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Clifford Chance announces five new counsel, including lateral hire for Asia Pacific

1 May 2012

Clifford Chance announces five new counsel, including lateral hire for Asia Pacific

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance today announces the hire of real estate and finance specialist Keerati Kanjanawenich to our Bangkok office. He is joined by four senior lawyers who have been promoted to counsel in Asia Pacific, effective 1 May.

Previously, Keerati was head of legal and compliance at Double A and National Power Supply in Bangkok. He has also worked for Linklaters, Norton Rose and in-house for Lehman Brothers and Nomura. Keerati has gained a wealth of transactional experience throughout his career and will be able to provide specialised advice on Thai law. Keerati graduated with first class honours from Thailand's Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, and completed two LLMs, one from Georgetown University in 1997 and the other from New York University in 1998.

The other new counsel are the following:

  • Yusuke ABE, Counsel, Finance, Tokyo
  • Alan GIBSON, Counsel, Corporate, Perth
  • Kabir SINGH, Counsel, L&DR, Singapore
  • Paul WEE Ei Don, Counsel, Finance, Beijing


"I'm delighted to announce this new group of counsel for Asia Pacific," said Peter Charlton, Clifford Chance's Regional Managing Partner, Asia Pacific. "They all have excellent legal practice experience and will bring strong, talented leadership to their new roles.

Biographies of newly appointed counsel, photographs available upon request:

Yusuke ABE, Finance, Tokyo
Yusuke joined Clifford Chance in 2003 and specialises in the finance and banking sector. He often handles high profile deals involving overseas investment finance, structured finance, acquisition finance and real estate finance, as well as providing regulatory advice on these matters. Recently Yusuke advised on Osaka Gas' LNG purchase and equity interest in Australia Gorgon LNG Project and the refinancing of Intelligence acquisition. Yusuke has worked in the Hong Kong and Tokyo offices. He received his LLB from Waseda University, attended the Legal Research and Training Institute of the Supreme Court of Japan, and obtained his LLM from Duke University Law School.

Alan GIBSON, Corporate, Perth
As a member of the Energy and Resources practice in the Perth office, Alan has advised on a range of significant energy matters including renewable energy M&A transactions, project development and regulatory/competition issues. Recently, Alan was involved in advising Verve Energy as the foundation customer for APA's over $100 million expansion of the Mondarra natural gas storage facility in Western Australia. Alan was a senior associate at Cochrane Lishman Carson Luscombe prior to the merger with Clifford Chance in May 2011. He has also worked as in-house legal counsel at Alinta and Moly Mines.  Alan obtained his law and economics degrees from Murdoch University.


Kabir SINGH, L&DR, Singapore
Kabir has extensive experience in international arbitration, litigation and contentious regulatory matters, and has acted both as counsel and arbitrator. He speaks regularly at conferences and seminars; most recently at the Arbitration India Conference organised by the SIAC in New Delhi, and also at the Clifford Chance Client Seminar on Derivatives Litigation in Singapore.  Prior to joining Clifford Chance in 2009, Kabir worked in Drew & Napier's litigation and international arbitration department for almost six years, before moving to Watson, Farley & Williams' international arbitration team. Kabir has a law degree from the National University of Singapore and is qualified to practice as a solicitor both in Singapore and England. 

Paul WEE Ei Don, Finance, Beijing
Paul has over ten years experience advising international and Chinese banks and financial institutions on project financings within the mining and resources and oil and gas sectors, buyer's export credit and leveraged acquisition financings, and debt capital market transactions. Recently he advised on the US$1.2 billion Karara Iron Ore project financing deal. Prior to joining Clifford Chance's Beijing office in 2008, Paul practiced with Corrs Chambers Westgarth in Sydney and with Shearn Delamore in Kuala Lumpur. He is co-author of a 700-page book on the debt capital markets practice in Malaysia. He graduated from the University of Melbourne with a double degree in Law and Commerce.