Commercial lawyer Singapore – Singapore is bustling with corporate transactions and business expansion and if you are reading this article, congrats on one step forward in the growth story of your business.
This article will highlight 3 different things that you may want to take into account when choosing a corporate lawyer for your business requirements in Singapore.
#1: Number of years of post-qualifying experience
There are many good corporate lawyers who are young and very good at what they do but commercial acumen comes with years of practice in corporate law in Singapore. With a lawyer who has sufficient years of post-qualifying experience after getting called to the Singapore bar (about 10 years or more would be good), he should be able to identify and warn you about potential pitfalls in the deal structure of your transaction even before he starts to draft or review the commercial contracts.
Whilst some people may debate about this but large law firm experience for a corporate lawyer is important as whilst they are more specialised, they would encounter more transactions and this will be better for the client as they can better value add to the client in transaction negotiations. At least if you know you are getting bad terms from a counterparty you can build in a price discount to your transaction to take this into account.
#2: Familiarity with your area of business
Most business ventures do not require a specialisation for a corporate lawyer who should be able to generally deal with most areas. The exception to this would be in the upcoming field of startup funding law, Fintech and Crypto law in Singapore. If your area of business falls within any of these fields, it would be generally better for you to find a corporate legal specialist that can look at these areas.
We have seen many deals previously where the corporate lawyers were not familiar with startup commercial terms and the terms for the startup companies were too way off industry standard. Finding a good commercial lawyer Singapore that specialises in your area of business will go some way to save you time having to explain concepts like pre-money and post-money valuation, funding rounds and founders’ equity issues.
#3: Ability to quickly grasp the essence of the key commercial points in your transaction
If you read Donald Trump’s “The Art of the Deal”, one of the highest compliments that he pays one of his lawyers is his ability to grasp the essence of the deal after Donald Trump gives a high level summary of the transaction. This is very important as the ability to focus on the most important commercial clause in pages of an agreement will mean life and death to your transaction.
Finding a good commercial lawyer Singapore who can cut through the complexity of the deal and focus on the key transactional clause is important and you should surround yourself with someone who can do this very fast and quickly in any transaction.
In conclusion, we have in this article highlighted three key things that you need to note when choosing a commercial lawyer Singapore and we wish you all the best in the future of your business ventures as they expand from Singapore to the rest of South East Asia.
https://www.SingaporeLegalPractice.com is a corporate law and commercial law educational website headquartered in Singapore which aims to demystify business law and 新加坡商业法 for SME Company Owners, Startup Founders and 新加坡新移民老板。The information provided on this website does not constitute legal advice. Please obtain specific legal advice from a lawyer before taking any legal action. Although we try our best to ensure the accuracy of the information on this website, you rely on it at your own risk. Click here to signup for our newsletter today to be kept updated on the latest legal developments in Singapore.
Click here to speak to a specialist Corporate Law Practitioner today to advise you on your corporate transaction today. The corporate law team has acted for a diversified client base including transactions involving several hundred startups across the startup eco-system in Singapore and for private equity fund deals and is well placed to help you in your corporate transactions.
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