Partners Toh Chen Han and Nicholas Hanna have been appointed to serve as co-heads of Pinsent Masons’ Singapore Joint Law Venture, Pinsent Masons MPillay LLP. They have taken over from Ian Laing, who is relocating to Pinsent Masons’ Riyadh office in June.Chen Han has been part of the Singapore office since the joint venture opened its doors in 2010. He is the Managing Partner of Pinsent Masons’ joint venture partner firm MPillay and Head of the Singapore Construction Advisory and Disputes team. He has 22 years of experience handling complex construction, engineering, and commercial disputes as counsel in international arbitrations and in the Supreme Court of Singapore.
Nicholas is a partner in the Transactional Services team in Singapore. Nicholas joined Pinsent Masons in 2020 and was appointed Head of Corporate, APAC, the following year. He has a particular focus on equity capital markets, private equity, joint ventures, fintech, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and data centres.
Head of Asia Pacific James Morgan-Payler congratulated Chen Han and Nicholas on their appointments.
‘Chen Han and Nicholas are highly respected partners of the firm and highly regarded lawyers by our clients and the wider legal profession,’ James said.
‘They have been entrusted with leading our growing Singapore office and playing a leading role in implementing our ambitious growth strategy for the firm in the Asia Pacific region.’
‘I also want to take the opportunity to thank Ian Laing for his outstanding leadership as Head of Singapore and wish him the very best with his move to the Middle East.’
Chen Han said it was a privilege to serve as co-head of Singapore.
‘I have been here since we opened our doors in Singapore and have seen it develop into an important part of the Pinsent Masons global network through its market-leading work primarily in energy and infrastructure,’ he said.
‘I look forward to working with Nicholas and the wider firm leadership to position Pinsent Masons MPillay as the firm of choice in Singapore in practice areas such as litigation, international arbitration, corporate, project finance, project delivery, tax, and private wealth.’
Nicholas said he was looking forward to working with Chen Han to build the next phase of the firm’s presence in Singapore.
‘Since launching in Singapore as Pinsent Masons MPillay in 2010, we have largely built our reputation for our work around construction projects and matters. However, we are also building a strong presence in key sectors in Singapore, including financial services, technology, real estate, and industrials.
‘I’m looking forward to playing a leading role in further establishing our reputation as a leader in those sectors and further connecting our Singapore offering into Pinsent Masons’ global network of 30 offices across four continents.’
