Southeast Asia - Singapore

Dentons Rodyk

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Dentons Rodyk has broad regional coverage, advising ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families across Southeast Asia and beyond, including China and Taiwan. It is also connected to trust companies and private banks. The team continues to advise clients on the creation of family offices and the launch of VCCs, and it is further noted for estate administration and disputes, succession planning and family wealth preservation, and philanthropic programmes. The immensely experienced Edmund Leow SC heads the tax group and is a prominent name in succession and estate planning, trust launches, and the creation of family offices. Kia Meng Loh specialises in both contentious and non-contentious matters, including wealth and estate planning and the establishment of family offices.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Knowledge of market and prompt delivery of services.’

  • ‘Ling Yi Quek provides prompt responses and high-quality legal services.’

  • ‘Professional practice on all counts. Does the profession credit.’

  • ‘Kia Meng Loh was very attentive and addressed all my concerns before being retained. He executed all his duties in a timely and well-informed manner. I had no doubts as to what he was doing, what the expected outcome was and the manner and timeframe in which it would be achieved.'

  • ‘Edmund Leow and his team ensure that we complete all our mandatory family office filings and general corporate secretary matters on time and without penalty.’

  • ‘Special mention to Kia Meng Loh for being commercially practical and helpful to all sides.’

  • 'They are very very professional in their action and advice and take the right approach to advise us. We are very well satisfied with them, how they handled our setup and post-setup advice and keeping us updated on the family wealth matters and statutory regulation and compliance. ’
  • 'Edmund Leow guided us in a wealth and family office setup matter. He is a very knowledgeable and experienced lawyer. Nicolette Lee is a senior associate lawyer and is a very hands-on lawyer and very knowledgeable and professional.’

Key clients

  • Standard Chartered Trust Singapore Pte Ltd
  • Lion Trust Pte Ltd
  • UBS
  • Credit Suisse
  • VP Bank
  • UOB Private Bank
  • Bank of Singapore
  • DBS Private Bank
  • Julius Baer
  • Trident Trust
  • Prime Asia Asset Management Pte Ltd
  • Naga Capital Pte Ltd
  • FOZL Group Pte Ltd
  • Triton AO Pte Ltd
  • One Heritage Group

Work highlights

  • Advised Prime Asia Asset Management as external retained counsel on legal issues with regards to its business, such as regulatory licences, compliance, funds structures, and their regional expansion.
  • Assisted the widow of a wealthy Indonesian businessman based in Singapore with the application for the grant of letters of administration of her husband’s estate in Singapore.

Lawyers

Hall of Fame

The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.

Leading individuals

Edmund Leow

Edmund Leow

Hall of fameDentons

Edmund is a senior partner heading up the firm’s Tax practice with three decades of experience in advising multinational organisations on cross-border tax planning, transfer pricing and tax disputes. He also advises on international trade issues such as customs, WTO and free-trade agreements. Edmund also leads the firm’s Trust, Estates and Wealth Preservation practice and advises high net worth individuals, private banks and trust companies in personal tax, as well as in trust and estate planning matters. Edmund was invited by the government to serve as a Judicial Commissioner at the Supreme Court and served from 2013 to 2016. On stepping down, he was appointed Senior Counsel in 2017, making him the first and only Tax and Trust lawyer to be given this accolade nationwide. Prior to his appointment to the Singapore judiciary in 2013, Edmund was named a Tier 1 lawyer by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific for Tax in 2012. His views on tax and wealth management were widely sought and publicised in the media, such as Bloomberg, BBC, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, The Financial Times and The Straits Times. He was also a founding partner of a Singapore law firm that was associated with an international law firm, where he headed up the Tax and Wealth Management practices in Singapore. Edmund is the President and an honorary member of the Singapore Trustees Association (STA). He is a co-founder of the STA, and previously served as its President from 2004 to 2008, then as Vice President from 2008 to 2013. The STA represents the interests of trust companies in Singapore. In addition, he has been appointed Deputy Chairman of the Income Tax Board of Review, which is a statutory tribunal which hears income tax disputes between the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore and taxpayers.

Next Generation Partners

Kia Meng Loh

Kia Meng Loh

Dentons

Kia Meng is a Senior Partner at Dentons Rodyk and its Chief Operating Officer. He sits on Dentons’ Global Advisory Committee and Dentons ASEAN’s Advisory Committee, comprising the board of various Dentons offices. A veteran lawyer with two decades of experience, Kia Meng’s practice straddles contentious and non-contentious matters. Kia Meng Co-Heads the following practices in the firm: Trust, Estates and Wealth Preservation Practice – Kia Meng is well-regarded in the industry and ranked in various legal directories in the Private Client and Private Wealth categories for both contentious and non-contentious matters. On the advisory front, Kia Meng’s advice is sought-after by clients both institutional and individual. He works closely with various private banks, family offices, trust companies and real estate houses to advise wealthy families and high-net-worth-individuals on a spectrum of issues. Kia Meng advises private clients on wealth preservation, family business structuring, investment immigration, family succession, legacy and estate planning On contentious matters, Kia Meng has advised and represented wealthy families, high-net-worth-individuals and private trust companies on a wide range of matters, involving contested wills and probate, trusts, mental capacity issues under the Mental Capacity Act, testamentary capacity disputes, allegations of undue influence, defamation, asset/property allocation disputes and  estate administration. Kia Meng has been able to deploy effective strategies to achieve successful outcomes for contentious matters. High Net Worth & Family Office – Kia Meng advises wealthy families and individuals on the establishment and structure of family offices. He assists family office clients on their fund structures and applications to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under the Section 13O and 13U Enhanced Tier Fund Tax Incentive schemes under the Income Tax Act. Kia Meng also advises on investor immigration under the Global Investor Programme administered by the Economic Development Board of Singapore (EDB). He has an established reputation in the family office space in representing and advising Mandarin-speaking clients and clients from the Chinese diaspora. Public Inquiries, White-Collar Investigations & Crime – Having been involved in several high-profile public/government inquiries and investigations, Kia Meng is familiar with the processes and requirements involved in these proceedings. In the private sector, Kia Meng represents and advises clients in internal investigations involving whistle-blowing incidents, corruption, employee fraud, workplace harassment and corporate espionage cases. Regional Practice – Kia Meng leads a team of regional lawyers in developing cross-border work within the ASEAN regions and across Asia and Australasia countries. In this role, he functions as a director of Dentons Myanmar and advises the firm’s various Country Desks and Country Collaboration Groups. Kia Meng is an affiliate member of the Society of Trust and Estate Planners (STEP). He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb). He is appointed to the panel of arbitrators with the Thailand Arbitration Centre (THAC) and to the panel of Specialist Mediators with the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC). In his role as COO, Kia Meng leads all business support functions of the firm, including Academy, Finance, Human Resource, Innovation, Information Technology, Marketing and Risk & Compliance. He has a particular interest in law firm management and operations, legal technology and innovation and legal career development.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Edmund Leow SC, Kia Meng Loh, Tien Wah Ling

Other key lawyers

Ling Yi Quek, Nicolette Lee