Three Crowns to launch first Asia office

Three Crowns to launch first Asia office

The arbitration firm, Three Crowns LLP, takes advantage of city state's 'ever-growing' status as a disputes hub by forming the fifth branch

One of the founders of Three Crowns, an arbitration boutique based in Singapore, has been hired as the head of the firm's office in that city. This is Three Crowns' first office in the Asia Pacific and fifth overall.

Daryl Chew will lead Three Crowns' newly launched office in Singapore after spending time in Singapore and Paris at Shearman & Sterling for more than 14 years. Shaun Pereira, who accompanies Daryl from Shearman & Sterling, will also be joining the Singapore team at Three Crowns.

Three Crowns partners Simon Elliot and Penny Martin, relocating from London and Paris respectively, will join Chew and Pereira in Singapore.

Following the launch, the firm said that the wider partners would 'continue to spend significant time in the region', including founding partners Gaetan Verhoosel and Todd Wetmore. Manish Aggarwal will be based in London.

Chew's broad regional expertise and market-leading reputation made him an obvious choice for the firm's Singapore office, Wetmore said.

'We are delighted to establish a physical presence in Singapore, an ever-growing centre for arbitration in Asia,' he stated. "Understanding and resolving disputes in Asia has become increasingly important to our Asian clients." We are happy to welcome Daryl to our team." Please use original quote: "We are thrilled to establish a physical presence in Singapore, an ever-growing popular seat for arbitration, and a place where our Asia-based clients increasingly require assistance with their disputes. Daryl is well known to many of us and an obvious choice for our Singapore office. He is a recognised market leader whose depth of experience and expertise will immediately add value for Three Crowns' clients. We are delighted to welcome Daryl aboard".

According to the firm, Chew has handled arbitrations under all major arbitration rules dealing with a variety of applicable laws and venues, arising from disputes in the areas of energy, construction, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and general commercial disputes.

In a statement, Bill McCormack, a partner at Shearman & Sterling gave Chew his best wishes, adding that he would look forward to work with Chew in his new position at Three Crowns.

Since Chew joined the firm, Three Crowns now has 15 partners across five offices: London, Paris, Washington, DC, Singapore and Bahrain. Leilah Bruton and Shaparak Saleh have joined respectively in London and Paris last week following Bruton's promotion from the rank of counsel and Saleh's move from French independent disputes boutique Teynier Pic.

More and more business lawyers, arbitrators and practitioners see Singapore as their preferred arbitration centre; the city-state was rated as the second-favourite arbitration venue in a survey of more than 1,200 in-house lawyers, arbitrators, and practitioners last year.

Singapore's lawmakers have also taken steps to reinforce its reputation as a global dispute centre, including the announcement that the Singapore International Commercial Court published a new list of technology, infrastructure, and construction sectors last August to assist litigants in resolving complex disputes and the publication of new court rules meant to ensure commercial cases were handled with fairness and efficiency. In addition to these reforms, the city-state's parliament last month approved laws allowing no-win, no-fee agreements in certain legal procedures.

A number of local and international law firms have expanded their dispute resolution services in Singapore. On March, 2021, US firm Squire Patton Boggs has appointed a team of public international law disputes experts in Singapore from Harry Elias Partnership, a former Eversheds Sutherland associate.

In October, competitive Singapore law firm Oon & Bazul recruited three partners from local rivals Drew & Napier and Cavenagh Law to its litigation and dispute resolution practice.

Emmanuel Gaillard and Yas Banifatemi, former global practice heads at Shearman & Sterling, founded Gaillard Banifatemi Shelbaya Disputes in February 2021. The firm has offices in Paris, London and New York. As a result of Gaillard's death on April, 2021, arbitration professionals flooded him with tributes.