Tilleke & Gibbins is proud to be one of the founding member firms for the newly launched Sino International Professional Advisory Council (SIPAC) platform. SIPAC is a global network of law firms that offer legal services tailored to the Chinese legal market. Legal advisors partnering with SIPAC provide Chinese companies with expert advice and guidance that enable them to conduct business in key jurisdictions around the world. SIPAC aims to create a platform that connects in-house counsel at Chinese companies with a wide range of legal services, to ensure that Chinese companies can conduct business overseas with maximum efficiency. By bringing together leading firms from different countries and industries, SIPAC offers a comprehensive solution for businesses seeking expert advice on doing business in different regions of the world. As a founding member firm of SIPAC, Tilleke & Gibbins brings a wealth of expertise and experience advising clients on complex legal matters across the region. The firm has been operating in Southeast Asia for over 130 years and has a team of over 220 lawyers, making it one of the largest in the region. With the launch of SIPAC, Tilleke & Gibbins and its fellow founding member firms are well-positioned to offer customized legal and regulatory recommendations that provide Chinese businesses with increased access to overseas markets.

Regional Southeast Asian law firm Tilleke & Gibbins is pleased to announce the promotion of two exceptional lawyers to the firm’s partnership, effective January 2023. Chuyen Hong Huu Le  is based in Tilleke & Gibbins’ Ho Chi Minh City office, where she is a trusted commercial adviser to some of the most prominent international companies doing business in Southeast Asia—particularly in the aviation, life sciences, and hospitality sectors. A seasoned and practical corporate attorney with a wide range of expertise, Chuyen is particularly adept at matters relating to foreign investment and market entry, labor and employment, commercial transactions and M&A, compliance and investigations, anti-bribery and anti-corruption, and antitrust and competition. Chuyen has particular expertise in the healthcare sector (including pharmaceuticals, medtech and consumer health), where she has advised many top multinational companies on doing business in Vietnam. She also has extensive experience in the aviation sector, and assists clients with aircraft leasing/financing, aircraft-related interest registrations, and repossession. Chuyen is a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional – International (CCEP-I) and is regularly engaged by companies to conduct compliance investigations and audits, as well as to provide compliance training sessions for staff and business partners. She has also built extensive in-house experience through secondments as chief legal counsel in Vietnam for the world’s largest three-sector healthcare company, and as an in-house counsel for Vietnam at a world-leading medical device company operating in orthodontics. In 2021, Chuyen was recognized in Euromoney’s Rising Stars Awards Asia-Pacific. Noppramart Thammateeradaycho  is an experienced Thai litigator with over 20 years’ experience of trial and appellate advocacy at all levels of the Thai courts, and of international arbitration including cases in Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, and Singapore. She is particularly sought after for her experience in arbitration and is known for her skilled navigation of both international

Thomas J. Treutler, partner and managing director of Tilleke & Gibbins’ Vietnam offices, was recently appointed co-chair of the IP Practice in the Far East Committee of AIPLA (American Intellectual Property Law Association). Thomas will serve a two-year term in this capacity, through October 2024. AIPLA, which celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2022, is a U.S.-based professional organization for intellectual property practitioners that provides professional support and promotes an effective and balanced IP system through advocacy, education, training, and community outreach. While the association’s primary constituency is American lawyers, AIPLA also welcomes international members and encourages the cross-border exchange of information on IP practices. The IP Practice in the Far East Committee, in particular, is a resource, forum, and network for AIPLA members interested in the IP laws and systems of Asian countries. In his role as co-chair, Thomas will help the committee build relationships with IP associations in countries in east Asia, including Vietnam, and provide research reports on the local IP laws and practices of those countries, while also sharing information on U.S. IP law and practice.

On December 8, Tilleke & Gibbins’ dispute resolution team in Bangkok delivered an in-person seminar on employment law at Latkrabang Industrial Estate. The event provided key legal updates on employment conditions and termination of employment. The first part of the presentation, which focused on employment conditions, was delivered by Chusert Supasitthumrong, partner and director of the firm’s dispute resolution department. During the session, he explained the scope of labor law in Thailand and shared ways employers can effectively change employment conditions and terms of employment.  He also touched upon labor disputes, submission of claims, negotiations, strikes and lockouts, and unfair termination and practices. The second topic, presented by Piyawat Vitooraporn, an associate of the same department, covered key considerations on termination of employment, including potential consequences, statutory termination payments, possible sanctions, and principles of unfair termination. This session at the Latkrabang Industrial Estate was part of a series of trainings and seminars that Tilleke & Gibbins’ employment specialists are organizing at industrial estates in Thailand to increase companies’ understanding of Thailand’s employment laws and the benefits of complying with these regulations.