International law firm Jones Day “has been invited” to apply for a Qualifying Foreign Law Practice (QFLP) licence in Singapore and has taken onboard capital markets lawyer Brian Wesol to further boost the capital markets team in its Singapore office.

Wesol, a capital markets specialist with 15 years’ experience, is expected to anchor Jones Day’s capital markets team in its bid for the firm’s QFLP licence. He represented Indonesia in its single largest US$2.2bn bond offering, which was completed in a record time of five weeks and won him “Debt Market Deal of the Year” at the ALB Southeast Asia Law Awards in 2007.

Just last week, Singapore’s Ministry of Law announced that it will accept QFLP applications. Only five licences will be granted initially. The QFLP is part of Singapore’s plan to liberalise its legal market to support its financial services sector in the city state. Currently, foreign law practices are permitted to practise Singapore law only within a Joint Law Venture through a Singapore law practice. Under the new QFLP scheme, selected foreign law practices will be allowed to practise Singapore law in permitted areas and employ Singapore-qualified lawyers.