Clifford Chance and WongPartnership LLP have announced that they will terminate their joint venture, Clifford Chance Wong Pte Ltd. The effective termination date of the joint venture will be 30 April 2009.

While the firms said in a statement that the decision was made "in view of the impending liberalisation of the Singapore legal services sector", a spokesperson for Clifford Chance said that the firm was unable to provide further comment on its progress towards securing a Singapore license for confidentiality reasons.

Meanwhile, the firms will continue to pursue their respective directions. WongPartnership LLP has embarked on a regionalisation drive, which has seen the firm recently open offices in Shanghai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.  Clifford Chance has its eye on more than one market which is currently off limits to international firms - it's  recently announced the establishment of a Singapore-based  unit primarily focussed on Indian capital markets. The firm has indicated that the unit will relocate to Mumbai if restrictions are relaxed.