Practice of law: case studies

Read the other FT Innovative Lawyers Asia-Pacific ‘Best practice case studies’, which showcase the standout innovations made for and by people working in the legal sector:

Business of law
In-house

STANDOUT

Trilegal: Winner
Originality: 9; Leadership: 7; Impact: 9; Total: 25
In October 2024, acting for Indian business group Vyoman, the firm secured a Bombay High Court ruling enforcing a Singapore-issued emergency arbitration order without a retrial of the case.

The dispute, with digital payments company EbixCash over a disputed fulfilment of a share purchase agreement, resulted in the defendant being ordered to produce a Rs1.45bn ($17mn) bank guarantee. An order recognising the validity of the foreign-issued emergency arbitration award was achieved, avoiding the dispute being in effect relitigated at length as has been common in reviews of similar cases in Indian courts, which delays eventual settlement. The case offers a template for future attempts to enforce foreign arbitration awards in India more speedily.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Rajah & Tann Singapore
O: 8; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 23
While Fullerton Health, a large Singaporean healthcare business valued at close to $1bn, attempted to raise funds for expansion, the firm investigated allegations that fraud totalling $500,000 had been perpetrated by three suspects, two of whom were directors.

The challenge for the firm was to probe the allegations without predefined company processes or direction from the full board as it included two of the accused. Fullerton succeeded in its fundraising and negotiated the exit of all three accused, who denied wrongdoing, along with their equity.

Hogan Lovells
O: 7; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 22
The firm acted for US sportswear company Nike, which in September 2024 received protection in China against copies of its AJI trainer, through the ruling of a Shenzhen district court brought against a retailer based in China.

Hogan Lovells helped establish the brand’s popularity and the public’s recognition of the design and cited China’s anti-unfair competition law to win a judgment protecting the more abstract design elements of the trainer, known as trade dress. The case is one of the first successful examples of trade dress protection awarded in the country.

COMMENDED

HSA Advocates
O: 7; L: 6; I: 8; Total: 21
The firm acted for Mumbai International Airport and successfully argued before a regulatory tribunal that the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India had erred in its assessment of the total amount that the airport could recoup through a passenger levy to pay off a development loan, leading to a shortfall of Rs4.9bn ($57mn).

King & Wood Mallesons
O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21
The firm’s client, a Chinese bank backed by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, faced allegations by campaign groups that it had invested in a controversial Cambodian dam in breach of the IFC’s sustainability policy. The firm established that this was not the case, clarifying IFC compliance requirements.

STANDOUT

Freshfields: Winner
Originality: 7; Leadership: 9; Impact: 9; Total: 25
The firm represented London-listed Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca in its acquisition of China-based Gracell Biotechnologies, which develops therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases. The transaction, valued at up to $1.2bn, closed in February 2024.

The firm created a structure where part of the purchase price was paid after the deal closed, contingent on regulatory approval for certain drugs, in an arrangement not commonly seen in the Chinese market. To overcome restrictions on foreign ownership in the pharma sector, Freshfields advised AstraZeneca on creating a Variable Interest Entity (VIE) for the purchase, as part of a drive to expand activities in China despite strains on international trade. This structure is designed to allow foreign investors to control but not directly own the operating company through a consultancy business.

Corrs Chambers Westgarth
O: 7; L: 8; I: 9; Total: 24
Corrs advised Australia’s Azure Minerals on its A$1.7bn ($1.1bn) purchase by Chilean miner SQM and Australian mining company Hancock Prospecting. The takeover of Azure, which is now mining for lithium in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, was struck in December 2023 but ultimately closed in May 2024. A revised dual-structure offer was used to reduce the chance of large shareholder blocs contesting a revised acquisition offer.

Mayer Brown
O: 8; L: 7; I: 8; Total: 23
The firm acted for Mongolia’s capital city of Ulan Bator in issuing a $500mn municipal bond. The firm’s Hong Kong office devised a streamlined approach to the transaction aimed at cutting execution time significantly. The bonds, listed in Vienna and guaranteed by the Mongolian government, took less than four weeks to issue, instead of the usual 10-12.

The firm says the simplified and accelerated approach to this fundraising, aimed at tackling poor housing conditions in the world’s coldest capital city, will gain traction in other markets such as Indonesia and India. Commended individual: Tom Kollar

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Hogan Lovells
O: 6; L: 7; I: 9; Total: 22
Hogan Lovells advised China Baowu, the world’s largest steelmaker, on its planned investments in Guinea’s Simandou mining project, one of the world’s most significant iron ore developments. Baowu is expected to commit more than $5bn through its economic interest in the WCS concession, which sits alongside a neighbouring mine run by Simfer, a Rio Tinto-led consortium. In a deal struck in July 2024, investors in both projects and the Guinea government agreed on details on co-developing the required rail and port infrastructure for the entire venture.

JunHe
O: 7; L: 7; I: 8; Total: 22
The firm advised Spain-based Grifols, a leading international supplier of plasma products, on its Rmb12.5bn ($1.7bn) sale of a 20 per cent stake in China’s Shanghai RAAS Blood Products to home appliances maker Haier. The deal, announced in December 2023, was completed in 2024. Lawyers worked with Chinese regulators to allay concerns over potential supply chain disruptions and negotiated a structure in which Grifols divested the full value of its total 26.6 stake, while retaining a residual 6.6 per cent dividend entitlement through non-voting shares.

COMMENDED

Sullivan & Cromwell
O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21
The firm advised Chinese private equity firm DCP Capital on its $1.7bn acquisition of Alibaba’s majority stake in the Sun Art hypermarket chain, agreed in December 2024. The unusual deal involved upfront cash and a deferred amount contingent on future performance, payable in three years, that complied with Hong Kong takeover codes to protect minority shareholders.

King & Wood Mallesons
O: 7; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 20
The firm helped home appliance maker Midea to enable its mainland-based staff to take part in its Hong Kong public share offering in September 2024. Lawyers worked with CMBI, arranger of the fundraising, to create trust plans that overcome limitations to onshore workers of Chinese mainland companies participating in offshore share offerings on preferential terms.

Dechert
O: 6; L: 8; I: 5; Total: 19
Dechert advised a consortium led by Chinese printer maker Ninestar on the sale of its US business Lexmark to Xerox for an enterprise value of $1.5bn. The deal required Dechert to assure Lexmark’s shareholders of appropriate due diligence despite restrictions imposed on them by US national security rules.

STANDOUT

A&O Shearman: Winner
Originality: 8; Leadership: 9; Impact: 8; Total: 25
The firm advised arranger JPMorgan on the £2.1bn ($2.8bn) deal to take UK-listed Irish video games company Keywords Studios private, led by Swedish private equity group EQT. The consortium, which also included Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) and Temasek of Singapore, partially financed the takeover by raising $1.14bn through an “Asia Term Loan A” structure.

The Hong Kong-led team helped structure this financing, guiding more than 40 Asia-Pacific lenders, many unfamiliar with UK processes. The deal, which closed in October 2024, helped establish a new channel through which Asian liquidity can fund cross-border acquisitions outside the region.

Mori Hamada
O: 8; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 24
The firm advised Astroscale, a Japanese start-up specialising in removal of orbital space debris, on its ¥24bn ($162mn) initial public offering in June 2024 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market, a junior market catering for start-up companies with limited operational or financial track records.

Lawyers devised a disclosure framework using anticipated financial flows and order backlogs to build investor confidence while staying within strict regulations for the securities market. The firm’s work has helped shape approaches for similar IPOs in Japan.

HIGHLY COMMENDED 

Pinsent Masons
O: 7; L: 7; I: 9; Total: 23 
The firm advised the Philippine government and Asian Development Bank, its transaction adviser, on a planned $2bn upgrade of Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport through a public-private partnership deal, struck as part of a privatisation contract awarded in February 2024.

Working with local counsel and commercial consultancy PwC, the team led on legal structuring, risk allocation, and a complex tender process that secured $2bn in loans and equity financing. The franchise, operated by a consortium led by San Miguel Holdings, should secure improved revenue shares by the government and improvements at an airport often dubbed one of the worst in the world.

A&O Shearman
O: 9; L: 6; I: 7; Total: 22
The firm advised Singapore’s United Overseas Bank on issuing Rmb5bn ($695mn) in panda bonds — renminbi-denominated bonds issued by foreign entities within mainland China’s domestic bond market. The fundraising, launched in October 2024, was the largest three-year issuance of its kind, according to the Singapore Exchange, which simultaneously listed the bonds. This was the bank’s first panda bond issuance since 2019.

Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu 
O: 8; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 22
The firm advised MGM Resorts on the legal and financial structuring of its joint venture with financial services firm Orix to launch Japan’s first casino resort, in Osaka, by 2030. The ¥1.27 trillion ($8.5bn) project involved Japan’s largest syndicated project loan and novel equity arrangements.

Work involved advice aimed at satisfying both the project’s finance requirements and Japan’s gaming laws, which previously banned such developments.

Sidley Austin
O: 7; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 22
The firm advised Chinese drug discovery firm XtalPi, also known as QuantumPharm, on raising HK$990mn ($127mn) in June 2024, in the first initial public offering approved under Hong Kong’s newly reformed “Chapter 18C” listing rules, which came into effect in March 2023. Sidley Austin helped to demonstrate how the rules, designed to encourage investors to back Chinese early-stage specialist technology companies, will work in practice.

Sullivan & Cromwell 
O: 7; L: 8; I: 7; Total: 22
Lawyers advised a committee of bondholders on the restructuring of $300mn worth of distressed 5.25 per cent convertible bonds due in 2026 issued by Novaland, a Vietnamese developer hit by a collapse in the domestic real estate market.

The cross-border deal was approved by the Singapore International Commercial Court in June 2024, leading to the resumption of several infrastructure projects across Vietnam soon after.

COMMENDED

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton 
O: 8; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 21 
The firm advised the underwriters on Chinese tech company JD.com’s $2bn convertible bond issuance in May 2024, aimed at financing the repurchase of American depositary shares. Lawyers navigated complex dual-listing compliance with both US and Hong Kong rules to complete the fundraising and concurrent share buyback.

Linklaters
O: 7; L: 6; I: 8; Total: 21 
The firm devised a framework to allow China government bonds (CGBs) to be used as collateral in international markets. As transfers of CGB ownership are not possible except through a sale, the firm’s structure appoints OTC Clear, Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s clearing house, as the custodian of the bonds, enabling a de facto title-transfer arrangement.

Khaitan & Co
O: 7; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 20
The firm advised Indian financial services group Piramal Enterprises, alongside a division of US investment firm Bain Capital, on the launch of a second fund investing in distressed companies in India.

STANDOUT

Atsumi & Sakai: Winner
Originality: 8; Leadership: 7; Impact: 9 Total: 24
The firm advised the Japanese government on revising Japan’s Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI), helping to shift policies on data consent and artificial intelligence.

Restrictions on the use of generative AI already permitted some text-and-data-mining exceptions. The high-level consultations that were co-ordinated by Atsumi & Sakai’s policy research institute — a think-tank set up and led by partner Takafumi Ochiai — extended these exceptions to sensitive personal information, including genomic and biometric data.

The APPI revisions now promise to accelerate the domestic and international commercialisation of genomic research data. They also establish competition policy considerations and align Japanese data governance laws with European standards.

Following this work, the firm advised Japan’s Agency for Medical Research and Development on the structuring of a genomic data platform under this new regime, drawing on information in four big Japanese biobanks.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Gilbert + Tobin
O: 6; L: 7; I: 10; Total: 23
The firm advised Australia’s New South Wales police force on the August 2024 launch of BluLink, a platform that allows distressed callers to emergency services to share live video, GPS location co-ordinates and other information. The firm advised on how the service should comply with local privacy, surveillance, data retention and evidentiary laws, to ensure lawful and socially accepted use. During a year-long trial, the platform helped police find 62 missing bushwalkers and more than 100 missing people deemed at high risk, resulting in faster rescues, reduced strain on resources, and the securing of evidence to investigate and prosecute crime.

Lee, Tsai & Partners
O: 7; L: 9; I: 7; Total: 23
The firm advised the Taiwan Virtual Asset Service Provider (Vasp) Association on the creation of a self-regulatory framework for the country’s crypto industry.

Lawyers worked with the association, officially launched in June 2024, to help ensure voluntary robust compliance with regulatory guidelines of the domestic crypto sector applied by regulator Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission. This framework covers compliance with new licensing regimes and anti-fraud obligations, while fostering industry-regulator collaboration.

Clifford Chance
O: 8; L: 6; I: 8; Total: 22
Clifford Chance advised on the Hong Kong launch of HSBC Gold Token, a service that allows retail investors to buy fractional amounts of the precious metal through an online platform and mobile app.

The firm developed the legal structure to signify fractional ownership of physical gold held by the bank while avoiding a “paper gold” trusteeship structure, which required compliance with multiple overlapping regulatory demands. The work sets a precedent for tokenised asset offerings in the region.

COMMENDED

Mori Hamada
O: 8; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 21
The firm’s local branch advised Thai oil and gas company PTT on the country’s first so-called Q-Bond, based on the use of proprietary Quarix blockchain technology. The one-year private bond, valued at Bt500mn ($15mn), was issued in September 2024.

Linklaters
O: 8; L: 7; I: 5; Total: 20
Linklaters advised Cinda, a leading Chinese distressed asset management and financial services group, on the issuing of Hong Kong’s first repackaging notes hosted on the blockchain. These “STBL” tokenised notes, targeted at professional investors, are a traditional debt security intended as an alternative to so-called stablecoins.

S&R Associates
O: 5; L: 6; I: 8; Total: 19
S&R advised a subsidiary of Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management on its acquisition of American Tower’s Indian operations for an enterprise value of $2.2bn, to create the largest telecom tower operator in India.

The rupee-denominated disposal of ATC India to Brookfield’s Altius Telecom, completed in September 2024, required a complex antitrust review.

STANDOUT

Ashurst: Winner
Originality: 8; Leadership: 9; Impact: 8; Total: 25
The firm collaborated with the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS), its long-term pro bono partner, in Project Lemon-aid. This campaign tackles the misleading sale of defective second-hand cars, dubbed “lemons”, to Indigenous people in Victoria, Australia.

More than 50 volunteers from Ashurst have worked alongside others to improve access to justice in the state for those affected, who often lack the funds to pursue legal action under consumer rights law.

As well as winning compensation, the firm has produced case law reviews and created educational and other legal resources to raise awareness of consumer rights.

Linklaters
O: 8; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 24
The firm’s Hong Kong office has been working with campaign group Migrasia on developing PoBot, a multilingual chatbot designed to help migrant workers from the Philippines and Indonesia to understand the territory’s labour and migration laws.

Use expanded in 2024 and by the end of the year, PoBot had handled nearly 1,000 queries from migrant workers in Hong Kong.

Linklaters provided funding and also allocated a team of 20 to help test the system for accuracy and compliance with local regulations, including those governing the use of AI technology.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

MinterEllison
O: 9; L: 8; I: 6; Total: 23
MinterEllison Technology Consulting (METC), the firm’s digital advisory arm, is developing a software tool to help LawRight, a legal aid organisation in Queensland, Australia, to pursue claims of irresponsible lending to consumers. Called Credit Guardian, it is designed to help volunteers in legal clinics to provide better, faster advice by analysing bank statements and regular outgoings to vulnerable clients, and make it easier to build cases for refunds or waivers of inappropriate loans. Commended individual: Famin Ahmed

Yulchon
O: 7; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 23
The firm partnered with non-profit organisation Bridge International in an initiative to help North Korean refugee women in South Korea become economically independent.

By last year, two women had been offered full-time work at the firm, following a series of intensive job-readiness programmes that, since 2022, have offered training, mentoring and internships in Yulchon’s administrative department to cohorts of women aged 20-40. Prospective mentors receive training to deepen their understanding of cultural sensitivities.

COMMENDED

Baker McKenzie
O: 7; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 21
The firm’s pro bono team held a one-day virtual “justice in action” event in November 2024 with 30 volunteers from its Asia-Pacific offices.

Using generative AI, volunteers from the firm and its clients compiled a report on children’s rights laws in 13 countries for campaign groups Global Initiative on Justice with Children and Terre des Hommes. The report will be presented at the former’s world congress in June.

Numen Law Offices
O: 7; L: 8; I: 5; Total: 20
Founded by partner Manasi Chaudhari, Pink Legal is a website that provides accessible advice on women’s rights and related laws in India.

Since Chaudhari’s firm merged with Numen last year, Numen has helped raise Pink Legal’s profile in legal forums, enabling it to attract more pro bono counsel for its numerous users.

Its online community has grown to about 30,000 members in the five years since the site was launched in 2020. Commended individual: Manasi Chaudhari

Dechert
O: 5; L: 7; I: 7; Total: 19
A pro bono team led out of Asia-Pacific produced country-by-country reports for the Centre for Reproductive Rights, detailing strategies for advancing women’s rights across Latin America and the Caribbean. The team presented the findings across the campaign group in an online meeting in February 2024, and has expanded its work to cover 16 countries.

STANDOUT

A&O Shearman: Winner
Originality: 8; Leadership: 7; Impact: 9; Total: 24
The firm advised the Asian Development Bank on the design of its Innovative Finance Facility for Climate in Asia and the Pacific (If-Cap), which is being used in its first agreed project for a sustainable aviation fuel plant in Pakistan, announced in December 2024.

The If-Cap programme, originally launched in 2023, aims to unlock funds for projects to tackle climate change by using guarantees from wealthy donor countries to underpin its loans. ADB hopes the scheme can yield $4.5 for each $1 that is guaranteed.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Ashurst
O: 7; L: 8; I: 8; Total: 23
Ashurst advised client Akaysha Energy on a novel offtake deal with regional power supplier EnergyAustralia for its Orana battery storage project in New South Wales.

By combining a “virtual tolling agreement” — a mechanism preserving Akaysha’s operational control of the battery and allowing EnergyAustralia to account for it more favourably — with a government-backed long-term energy service agreement, the arrangement enabled Akaysha to secure A$650mn ($416mn) of debt financing for the project from 11 banks.

MinterEllison
O: 8; L: 8; I: 6; Total: 22
The firm advised property developer Stockland on its partnership with Australia power group Energy Bay to manage and expand rooftop solar generation across more than 50 retail and warehouse sites.

The deal, announced in December 2023 and then rolled out last year, enables Stockland to retain renewable certification while in effect trading surplus energy internally between solar facilities that are now owned by Energy Bay.

COMMENDED

Morgan Lewis
O: 8; L: 7; I: 6; Total: 21
The firm advised lead managers on the launch of a Rmb2.1bn ($292mn) sustainable Chinese bond to international investors last December. The Yulan bonds — Chinese corporate bonds issued to international investors — were issued on behalf of Chinese construction and development group Wuxi to fund projects accredited with sustainability standards.

Allen & Gledhill
O: 8; L: 6; I: 7; Total: 21
The firm advised Singaporean data centre operator STT Telemedia Global Data Centres in raising S$500mn ($383mn) in sustainability-linked perpetual securities — green bonds that pay a coupon but have no maturity date. The bonds, issued in January 2024, were the first Singapore dollar-denominated SLP.

Trilegal
O: 7; L: 6; I: 7; Total: 20
Trilegal advised Indian state-owned power company NTPC on the partial divestment of its renewable energy arm that raised $1.2bn. November’s listing of NTPC Green Energy, the country’s third-largest initial public offering in 2024, was complicated by a requirement for the government to retain the ability to nominate directors — normally prohibited by IPO listing rules — which required liaising with regulators.

Gilbert + Tobin
O: 7; L: 6; I: 7; Total: 20
G+T advised Australian environmental investment company GreenCollar on its NaturePlus biodiversity credit scheme, launched as a pilot in 2022. In October 2024, oversight of the scheme’s standards passed to an independent administrator to encourage confidence in its integrity.

Corrs Chambers Westgarth
O: 6; L: 8; I: 5; Total: 19
The firm helped Australian clients prepare for new requirements on sustainability and climate-related financial disclosures introduced in January.

Pinsent Masons
O: 6; L: 6; I: 7; Total: 19
The firm advised China General Nuclear on an extension of plans to develop cross-border renewable energy supplies from a Laos 1,000MW solar plant designed to supply China’s Yunnan province, involving dealings with grid operators and other project partners.