Legal Industry News & Trends Recap: July Week 3

Legal Industry News & Trends Recap: July Week 3

Legal Industry News & Trends Recap: July Week 3

1. Laws

i. Singapore Plans for AI Labels in Review of Industry Guidelines

Singapore is introducing guidelines for generative AI apps to ensure transparency and safety. These guidelines require AI developers to disclose data sources, risks, limitations, and testing methods to help users understand the technology and its potential hazards.

The guidelines will address safety benchmarks that should be cleared before the AI product is launched, such as the risk of falsehoods, toxic statements, and biased content. The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) will consult with the industry to implement these guidelines by early 2025 across various sectors, including healthcare and finance. Concurrently:

  • IMDA released a separate guide on privacy-enhancing technology in AI that aims to protect user privacy while enabling data training of AI models.
  • IMDA will release a guide on data anonymisation to facilitate secure data transfers within ASEAN.

Read the full article about Singapore’s plans for AI guidelines.

 

ii. Offshore Trustees Potentially Hit By New Taiwan Tax Ruling

Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance ruled that offshore trustees must register with Taiwanese authorities when a Taiwan tax resident transfers shares or capital into a Controlled Foreign Corporation (CFC) located outside Taiwan. This ruling, effective retroactively from January 1, 2024, aims to increase Taiwan’s oversight of offshore assets despite Taiwan not being a full member of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). Offshore trustees must now comply with extensive reporting requirements and appoint local agents for registration and tax identification. This unprecedented move could complicate compliance for offshore trustees and place them at the forefront of anti-money laundering (AML) issues, especially if their trust structures involve non-compliant Taiwan tax residents.

 

2. Business Moves: Wang Jing & GH Sets Up Hong Kong Office

Wang Jing & GH Law Firm opened a new office in Hong Kong, expanding its presence in the Greater Bay Area. Sam Wong, the firm’s founding partner and chairman, will manage this office, bringing his expertise in real estate and corporate commercial legal services. The firm has not specified the number of lawyers at the new office but mentioned it will be relatively lean as it will focus on providing Chinese legal advisory services to both domestic and international clients. Besides Hong Kong, Wang Jing & GH also has branches in Bangkok, Los Angeles, Sydney, and Tokyo for overseas business and a strategic partnership with Asya Law Firm in Turkey.

Read the full article about Wang Jing & GH’s Hong Kong office.

 

3. People Moves

i. Western Firms: Withers, Linklaters, O’Melveney

Withers: International law firm Withers added two lawyers from Shook Lin & Bok to its real estate practice in Singapore:

  • Chau Hwei Lee has over 20 years of experience in commercial real estate and specialises in hotel transactions, joint ventures, and management agreements. Chau previously held roles at CDL Hospitality Trusts, Dentons Rodyk, WongPartnership, Allen & Gledhill, and TSMP Law Corporation.
  • Associate Cheryl Lee joins him in the move.

The hiring follows the recent departure of a team from Withers KhattarWong to Shook Lin. Concurrently, Withers promoted Akinari Nakano to partner in Tokyo. Nakano focuses on real estate transactions, securitisation, and financial regulation. The expansion reflects growing investor interest in key Asian real estate markets like Singapore and Tokyo.

Linklaters: Magic Circle Firm Linklaters strengthened its Greater China team by hiring three lawyers from Clifford Chance and Sidley Austin.

  • Christine Xu will serve as partner and head of Linklaters’ Greater China ECM practice. Xu specialises in advising on sectors like technology, media, healthcare, life sciences, and consumer.
  • Counsel Queenie Tong and Samson Chan, also from Clifford Chance, join her in the move.
  • Oliver Zhong joins as a special senior adviser and leader of the new economy team for Greater China. Zhong’s expertise lies in corporate finance and capital markets transactions, especially for the healthcare, consumer, technology, and real estate sectors.

O’Melveney: O’Melveny’s New York-based partner Portia Ku will take over as managing partner of the firm’s Shanghai office starting September 1. Ku, who will succeed Walker Wallace, has 25 years of experience in capital markets and mergers & acquisitions (M&A), especially in guiding Chinese companies through IPOs in the US and Hong Kong. She previously led Giant Interactive Group’s US$1 billion New York IPO in 2007. Ku is qualified in Taiwan, New York, and California and has worked in O’Melveny’s Shanghai, Hong Kong, Silicon Valley, and New York offices.

Read the full article about Withers’s two real estate hires.

Read the full article about Linklaters’s hires from Clifford Chance and Sidley.

Read the full article about O’Melveny’s new managing partner.

 

ii. PRC Firms: Jingtian & Gongcheng, DOCVIT, Duan & Duan

Jingtian & Gongcheng: Jingtian & Gongcheng added construction expert Sun Yifei as a partner in its Beijing office, along with five lawyers from his team. Sun has nearly 20 years of experience in construction engineering, PPP, finance, and insurance, and he previously worked at Dacheng Law Offices. This marks the latest partner-level hire for Jingtian & Gongcheng this year.

DOCVIT: DOCVIT Law Firm added Li Shichun as a partner in their Shanghai office. Li has a decade of experience in finance and securities, property and construction, and major civil and commercial dispute resolution. Before joining DOCVIT, Li worked at Landing Law Offices. This appointment is part of a series of recent partner-level hires by DOCVIT this year.

Duan & Duan: Duan & Duan Law Firm expanded by adding Vincent Zhu, Peter Zeng, and Liu Hongjun following the merger with the Japanese business team from A&Z Law Firm in April.

  • Vincent Zhu specialises in M&A, direct investment in China, and regulatory matters, particularly in the pharmaceutical and health food sectors. Zhu co-founded A&Z in 2004 with Sophie An, now Duan & Duan’s director.
  • Peter Zeng, formerly a senior partner at A&Z, focuses on labour law, compliance, dispute resolution and foreign investment. Zeng primarily serves Japanese clients.
  • Liu Hongjun, formerly with King & Wood Mallesons and Zhenghan Law Firm, specialises in high-end commercial dispute resolution, real estate, and bankruptcy reorganisation. He is also an arbitrator and is involved with the Shanghai Bankruptcy Administrators’ Association.

Read the full article about Jingtian’s construction team in Beijing.

Read the full article about DOCVIT’s partner from Landing Law.

Read the full article about Duan & Duan’s partners from A&Z.

 

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Image Sources:

  • Straits Times
  • Law.asia
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