Singapore, 27 February 2025 – Rajah & Tann Singapore announced today that Ng Kim Beng will take over from Patrick Ang as Managing Partner with effect from 1 April 2025.
Mr Ng, Deputy Managing Partner since 2022, was nominated by the firm’s Executive Committee, its highest decision-making body, and elected by the firm’s equity partners. An experienced counsel in international arbitration and construction and projects, he assumes leadership at a time of unparalleled regional growth for many of Rajah & Tann Singapore’s practices, and amid the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to shape the future practice of law.
Mr Ang, an international Band 1 lawyer in insolvency and corporate restructuring, will step down after serving two terms as Managing Partner. He will remain Vice-Chairman of Rajah & Tann Asia (RTA), Southeast Asia’s largest legal network with more than 1,000 fee earners. Mr Lee Eng Beng, SC, will continue as Chairman of RTA.
Kelvin Poon, Senior Counsel, will continue as Deputy Managing Partner. He heads the firm’s International Arbitration practice.
Mr Ang said: “This is a deliberate, planned and progressive leadership transition. Kim Beng has been closely involved in day-to-day management as well as in strategic planning in the last five years.
“He embodies the Rajah & Tann culture and commitment to excellence in client representation, in recruiting and retaining talent, and investments in legal technologies.
“He has inspired his peers towards shared goals and most importantly, helping the firm maintain exceptional standard of client care.”
Mr Ng, 53, has been with Rajah & Tann for 24 years and advises on complex, cross-border investments and projects in industries ranging from construction, renewables and power, oil and gas, and petrochemicals. He is widely recognised as a leading construction and international arbitration lawyer in legal publications such as Chambers Asia–Pacific, The Legal 500, IFLR 1000, Best Lawyers, Benchmark Litigation and Lexology Index. In a recent matter, he successfully represented clients in the arbitration of a US$2 billion claim for the construction of a thermal power plant project.
Mr Ng also helped establish the Law Society of Singapore’s Building and Construction Law Committee, serving as its founding chairman. He is a member of the Singapore Mediation Centre’s Construction Adjudicators Accreditation Committee and a member of the Board of Directors at Mount Alvernia Hospital.
Mr Ng said: “I am honoured and humbled to succeed Patrick whose leadership has propelled Rajah & Tann Singapore to pole positions not just in Singapore but also in the region. The firm’s regional practice has grown tremendously in the last decade, and we have also widened our reach to serve clients in China, Japan, South Asia, Brunei and the Middle East.
“Taking the reins from Patrick and working closely with Kelvin, I will build on his vision of a firm distinguished by dedication to client service, ethics and integrity and committed to the professional fulfilment and personal growth of our partners, lawyers and staff. We will continue striving to best serve our clients, and seek to leverage on technology to drive efficiency.”
Rajah & Tann Singapore is one of the largest full-service law firms in Singapore and Southeast Asia, with market leading practices in M&A, dispute resolution, international arbitration, shipping, insolvency, restructuring, capital markets, competition law, corporate & commercial, among others.
Mr Ang oversaw the firm’s move to Marina One, a modern office designed to reduce hierarchy, foster collaboration, productivity and employees’ well-being. A key goal, he said, is to groom a generation of “T-shaped lawyers” who can combine deep legal expertise with a broad range of business and interpersonal skills, including being able to think holistically, regionally and technologically.
R&T’s regionalisation drive, a decade-long journey that took hard work, determination and not just entrepreneurial but partnering spirit, has made great strides since it was officially launched in September 2014. RTA is today greater than the sum of its parts, bringing together a network of top-tier law firms in 13 cities across ten Asian countries.
R&T opened its second China office last year to cater to the rise in trade and investments between China and Southeast Asia as clients (especially Chinese technology companies based in Shenzhen) look to regional firms with cross-jurisdictional capabilities.
Rajah & Tann Technologies, the firm’s legal tech subsidiary, and Rajah & Tann Cybersecurity grew during Mr Ang’s tenure, and help businesses to respond to a more digitally-and-data-driven economy, one where AI, block chain, smart contracts, and cyber security, among others, present not only technological challenges but also legal risks.
About Rajah & Tann Asia – https://www.rajahtannasia.com/
Rajah & Tann Asia brings together leading law firms in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam, with each offering the highest standards of service to locally based clients while collectively having the capability to handle the most complex regional and cross-border transactions and to provide excellent legal counsel seamlessly across the region. The network’s geographical reach also includes Singapore-based regional desks focusing on Brunei, Japan, and South Asia. With over 1,000 fee earners, all working together towards one shared goal, we are lawyers who know Asia and who give our clients home advantage.
