Norton Rose Fulbright expands Singapore law practice through alliance with Ascendant Legal

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright today announced the establishment of a Formal Law Alliance (FLA) with Singapore law practice Ascendant Legal LLC. The alliance, Norton Rose Fulbright Ascendant, has been created following approval from the Singapore Ministry of Law.

The establishment of Norton Rose Fulbright Ascendant will enable the expansion of the current Singapore law practice, particularly in the areas of litigation and arbitration, financial restructuring and regulation and investigations. In addition, the Singapore practice will benefit from additional Singapore law expertise in the areas of fraud and asset tracing; criminal litigation and white-collar criminal defence; employment disputes; data protection, privacy and cybersecurity; intellectual property; shipping; real estate and antitrust and competition. 

Ascendant Legal was set up in 2016 and is led by Chew Kei-Jin, Managing Director, who has more than 20 years’ experience of handling complex, multi-jurisdictional disputes and restructuring matters across a wide range of business sectors, including banking, financial institutions, energy, commodities and telecommunications.

Norton Rose Fulbright’s heritage in Singapore spans more than 35 years; the office opened in 1982, and with more than 60 lawyers, it is currently one of the largest international law firms in Singapore.

Yu-En Ong, head of Norton Rose Fulbright’s Singapore office, commented:

“Chew Kei-Jin and his team of lawyers are outstanding practitioners, and we are delighted to have built an alliance with Ascendant Legal. Norton Rose Fulbright has a longstanding history in Singapore and the FLA represents our commitment to continue investing in Singapore and South East Asia. Through Norton Rose Fulbright Ascendant, clients will have seamless access to the best combination of Singapore and international law advice to meet their increasingly complex and multi-jurisdictional legal needs.”

Chew Kei-Jin, managing director, Ascendant Legal commented:

“My team has known and worked with lawyers in Norton Rose Fulbright for a number of years, and have experienced strong business and cultural synergies with their teams. Our FLA means that we were well placed to benefit from Singapore’s position as a leading legal hub for international dispute resolution and restructuring in particular.”

Martin Scott, Norton Rose Fulbright’s Managing Partner, Europe, Middle East and Asia, commented: “We share a similar cultural ethos with Ascendant Legal and we both have complementary practice expertise that will allow us to collaborate in growing our South East Asian practice. The business landscape in Singapore has changed significantly over recent years, and this FLA enables us to improve our services to clients who recognize Singapore as the business and legal hub for South East Asia.”

Under Singapore’s Ministry of Law regulations, a Formal Law Alliance allows a Singapore law practice and a foreign law practice to collaborate while remaining freestanding practices.

For further information please contact:

Heledd Phelps-Brown, Head of Public Relations, EMEA
Tel +44 20 7444 2890
heledd.phelps-brown@nortonrosefulbright.com

Notes for editors:

Norton Rose Fulbright

Norton Rose Fulbright is a global law firm providing the world’s preeminent corporations and financial institutions with a full business law service. The firm has more than 4,000 lawyers and other legal staff based in Europe, the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East.

Recognized for its industry focus, Norton Rose Fulbright is strong across all the key industry sectors: financial institutions; energy; infrastructure, mining and commodities; transport; technology and innovation; and life sciences and healthcare. Through its global risk advisory group, the firm leverages its industry experience with its knowledge of legal, regulatory, compliance and governance issues to provide clients with practical solutions to the legal and regulatory risks facing their businesses.

Norton Rose Fulbright operates in accordance with its global business principles of quality, unity and integrity, aiming to provide the highest possible standard of legal service in each of its offices and to maintain that level of quality at every point of contact.

Norton Rose Fulbright Verein, a Swiss verein, helps coordinate the activities of Norton Rose Fulbright members but does not itself provide legal services to clients. Norton Rose Fulbright has offices in more than 50 cities worldwide, including London, Houston, New York, Toronto, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Sydney and Johannesburg. For more information, see nortonrosefulbright.com/legal-notices.

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nortonrosefulbright.com

Ascendant Legal
Ascendant Legal is a boutique law firm with a focus on dispute resolution.  The firm’s capabilities range from pre-agreement deal structuring to formulating strategies in complex, high-stakes, multi-jurisdictional disputes. It also has specialist capabilities in other areas such as financial industry regulation, cybersecurity, anti-trust, technology and intellectual property.  Ascendant Legal has significant contacts and know-how across the South East Asian markets, particularly in relation to Singapore and Indonesia.
www.ascendantlegal.com