Following an extensive nominations process, Asia Business Law Journal reveals the top offshore lawyers. Miran Lim and Brian Yap report
Offshore financial centres have tightened up regulations aimed at combating money laundering, tax evasion and other uses of financial services for criminal conduct. In particular, the British Virgin Islands (BVI) has introduced significant amendments to its business companies legislation, including toughening up the striking off and dissolution of companies found to have failed to pay their licence fees.
The Cayman Islands, another popular offshore destination, has recently moved to strengthen its anti-money laundering regulations, as well as measures against terrorist and proliferation financing. The latest amendments, for example, have detailed requirements for identifying and assessing money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing risks, as well as revising and expanding penalties for noncompliance.
With the BVI and the Cayman Islands being two of the most widely used offshore financial centres by Asian companies, stiffer regulations in those jurisdictions – alongside ongoing geopolitical tensions and rising interest rates – have meant clients in the region are seeking advice from their offshore counsel more than ever.
Against this backdrop, Asia Business Law Journal presents its A-List of the top offshore lawyers (see the list of all 50 lawyers and the key practice areas they endorsed following this article). The list is based on extensive research conducted and nominations received from in-house counsel in Asia, and Asia-focused partners from domestic and international law firms.
Comments submitted to Asia Business Law Journal suggest that lawyers with rich knowledge of offshore funds laws and regulations, particularly those of the Cayman Islands, are highly sought after. The demand for legal experts on offshore funds laws appears to come from a strong interest among many clients of the A-list lawyers in launching funds, which requires a deep understanding of fund structures and regulatory requirements.
Sixty percent of the A-List lawyers are based in Hong Kong, which has long been a top destination for setting up offshore entities due to various factors including its low-tax regime and common-law system. Among offshore financial centres, the Cayman Islands have come out on top, accounting for 16% of the 50 A-list lawyers compared to 4% each for Bermuda and the BVI. Singapore, which in recent years has been very active in attracting investment funds to set up in the city-state, is the base for 8% of the A-list lawyers this year.
Unrivalled local expertise
The Cayman Islands, which was removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring last year, has been enjoying popularity as a widely selected offshore financial centre for fund formation. According to KPMG, the Cayman Islands recorded an 8% increase in the number of private funds in 2022, while the net number of funds grew by 1,175 to 15,854. But the recent tightening of regulations, including new measures requiring regulated funds to have a corporate governance framework with effective internal controls, has meant that companies more than ever need external legal counsel with deep local law expertise.
Annie Ling, a partner and general counsel at Micro Connect in Hong Kong, describes Ann Ng, head of Maples Group’s Asia funds and investment management teams in Hong Kong and Singapore, as having “exemplary expertise” that has been “instrumental” in assisting with her company’s Cayman fund establishment.
“With her guidance, we were able to design a fund structure that allows investors to gain rights to a portion of the daily cashflow streams from the underlying investments,” says Ling. “Her deep understanding of fund structures and regulatory requirements ensured that our funds were established in compliance with all relevant laws and regulations.”
Craig Lindsay, co-founder and chief operating officer at Uluwatu Limited in Hong Kong, describes Ng as “a true rock star”, praising her for her continual updates on the latest regulatory and legal developments in the Cayman Islands and their impact on Uluwatu’s registered funds there.
“Ann continues to be available to discuss new business ideas and possible transactions that our fund is working on,” says Lindsay.
The BVI is another highly popular offshore jurisdiction for fund formation but, like the Cayman Islands, it has toughened its financial and legal regulations in recent years including requiring BVI entities to file an annual return with a registered agent.
Thanyaluck Thongrompo, a partner at Kudun and Partners in Bangkok, singles out Anthony McKenzie, Carey Olsen’s Singapore office managing partner, for corporate advice on BVI fund formation, pointing to the senior lawyer’s “crucial role” in their collaboration.
“Mr McKenzie’s legal expertise and strategic insights are indispensable to our partnership, consistently contributing to the successful navigation of complex corporate matters and regulatory compliance within the BVI jurisdiction,” says Thongrompo.
The power of familiarity
More than anything else, clients in general value familiarity with their offshore legal counsel through years of partnership.
Niall Ledwidge, managing director of corporate recovery services at Stout in the US, recalls his collaboration with Campbells’ Cayman Islands office-based partner Paul Kennedy in Silicon Valley Bank’s liquidation, describing Kennedy’s engagement as “invaluable” in advancing a “very challenging yet high-profile matter”.
“He is widely recognised as one of the top lawyers in Cayman, and his performance in the Silicon Valley Bank case is testament to that,” says Ledwidge.
In such long-term relationships, the offshore legal adviser can sometimes become the only individual to be relied on for advice. For Fangda Partners’ Hong Kong-based counsel Geoffrey Cheung, the “go-to” person is Vincent Chan, a partner at Appleby in Hong Kong.
“Vincent has been a long-term partner of ours,” says Cheung. “He has been extremely well versed on matters relating to offshore jurisdictions and is the go-to person for all matters of Hong Kong listed company corporate work that would involve an offshore element.”
The A-List is based on extensive research conducted by Asia Business Law Journal. To identify the top offshore lawyers, we talked to thousands of in-house counsel in Asia and partners at international and onshore law firms in the region, and asked them to tell us which lawyers should make the cut and why.
Nominations were made by professionals at a wide range of global companies, financial institutions and law firms, including: AllBright Law Offices, Alphahill Capital, AnJie Broad Law Firm, Avenue Asset Management, B.K. Engineers (Thailand), BizWings (Thailand), Cargill Investments (China), CFN Lawyers, Citigroup, City-Yuwa Partners, Cleary Gottlieb, Clifford Chance, CMS, Coslight Technology Int’l Group, CSC Global, Dacheng Law Offices, David Cameron Law Office, Davidson Kempner, Dentons LuatViet, Deposit Protection Agency, DLA Piper, Drew & Napier, Elsa Law & Co Solicitors, Eversheds Sutherland, EY, Fangda Partners, Gallant, Genpact Consulting Services Thailand, Global Sources, Grandall Law Firm, Hel Ved Capital Management, Hogan Lovells, Joseph Tan Jude Benny, JurisAsia, K&A International, KBP BioSciences, Kering Asia Pacific, King & Wood Mallesons, Kroll, Kudun & Partners, Log Plus Mining Service, Luk Fook Holdings, Micro Connect, Mindray Medical Thailand, Mishcon de Reya, Mitsubishi Electric Consumer Products, MRK Healthcare, Pleiad, Rettenmaier India, Robertsons, Royal Enfield, Shenzhen Guanglian Saixun, Siao Wen and Leung, Softdebut, Squire Patton Boggs, Stout, Sundial Law Firm, Taylor Wessing, Tencent, Tian Yuan Law Firm, Tiang & Partners, Tybourne Capital Management, Uluwatu Limited, V&T Law Firm, White & Case, WongPartnership, ZOLA Electric and many more. Thorough editorial research followed the nomination process.
The final list reflects the nominations received combined with the Asia Business Law Journal editorial team’s extensive experience in documenting and analysing the legal markets in Asia. All offshore lawyers were automatically eligible for inclusion in the nominations process, and, as always, there were no fees or any other requirements for entry.
The names and photographs of all A-List lawyers are published on the pages that follow. In addition, each A-List lawyer was given the opportunity to include their biography and contact details, for which a publishing fee was charged.
It is important to note that while the compilation of the A-List was based solely on independent editorial research, the biographies and contact details that appear alongside many of the listings have been written by the participating lawyers, and Asia Business Law Journal has not independently verified the content.
