From a one-man show to one of the more reputable firms in Singapore; that’s the story of Tan Peng Chin LLC in a nutshell. Managing Director, Tan Peng Chin is now as concerned with finding the best and the brightest to do the work as he is of finding good work for his lawyers to do.

 

When Tan Peng Chin started his own practise in 1994, little did he think that he would create a firm with the strong domestic and international credentials that it has today. Presently the firm boasts not only an impressive array of domestic and international clients, but some of the brightest and most innovative lawyers in the country.

 

 With more than 40 legal practitioners, 20 of whom are directors and 12 of whom are shareholders, Tan Peng Chin LLC is considered by the Law Society of Singapore as one of the larger firms in Singapore. Situated in the heart of Singapore’s central business district, its prestigious location speaks of the firm’s confidence that it is enjoying a growing reputation in all areas of its practice.

 

Instead of focusing on rapid expansion, Tan Peng Chin LLC gives priority to its people management and to use an environmental law parlance, ‘sustainable growth.’ The firm prides itself on its strategy of pursuing a density of talent. It is not how big we are, but how many talented lawyers we have.

 

“This firm is like a small painting on a huge canvas” says director Edmund Kronenburg who joined Tan Peng Chin LLC in 2004 from Drew & Napier to become head of Litigation and dispute resolution. “Here, you have the resources and the freedom to create your own practise and to bring in others with the same philosophy to build a practice every member of the team can be proud of. There are no glass ceilings and you don't need to wait for your day in the sun.”

 

The firm creates an environment in which opportunities serve the aspirations of well-qualified and motivated lawyers. Its real investment in people has won the loyalty of its associates and directors, enabled the creation of long-term working relationships with clients and has seen high profile international clients beating at their door.

 

“We aim to provide a set-up where lawyers can firmly establish themselves in the profession and take real ownership of their careers,” says director Wong Liang Kok who has been working with Tan Peng Chin since he was a pupil in 1992 and is now head of the firm's Corporate, Banking & Finance Department. Another practitioner who has been with the firm since he pupilage in 1995 is Ms Lim Jo See, who is now head of the firm's Corporate Governance & Services Practice Group and is a highly regarded banking lawyer, involved in some of the biggest transactions in the Singapore market.

 

One of the senior directors in the firm is Chidambaram Chandrasegar, author of 2 well known books on Take-overs & Mergers, who was Tan's colleague in Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer from 1981 to 1987.

 

 

 

 

The nature of the legal industry is such that all firms face losing good lawyers. But according to Wong Liang Kok, lawyers like to put down roots at Tan Peng Chin LLC with many staying for in excess of 5 years, making the firm something of a rarity. Why? Wong attributes this to a congenial working environment and the directors' willingness to make the sacrifice of teaching young lawyers, even though it may be easier for senior lawyers to do the work themselves. “Young lawyers here will not be left on the periphery”, notes Wong Liang Kok, “but will be heavily involved in high-profile and international matters” he added.

 

By exposing young lawyers to complex matters the firm has been able to recruit some outstanding practitioners who have gone on to build up areas of practice which would not have been possible had the firm relied on its existing talent.

 

Mark Lim and Gene Kwek- both became directors in around 2 years after joining from Baker & McKenzie, and are now an integral part of the firm’s Intellectual Property department- one which was shortlisted as "A Leading IP Firm in Singapore" in IP Profiles 2007 and nominated "Top 10 Intellectual Property Law Firms" in 2006.

 

Melvin Khoo, who joined the firm in 2005 from Arfat Selvam & Gunaisingham, is now the head of the Asset & Wealth Management department, consisting of 7 lawyers, whose clients include Deutsche Asset Management, UOB Asset Management, Prudential and Aviva to name a few.

 

The firm's willingness to acknowledge capability and talent is epitomized in the promotion of Susan Tang as head of retail funds earlier this year, after joining the firm less than two years ago. Her time as in-house counsel for Deutsche Asset Management (Asia) offers Tan Peng Chin's clients a unique combination of market knowledge and specialist expertise.

 

The promotion of litigation and shipping lawyer Henry Heng to shareholder this year after joining from Drew & Napier in only 2006, is again testimony of the firm's willingness to reward outstanding lawyers.

 

“There is no better system to motivate a person than to give him a stake in the enterprise, so that if the firm does well, he will also enjoy the fruits of his hard work," says Tan Peng Chin.

 

“We are always looking for very good, experienced, and mature lawyers to join us to help us build up our practice. Because of the clients we have and the international nature of our work, we would be prepared to take on board, in fact we will be very honoured, if a partner in a large Singapore Law firm or a international law firm, was prepared to join, especially with his team,” says Wong Liang Kok adding that “at Tan Peng Chin we won’t work you till you drop dead.”

 

“I don’t overload my lawyers,” concurs Tan Peng Chin, “we share our clients and our workload equally, no single lawyer has a sole or exclusive ownership of a particular client; if a client needs 3 new matters to be attended to at the same time, 3 different teams of lawyers can take on the work and no single lawyer has to stay until 2am in the morning,” Tan concluded.

 

“A high percentage of the transactions we act on are cross-border in nature” says Wong Liang Kok. ”Our knowledge and experience sharing approach to the law enables us to always meet and exceed client needs,” Edmund Kronenberg added. “Our competitive edge does not lie with the fact that we are a super-big firm, but in our in-depth understanding of the law and our core client philosophy; not only keeping good clients, but turning good clients into friends.”

 

In keeping with its strong reputation in the corporate and financial sectors, Tan Peng Chin has also established itself as a serious player in litigation and dispute resolution. The litigation team headed by director and shareholder Edmund Kronenburg represents a variety of clients in ICC, SAIC and UNCITRAL arbitrations.

 

The impending liberalization of Singapore’s legal market will tighten the screws in an already strained legal talent market. But Tan Peng Chin has managed to keep ahead of its competition by using its enviable working culture to attract new directors and associates from outside the firm with a number of internal promotions also being used to strengthen its partnership.

 

It is in this environment that the firm offers lawyers the opportunity to reach their full potential and to maximise their earning ability. “It is such a great pity that, today, many lawyers leave legal practice so early, when their potential is just starting to take off,” says Wong Liang Kok. “I firmly believe that Tan Peng Chin is a firm where a lawyer can really take control of his life and achieve a balanced lifestyle,” he said. “If a lawyer was to go in-house or do something else, chances are, he can never be his own boss.” “But in private practice, once you reach a certain seniority, say by the time you are in your mid thirties, you would be experienced enough so that no one needs to monitor your work and at that point in time, it is basically just ‘the lawyer, his team, his client and his conscience.’ So that even if he had to take half a day off to watch his son play football, he should be able to do so, without having to seek permission from his boss. He is his own boss. “This is certainly the case at Tan Peng Chin,” says Edmund Kronenberg.

 

Because of its philosophy of aiming to recruit the best lawyers, at all levels of seniority, and trying very hard to retain as many of them as possible, Tan Peng Chin is ideally placed to capitalize on the growth that the liberalization of Singapore’s legal market will bring. “As Singapore consciously positions itself as a commercial and legal hub in the region there is expected to be many more opportunities for domestic firms to take part in increasingly diverse work,” says Wong Liang Kok. “We are actively looking for even more good lawyers to help us build up our practice.”

 

"In fact the main objective of giving this interview is to recruit more good lawyers, rather than as a promotion to get more work. We are looking especially for lawyers who no longer need to be trained, are capable of leading a team and perhaps are wondering what to do for the next 20 years of their life," quipped Mr Tan.

 

“We would also be very happy for lawyers who have left us to come back and join us, as quite a few have done!”

 

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