RHTLaw Taylor Wessing has partnered with Singapore Management University (SMU) to establish the “RHT Tan Chong Huat Book Prize For Best Student in Corporate Crime” award. An annual prize will be presented to the Best Student in the Corporate Crime elective and this Book Prize will run consecutively for five years.  A sum of money will also go towards the School of Law for the purpose of scholarships, book allowances and other student support schemes. On the importance of expanding the talent pool to fight financial crimes, Rajan Menon, Senior Partner of RHTLaw Taylor Wessing said, “This Book Prize is part of our ongoing effort to recognize, motivate and ultimately, enlarge the talent pool among the undergraduate population in Singapore.  It also serves as a reminder of our commitment as a corporate citizen to the urgent cause of improving our ability as a country to tackle financial and corporate crimes. We will continue to play a role in bringing more legal talents into the corporate sector and raising awareness of the importance of having a strong financial crime fighting and compliance capabilities.”

RHTLaw Taylor Wessing’s Head of Intellectual Property & Technology Practice Jonathan Kok was invited to be a panellist in an industry roundtable titled “Data Sharing and Greater Transparency on Cases of Security Breaches”. The event is held today, 17 November 2015, at Zafferano, hosted by LogRhythm, a leading international firm in security intelligence and analytics. The roundtable boasts a strong panel featuring industry experts in the fields of data protection and cybersecurity. Distinguished panellists comprise: Jonathan Kok, Partner at RHTLaw Taylor Wessing Chris Petersen, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder at LogRhythm Benjamin Lian, Associate Professor at School of Computing at National University of Singapore Kelvin Ang, Chief Operating Officer at CSS Industrial Pte Ltd Lam Kwok Wing, Enterprise Security Chief Architect at Fujitsu Some of the discussion topics the audience will be engaging in include: People challenge: EDB reported that Singapore will have 6000 vacancies in Security. What skills do we need to teach them moving forward? How transparent do enterprises need to be when it comes to security breaches? How should governments address the cybersecurity threats associated with the convergence of greater interconnectivity, big data analytics, the cloud and all other components of a “smart” ecosystem? The roundtable will be moderated by Bill Taylor-Mountford, LogRhythm’s Vice President - Asia Pacific and Japan.

RHTLaw Taylor Wessing is pleased to announce the addition of Professor Stephen Phua as a Senior Consultant in our Corporate Practice with effect from 6 November 2015. Prof Stephen teaches Income Tax, VAT/GST, International Tax Law and Business & Finance for Lawyers in the Faculty of Law, NUS.  He is the Director (Tax), Centre for Law and Business and the Director, LLM (International Business Law) programme. He serves as a member of the executive committee, International Fiscal Association (Singapore Chapter).  He is also a regular speaker in the executive programmes at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and the NUS Business School conducted for senior officials from some national tax authorities.  He was a visiting scholar/professor at several leading universities in Australia, Canada, China, Japan and the USA. He also served as a member for more than a decade on each one of the three tax tribunals (Income Tax Board of Review, GST Board of Review and Valuation Review Board). He was a consultant in IRAS and to some tax authorities in the PRC.  In 2012, he established the Center for International Tax Law in East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, PRC where he currently serves as its International Director. He was the first legal scholar from Singapore to be appointed an Eastern Scholar in Shanghai from 2012 – 2015. He has delivered papers in many international conferences and published articles in refereed journals and chapters in books. He is the editor of 2 books.

RHTLaw Taylor Wessing Deputy Managing Partner Azman Jaafar published a post on LinkedIn titled “The Trans Pacific Partnership - 5 things you need to know”. 1. What is the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)? It is a trade pact that aims to regulate trade amongst 12 countries, namely the United States, Japan, Canada, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam and Malaysia. 2. The TPP is important If the TPP comes into force, it will be the biggest trade agreement struck since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed in 1994 and the 1994 completion of the Uruguay round, which created the World Trade Organisation. It will account for 40% of the world’s economy but its footprint will very likely extend beyond that. 3. The immediate impact on trade It will reduce trade barriers to the flow of everything from beef and dairy products to textiles and data, and with new standards and rules for investment, the environment and labour. It will set minimum standards to other factors such as labour rights, environmental care, intellectual property etc. 4. The biggest winners Trade has undeniably increased global living standards and enabled many poorer countries to close the wealth-poverty gap. Consumers have gained access to a broader range of goods, and in wealthy nations cheap imports drove down the cost of basic items, such as clothes, thanks to manufacturing industries in less developed countries. Vietnam, a low-wage economy heavily reliant on exports, may be the biggest winner from the trade deal. Its GDP is forecasted to gain 11%, or US$36 billion in 10 years. Its exports are predicted to increase by 28% during the same period, which could be attributed to companies moving production to Vietnam. Major Chinese textile giants are relocating to Vietnam to take advantage of this. (Source: John Boudreau, Bloomberg) Singapore can boost trade and investment flows thanks to the TPP as well. In 2013, the TPP countries accounted for 30 per cent of Singapore's total goods trade, worth S$300 billion, and 30 per cent of foreign direct investment in Singapore, amounting to S$240 billion. It can stand to gain by providing intermediary services that facilitate trade between partners. Trade needs to be facilitated by banking or legal services, which Singapore is arguably the best at amongst the Southeast Asian countries involved in the TPP. (Source: The Business Times, “Despite optimism over historic TPP, doubts persist”, 7 October 2015) Japan probably stands to benefit more than most from higher inward FDI given the very low existing presence of foreign firms in the country. Perhaps most importantly, the wider economy should benefit as previously protected sectors are exposed to competition, albeit amidst howls of protest from sectors like agriculture. 5. Impact on Small Businesses The TPP will set and enforce minimum standards on issues ranging from workers’ rights, environmental protection, investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) to intellectual property. The TPP is a FTA that ensures SMEs flourishing along with other bigger commercial entities. It encourages fair competition. It levels the playing field between the public and private sectors. To view it on LinkedIn, please click here