Watson Farley & Williams (Thailand) Limited is lauded for its ‘wealth of dispute resolution experience across a broad geographic and industry background’. The group is particularly active in industry sectors, notably energy, construction and infrastructure projects. Sitting at the head of the practice is Steven Burkill, Kay Kian Tan, Ratthakarn Boonnua and Tossaporn Sumpiputtanadacha. Burkill specialises in disputes of a cross-border nature, while Tan is well versed in power and energy disputes. Boonnua regularly represents energy and construction companies in arbitration work. Sumpiputtanadacha focuses his practice on international litigation and international arbitration. Bhavish Advani is also a key name within the group for his focus on interntional commercial arbitration.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘WFW is professional, hardworking, and innovative.’

  • ‘Tossaporn is impressive and excellent. He actively and comprehensively provides suggestions and the legal strategy.’

  • ‘WFW team has the unique strengths for internal and external collaborations such as ability to connect the relevant expert to our case with appropriate timing. Their internal collaboration is also excellent. They utilise their internal legal expertise from their international resources.’

  • ‘Kay Kian is a qualified partner for team leader. His leadership skills are excellent to coordinate the different experts.’

  • ‘The team has a wealth of dispute resolution experience across a broad geographic and industry backgrounds.’

  • ‘Steve Burkill as the lead partner is my main contact. Very experienced and very pragmatic. Looks for what's best for the client.’

Key clients

  • Department of Mineral Fuels, Ministry of Energy, Government of Thailand
  • Supreme Treon Private Limited

Work highlights

  • Advising and acting for the Kingdom of Thailand and the Ministry of Energy in a arbitration, relating to decommissioning disputes with oil major concessionaries concerning assets in the Gulf of Thailand.
  • Acting for a Chinese state-owned construction company in a Hong Kong-seated HKIAC arbitration relating to construction and payment disputes with the developer of a luxury hospitality/residential resort development in Phuket.

Lawyers

Leading associates
Leading associates with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Steven Burkill, Kay Kian Tan, Ratthakarn Boonnua, Tossaporn Sumpiputtanadacha

Other key lawyers

Bhavish Advani