Linklaters has added a senior partner to its financial regulation and structured finance practice in Singapore from Ashurst. 

Evan Lam has joined the firm after two and a half years at Ashurst, where he led the financial regulation team in Singapore, and earlier was a partner at local heavyweight Allen & Gledhill. 

Lam’s practice focuses on advising international and domestic clients on the full spectrum of Singapore financial regulations and he has particular expertise in banking and securities regulation, fintech, ESG and funds. He also advises clients on derivatives, supporting industry bodies and financial institutions in connection with derivatives regulatory reform, netting and collateral enforceability, and derivatives and structured product transactions. 

“We are excited to welcome Evan,” said Linklaters’ Asia head of structured finance and derivatives, Chin-Chong Liew. “His industry knowledge and technical expertise on the ground in Singapore will further strengthen our regional capability to meet the increasing demand for sophisticated structured financing solutions in this fast-growing region.”

Lam ranks global financial institutions and financial market infrastructures among his clients, as well as players in the fintech ecosystem such as crowd-funding platforms, blockchain exchanges and virtual asset service providers. Past experience includes advising DBS Bank, UOB Bank and OCBC Bank on their covered bonds programmes and the ISDA on the impact of insolvency law reform in Singapore on netting and collateral enforceability. He has also worked with ASIFMA on cross border licensing reform. 

Lam has arrived as the second partner in Linklaters’ Singapore financial regulation team after local practice head Peiyung Chua and will work alongside her and a team of eight associates. Lam and Chua overlapped at Allen & Gledhill in the 2000s, with Chua leaving the firm in 2010 to go in-house at Bank of America’s Singapore arm. 

“Evan is a fantastic addition to our financial regulation practice,” Chua said. “We have seen growing opportunities in the Singapore financial regulation market, and Evan’s strong technical expertise will further expand our offering on complex regulatory work as we continue to deliver best in class service to our clients.”

Lam’s hire follows dispute resolution lawyer Melvin Sng becoming the office’s first senior partner last May, at the same time that capital markets specialist Jonathan Horan succeeded Christopher Bradley as national managing partner. 

Sng said at the time that the firm intended to add further partners to the office to serve clients across the region. 

Linklaters’ Singapore office houses more than 100 lawyers and is ranked Band 1 by Chambers Asia-Pacific for banking and finance, capital markets, employment and corporate/M&A.

In January last year, firm hired partner Joel Seow from US rival Morgan Lewis & Bockius in Singapore to set up an investment funds practice.