Law firm first Singapore office for Simmonds Stewart
Alocal law firm with a bent for international business is looking to dip its toes into the ‘‘massive’’ Southeast Asian market by becoming one of the first New Zealand practices to open an office in Singapore.
Simmonds Stewart was founded in 2006 by corporate lawyer Andrew Simmonds and commercial lawyer Victoria Stewart.
The law firm decided to solely focus on technology in 2012, as it saw the sector as one of the country’s fastest growing business areas.
But Simmonds Stewart has gone one step further, having just received regulatory approval to open a branch office in Singapore and practise as a foreign law firm.
Chief executive Victoria Stewart, said it was one of the first New Zealand firms to establish a presence in Singapore.
About a quarter of the firm’s revenue already came from more than 40 Southeast Asian clients, but Simmonds Stewart saw a ‘‘massive opportunity’’ to expand.
‘‘We’re big on digital marketing and we do that very successfully but nothing can replace meeting somebody on the ground and being able to pop in for coffee,’’ said Stewart.
Simmonds Stewart was mostly involved with capital raisings and work related to that, typically for sums between US$10 and US$35 million.
Stewart said the firm had found companies in Southeast Asia followed ‘‘good lawyers’’ over purely local firms, particularly as these transactions were often based on international guidelines.
‘‘We’ve all worked internationally and they’d rather work with lawyers in New Zealand that can do a really good job, rather than worry about location.
‘‘We think our selling point is that we have second-to-none international experience in these types of transactions.’’
The other opportunity Simmonds Stewart saw was in the technology sector in Southeast Asia.
Stewart said more and more New Zealand businesses saw it as an attractive area in which to set up businesses.
‘‘It used to be the case that Kiwi businesses that were working in technology wanted to go to the United States and that was the bright star.’’
‘‘There’s a massive opportunity and market in Southeast Asia and we’re actually more closely aligned with that market.’’
Simmonds Stewart planned to ‘‘test the waters’’ with a soft launch early next year, sending one person to a shared office.
Four of the firm’s lawyers already regularly did work with Southeast Asian businesses.