Jointly led by John Rhie from Hong Kong, and ‘world-class advocate’ Duncan Watson from Singapore, the team at Quinn Emanuel is known for representing private equity firms and asset management companies. Rhie is recognised for his extensive expertise in white-collar crime issues and multi-jurisdictional disputes, while Watson (who is dual qualified in both Australia, and England and Wales) regularly represents an array of Korean infrastructure, financial services, and energy clients. Singapore’s Tom Brebner is an expert in private equity related cases who often acts in LCIA and SIAC arbitrations, and Hong Kong’s Lillian Li is recommended for her strong knowledge of investment treaty arbitrations and HKIAC arbitrations.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'The quality of the team's written submissions and oral advocacy is excellent.'
- 'John Rhie is business savvy and understands the needs of Korean clients well. Duncan Watson is very sharp and intelligent and is the brain of the Hong Kong team and Singapore team. Tom Brebner is bright and is good at handling complex valuation issues. Lillian Li is the backbone of the Hong Kong team and the quality of her written submissions is excellent.'
- 'John Rhie is a master of arbitration and is at a go-to level internationally.'
- 'Quinn Emanuel has an extremely strong Korea-related arbitration practice. It is doing some of the largest cases coming out of Korea and has a very strong team and a very deep bench. One of the best in the business.'
- 'John Rhie is a UK-educated and qualified lawyer with deep roots in Korea and fluency in the Korean language. He has built an excellent team of lawyers around him, including Duncan Watson. The two of them are now heading the Singapore office of Quinn Emanuel. Both are very good advocates.'
- 'One of the best arbitration teams. One of the top two or three law firms I would call for a difficult, bet-the-company cases. Excellent, creative advocacy and great teamwork.'
- 'Duncan Watson is a world class advocate and a brilliant cross-examiner. John Rhie is exceptionally bright and manages cases and clients well. His ability to speak fluent Korean is also a plus. Both have scintillating legal minds and have great personality.'
- 'Quinn Emanuel is very efficient in putting together an A-team from all around the globe. They also have that fighting spirit - you don't want to have them on the opposing side.'
Key clients
- Chairman of Kyobo Life Insurance
- Schindler Holdings AG
- Gen2 Partners Limited
- Mirae Asset Global Investments Co., Ltd
Work highlights
- Represented the Chairman of Kyobo Life Insurance in an international arbitration at ICC against Affinity consortium, the firm successfully defended the client against claims worth over USD 1 billion.
- Representing an asset management company in Asia against another leading asset management company in a broken real estate deal worth KRW 4.1 trillion (approx. USD 3 billion).
- Representing Schindler Holding AG, a leading global manufacturer of elevator and escalators, in an investment treaty arbitration against the Republic of Korea.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
John Rhie, Duncan Watson