook Lin & Bok where he had been a partner since 2015 advising on a range of transactions including mergers and acquisitions and listings on the Singapore Exchange. He has represented Singaporean companies on listings overseas including on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In addition to corporate deals, Lim also advises creditors and distressed companies on restructuring and insolvency matters.

Before Lim's arrival, Resource Law, which operates a formal law alliance with Reed Smith, hired commercial and disputes director Collin Seah in December. In January, the firm also promoted litigation lawyer Adrian Aw to director. Resource Law now has five directors and seven other lawyers.

Meanwhile, RPC has recruited an eight-lawyer disputes team from Bird & Bird ATMD, led by three partners. Boey Swee Siang, Navin Joseph Lobo, and Lin Yuankai join as partners at RPC as well as partners at Premier Law, RPC's Singaporean joint law venture partner firm. The trio are all litigators specializing in commercial and corporate disputes.

Boey, who most recently led Bird & Bird ATMD's disputes practice in Singapore, has over two decades of experiences in high stakes commercial and civil disputes and international arbitration. He joined Bird & Bird in 2009 from Rajah & Tann.

Lobo focuses his practice on trial and appellate cases as well as advising on anti-bribery and corruption compliance and corporate investigations. He joined Bird & Bird in 2009 from legacy Harry Elias Partnership and became partner in 2011.

Lin specializes disputes related to information and technology, aviation and media rights and has experiences in both court proceedings and arbitrations. He joined Bird & Bird in 2013 and was most recently counsel with the firm. Earlier in his career, Lin practiced with Drew & Napier.

The partners, which join with five additional lawyers, will work closely with RPC's commercial disputes team based in London and Hong Kong. Last year, the U.K. firm recruited a three-lawyer disputes team from Clyde & Co in Singapore led by shipping disputes partner Gerald Yee. The firm lost an eight-lawyer disputes team earlier that year to Drew & Napier. In Hong Kong, the firm last year hired former Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe partner Charles Allen.

"The new hires will meet that demand and play an important role in further building our commercial referrals offering in Singapore as well as support clients on global litigation and arbitration work," said London partner and global commercial disputes head Tom Hibbert in a statement. "We have seen an increased client demand for multi-jurisdictional, multi-disciplinary dispute litigation work."

In addition to large international firms, the Big Four's EY also expanded its Singaporean law practice by adding a funds director to its member firm Atlas Asia Law Corp. Emily Low advises on the formation of variety of funds including private equity, real estate, infrastructure and hedge funds. She has also helped fund managers on regulatory matters and compliance in Singapore.

Low was most recently general counsel of Liquid Group, a Singapore-based mobile payment company, and its parent company Korvac Holdings. Before taking on that role in 2014, Low was a Singapore-based partner at White & Case where she specialized in fund formation. She first joined the U.S. firm in 2009 as counsel. Earlier in her career, she worked at UBS's wealth management division and practiced with Allen & Gledhill.

EY launched Atlas Asia Law in 2018 with former Dentons Rodyk senior corporate partner Evelyn Ang.

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