Southeast Asia - Singapore
2

Labour and employment: foreign firms

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DLA Piper

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DLA Piper has steadily elevated its presence in Singapore with head of the employment department David Smail  (‘far exceeds expectations’) being promoted to partner in 2024. Smail has practised in Asia for over a decade and has a deep understanding of the Southeast Asia and South Asia regions; he is noted for both contentious and non-contentious matters. The Singapore team represents an impressive number of local, regional and international businesses, often dealing with key matters such as business expansions, employee investigations and collective redundancy exercises. Katherine Chew is a partner in the corporate team and frequently handles the employment aspects of corporate reorganisations and transactions.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘The team at DLA are always very responsive and offer excellent advice.’

  • ‘David Smail is particularly strong, both technically, and interpersonally. He far exceeds expectations and is very responsive, even outside of office hours. His advice is practical and commercial, adding an enormous amount of value to our business.’

  • ‘DLA Piper has a global presence, so it is easy for us to work with them across various jurisdictions. Their genie offering is also extremely helpful.’

  • ‘The team in Asia is responsive and provides commercially sensible advice.'

  • ‘David Smail provides through and commercial advice on complex issues. He also offers excellent practical, user-friendly trainings to colleagues across the business on sensitive and/or challenging employment/HR matters.’

Work highlights

  • Acted for a leading US software company across a range of contentious and non-contentious matters, including multi-jurisdictional large-scale employment projects.
  • Handled a range of matters for a leading global technology services and consulting company, including advising on internal investigations in relation to its business in Asia.
  • Acted for a Swedish investment group on the employment aspects of multi-jurisdictional acquisitions, including in relation to jurisdictions such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

Lawyers

Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

David Smail

Other key lawyers

Katherine Chew