Milton Cheng was appointed Baker McKenzie’s global chair in 2019, succeeding the firm’s late leader Paul Rawlinson, who had set out to focus on the firm’s core areas, push into transactional work and financially integrate the firm. But the “state of normal” for the firm’s new Singaporean leader, who was its former Hong Kong, mainland China, Korea and Vietnam managing partner, was short-lived.
Cheng was thrown in the deep end: The COVID-19 virus broke out in Asia in December 2019 and, within months, global businesses were forced to contend with lockdowns, a complete and immediate transition to remote working, massive layoffs and a looming economic downturn.
