Interview with: Mr. Ekawat Piriyawarasakul, Managing Partner

Managing Partner, Ekawat Piriyawarasakul, explains how ES Counsel differentiates itself through its judicially informed labour law practice and broad dispute resolution expertise across industries.

 

What do you see as the main points that differentiate ES COUNSEL from your competitors?

ES COUNSEL is a boutique law firm with deep expertise and a reputation in the area of Labour & Employment Laws and broad domains of Dispute Resolution across a wide range of industries.  We pride ourselves on offering incisive strategies, tailored to the complexities of both domestic and cross-border matters. This approach demonstrates not only our commitment to efficiency but also our dedication to providing exceptional value to our clients. These are contributable to our hand-picked team of specialized legal practitioners, with extensive expertise and experience, maintaining the agility and attentiveness that define our boutique practice.

Our employment practice is led by an Executive Partner with more than 40 years of experience advising and representing clients across diverse industries. The team includes seasoned lawyers with deep specialization in Thai labour laws, including a Senior Partner who previously served as a judge in the Special Appeal Court for labour matters. This wealth of judicial and practical experience allows us to offer clients strategic, well-grounded advice even in the most complex employment disputes. We provide comprehensive advice on recruitment, benefits and welfare, workplace policies, termination, and retirement planning, while ensuring that clients remain aligned with the requirements of government agencies and regulators. We also represent clients in labour court proceedings and in negotiations with employees and unions. Since the onset of pandemic-related shutdowns and widespread layoffs, our lawyers have assisted organizations in developing strategies, negotiating with staff, and drafting complex agreements to minimize risk and defend against contentious claims.

Whereas, our dispute resolution practice covers the full spectrum of contentious matters, including civil, commercial, criminal, employment, intellectual property, and administrative litigation, as well as both domestic and international arbitration. A distinguishing strength of ES Counsel is the breadth of industry knowledge our lawyers bring to each case. We have advised clients across a wide range of sectors, including financial institutions, information technology, telecommunications, energy, construction, insurance, shipping & logistics, aviation, automotive and robotics, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, food processing and distribution, and retail. This diversity of industry engagement allows us to combine legal expertise with practical commercial insight, enabling us to craft strategies and solutions that are not only legally robust but also commercially effective in resolving complex disputes.

 

Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that?

 Employment: We expect the demand for labour and employment legal services to keep increasing, a trend that first appeared during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Since then, companies around the world have faced waves of disruption. The pandemic was followed by rising inflation, supply chain shortages, and higher interest rates. These problems have been made worse by geopolitical tensions, including the war in Ukraine and trade disputes between the United States and China. At the same time, rapid advances in technology—especially automation, technology disruption and artificial intelligence- have transformed the way businesses operate. While these changes have created new opportunities, they have also displaced many traditional jobs.  More importantly, Thailand faces heightened recession risks, particularly in 2025, showing signs of economic fragility.  Many industries have gone through repeated cycles of layoffs, restructuring and workforce adjustments to survive and stay competitive in an unstable global economy.

This turbulence would surely trigger a sharp rise in employment law issues. We are now dealing with challenges such as large-scale redundancies, cross-border compliance, unfair dismissal claims, and negotiations around reskilling and redeployment. More and more, businesses are turning to employment lawyers not only to handle immediate workforce reductions but also to design longer-term strategies that balance operational needs with employee rights and legal requirements. Looking ahead, it is expected that labour disputes will continue to increase. As companies downsize, reorganize, and change working conditions, more employees are likely to bring claims to labour courts. Cases of wrongful termination, discrimination, unfair treatment, and disputes over severance pay or benefits are all expected to rise. As a result, litigation and dispute resolution in the field of employment laws will grow alongside advisory work. In light of these developments, ES Counsel is well positioned to play a dual role: guiding companies on compliance and strategic planning, while also representing them in court as employment disputes become increasingly frequent.

Technology and Platform Liability: Thailand has now introduced new legal framework to address a challenge of technology disruption, particularly in areas such as online platforms, e-commerce, cybersecurity and online scammer.  In addition, a key development is the new regime government platform liability, which imposes strict liability on platform operators and service providers.  However, the framework lacks clarity in its rationale and enforcement scope, giving rise to uncertainty for business navigating this space and legal risks towards the operators and service providers. We have recently represented a world-leading online platform operator to successfully defend the first-ever case under this newly-amended law in Thai Court.  The addition of our new team, i.e. Mr. Witchupong Chittchang (Partner) and Ms. Ajaree Trachukul (Senior Associate) who have extensive experience in dealing with technology and online platform cases would add and contribute knowledge to our litigation team to cope with this challenging enforcement landscape.

 Insurance and Crisis Management: Recent natural disasters—including a major earthquake that led to the collapse of a high-rise building, and a historic flooding in northern Thailand—have triggered a surge in insurance claims and crisis-related legal work. These events have raised complex issues around coverage scrutiny, liability, and claim handling across both life and non-life insurance sectors.  We are equipped to meet this growing demand with a dedicated team comprising Mr. Nutdanai Janpeth (Partner), Mr. Jirati Suwanvorabun (Partner), Mr. Witchupong Chittchang (Partner), and Ms. Ajaree Trachukul (Senior Associate). Collectively, they bring extensive experience in insurance litigation and crisis management to support clients through high-stakes claims and regulatory challenges with precision and confidence.

 

What’s the main change you’ve made in the firm that will benefit clients?

 Most notably, a major change at ES Counsel this year has been the appointment of Mr. Worathep Chuesunthornsophon, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Thailand, who joined us as Senior Partner in April 2025. His arrival significantly strengthens our competitive advantage in complex dispute resolution, employment laws, and technology and data privacy laws.

Worathep has advised businesses as a private practitioner and later shaped Thai labour jurisprudence as a judge at both the Central Labour Court and the Supreme Court. For our clients, this means receiving guidance that is both practical and judicially informed—strategies designed not only to succeed in negotiations and litigation, but also to anticipate how courts are likely to approach a dispute.  His practical and judicial approach would uplift our professional capabilities.

With his expertise in labour restructuring, dismissal claims, workplace rights, technology laws and compliance with Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), Mr. Worathep equips clients to address sensitive employment issues with confidence. His leadership ensures that our advice is not only legally sound but also aligned with business realities, helping clients manage risk, resolve disputes effectively, and remain competitive in a fast-changing regulatory landscape.

In addition, we have recruited our new insurance team, consisting of Mr. Witchupong Chittchang (Partner) and Ms. Ajaree Trachukul (Senior Associate) from Tilleke & Gibbins to reinforce our insurance practice in order to deal with insurance and crisis management matters.

 

Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them?

 Definitely, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the way we interact with clients has changed significantly.  Physical meetings have been less frequent, while virtual communication has become more preferrable and practical, e.g. MS Team, Zoom or Line Call.

This shift has not only improved accessibility and efficiency but also allowed us to serve clients across jurisdictions.  Technology enables faster turnaround times, and more flexible scheduling.  It has expanded the scope of services we may offer to our clients as well.  The digital transformation has made our services more agile, responsive and aligned with the evolving needs. We have embraced these changes to enhance clients’ experience and expectations while maintaining the same level of professionalism and strategic insight.

 

Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business?

 As our lawyers have had the opportunity to gain insights into each client’s business through working closely with them—for example, by preparing cases and evidence for witness examinations—as well as through discussions with their operational staff and advisors in each respective business, we have developed a solid understanding of our clients’ overall business operations, characteristics, and expectations. This understanding plays an important role in ensuring that our work products are effective and achieve clients’ objectives. Moreover, by understanding our clients’ businesses, we are better positioned to deliver favorable outcomes in the cases we handle. In addition, the strong connections that our firm’s partners maintain with various organizations contribute to making our work smoother and more efficient

Furthermore, we provide regular online legal updates through our newsletters to help clients stay informed and proactively manage legal and regulatory risks.  Our team also offers onsite legal seminars on key topics such as labour laws and human resource management.  These services are designed to support clients in identifying, avoiding, and mitigating potential legal and compliance issues in their business operations.

 

Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms – where do you see the firm in three years’ time?

The majority of our firm’s clients are repeat customers, as we strive to assign matters to the same lawyers who have previously handled those clients’ cases. This ensures continuity and fosters long-term relationships between the clients and our firm. In addition, we aim to act not only as legal counsel but also as a trusted partner to our clients, supporting them in matters currently entrusted to us and their business development initiatives. This enables clients to further grow their businesses and generate additional revenue, which in turn benefits both the clients and our firm.

Looking ahead over the next three years, our goal is to expand our practice areas and strengthen our team in insurance and crisis management, as well as family and inheritance disputes—areas where we already have specialized expertise—so that our services in these areas gain greater recognition in the market.