Leading Singapore law firm, RHTLaw Taylor Wessing has expanded its regional footprint with the addition of PBC PARTNERS in Vietnam. The firm announced today that it has signed an exclusive agreement with PBC PARTNERS, a leading Vietnamese law firm with offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. This arrangement will give RHTLaw Taylor Wessing access to 22 legal professionals in Vietnam. With this development, PBC PARTNERS will now be known as PBC PARTNERS & RHTLaw. This joint venture tie-up comes 4 months after RHTLaw Taylor Wessing announced its cooperation agreement with leading Indonesian law firm, Hanafiah Ponggawa and Partners. This development is in line with RHTLaw Taylor Wessing’s strategy to grow its “ASEAN+” legal practice throughout Asia. This joint venture will see both firms share knowledge, resources and best practices, enabling them to provide a seamless service to its clients across the region. Head of RHTLaw Taylor Wessing’s Corporate Practice, Azman Jaafar said, “The past year has been very eventful for us. We have ventured into new markets in Asia and our partnership with PBC PARTNERS & RHTLaw is one of the most significant and exciting since we embarked on our ASEAN+ drive. Our clients can now look forward to a more integrated team offering a wider range of services and industry specialisations across Asia. This adds tremendous value to our clients. We will continue to work hard to bring our best in Asia together into our family to provide a simple comprehensive service offering for the region.” Benjamin Yap, Senior Partner, PBC PARTNERS & RHTLaw added: “We are honoured to be the partner for RHTLaw Taylor Wessing in Vietnam. Our partners have enjoyed a long-standing and solid relationship with the partners of RHTLaw Taylor Wessing LLP. We are pleased to be in partnership together to offer our clients the added resources and expertise of a full-service international firm. Both our firms share common values and are committed to ensuring that great opportunities are created for our clients.  We have no doubt that this partnership will give us a unique regional footprint and we are confident that this will open up considerable opportunities for our clients as we pool our expertise and experience together. I am confident that clients can expect greater things from us in the future.” With the addition of PBC PARTNERS, RHTLaw Taylor Wessing offers clients access to more than 950 legal professionals across 23 offices in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.     PBC PARTNERS is a legal firm founded by experienced Vietnamese lawyers in 2005. From the partnership of founding partners, the firm has placed its footprint in the legal map of Vietnam by the presence of two offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi The firm’s main practice covers inward & outward investment, trading & commerce, M&As, real estate and construction, banking & finance, international trade, telecommunication, taxation, employment, dispute resolution. The firm is also active in making contributions to the improvement and development of legal system of Vietnam. RHTLaw Taylor Wessing LLP is based in Singapore and offers clients access to a network of over 950 legal professionals across 23 offices in Asia, the Middle East and Europe via membership with Taylor Wessing group. RHTLaw Taylor Wessing LLP is also the Singapore member of The Interlex Group, a global network of leading law firms.

A committee comprising mental-health experts, judges and lawyers has been set up to review homicide laws and the treatment of mentally disabled offenders. Chaired by Senior Minister of State for Law, Indranee Rajah, the 18-member committee will consider the definition of murder and how one should look at murder committed in the course of rape, violent sexual offences, or offences against very young people who are unable to protect themselves. Other changes include the setting up of a third law school at SIM University and giving courts more discretion and flexibility in sentencing to ensure that the appropriate sentence is imposed in each case. The committee, first mentioned during the Committee of Supply debate last year, is expected to make formal recommendations by June 2014. RHTLaw Taylor Wessing’s Head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution, Mr Subhas Anandan has been appointed to the 18-member committee.

Jonathan Kok, Head of RHTLaw Taylor Wessing’s Intellectual Property and Technology Practice, has been appointed as a member of the Singapore Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (SDRP) Panel. The SDRP handles disputes over domain names in Singapore. The SDRP is jointly administered by the Singapore Mediation Centre and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre. The term of appointment is for a period of 2 years commencing on 1 April 2014.

RHTLaw Taylor Wessing’s Managing Partner Mr Tan Chong Huat, and Partner Ms Ch’ng Li-Ling from the Corporate and Securities Practice have been recognised as “Leading Lawyers” in the 2014 / 24th edition of IFLR1000. IFLR1000 recognises the work of outstanding individuals. Recommendations are based on the law firm’s ranking, client feedback, transactional evidence and peer feedback. IFLR1000 Leading Lawyers are individuals who have proved themselves to be amongst the leading figures in their respective markets. As well as receiving recommendations from clients and peers, these individuals also have a clear track record of innovative work.