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Singapore, 21 October 2020 – Smitha Menon, Partner of big four Singapore law firm WongPartnership LLP, has become the first Singapore lawyer to win the Woman of the Year in Restructuring (Asia) Award (“WOYRA”) conferred by the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (IWIRC).

The WOYRA award recognises women in the restructuring & insolvency industry who have inspired and skilfully led a restructuring team, displayed exceptional leadership, made an extraordinary contribution to insolvency and restructuring and shown evidence of “going above and beyond” so as to have made a difference.

Smitha is one of the leaders in the firm’s Restructuring & Insolvency and Special Situations Advisory Practices. At under 40 years of age, Smitha has advised on some of the most high profile and complex restructuring matters involving prominent organisations such as the Noble Group, Emas Chiyoda, Hyflux, Wirecard Asia Holdings and the Xihe Holdings Group. She has been instrumental in the growth and development of the firm’s practices and mentoring of younger lawyers which eventually led to the firm being ranked as the top Asian headquartered restructuring & insolvency law firm in the 2017 inaugural edition of the Global Restructuring Review’s Top 30 restructuring firms worldwide. Today, the firm’s expertise in restructuring and insolvency continues to grow from strength to strength. This month, the firm was recognised as Restructuring and Insolvency Law Firm of the Year at the 2020 ALB SE Asia Law Awards.

Said WongPartnership’s Chairman & Senior Partner, Alvin Yeo, Senior Counsel, “We are very proud of Smitha’s achievements and of her contributions to not just the firm, but also to the wider legal community. This prestigious award is borne of Smitha’s unwavering pursuit of excellence in her work and is testament to the highest standards that Smitha and WongPartnership subscribe to.”

Smitha’s expertise has been recognised in various publications including The Legal 500, Who’s Who Legal, Chambers Asia-Pacific – Asia-Pacific's Leading Lawyers for Business, The Global Restructuring Review's 40 under 40 list (2016) of the world's leading restructuring lawyers, IFLR 1000: Financial & Corporate, Best Lawyers, Asialaw Leading Lawyers, Lawyer Monthly – Women in Law and Asia Legal Business' 40 under 40 list (2018). She is the only Singapore practitioner below 40 ranked in Who’s Who Legal for Restructuring & Insolvency (2019).

She is also the youngest Singapore Court member and the first female Singapore Court member to be appointed to the ICC International Court of Arbitration. She has an active international arbitration practice and is the Chair of the ICC Singapore Arbitration Group.

As part of her win, Smitha will receive US$1,000 to be donated to a charity of her choice. Smitha has chosen Daughters of Tomorrow, a not-for-profit organisation whose mission is to facilitate livelihood opportunities for underprivileged women and support them in achieving financial independence and enable social mobility for their families.

View Smitha’s full bio here. Previous recipients of the WOYR award include Jacqueline Walsh, Borrelli Walsh, Hong Kong in 2019 and Marie Rowbotham, PwC, Hong Kong in 2018.

To view IWIRC’s press release, please click on the link here.

About WongPartnership

Headquartered in Singapore, WongPartnership is an award-winning law firm and one of the largest in the country. As a leading provider of legal services, we offer our clients access to our offices in China and Myanmar, and in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, through the member firms of WPG, a regional law network. Together, WPG offers the expertise of over 400 professionals to meet the needs of our clients throughout the region.

About WPG

As part of WongPartnership's 25th anniversary celebrations, the firm has launched WPG, a regional law network. WongPartnership brings together a group of five prominent law firms across seven countries in a collaboration to provide clients with legal services in ASEAN, China and the Middle East. The WPG law network comprises WongPartnership and its member firms Al Aidarous Advocates and Legal Consultants (Middle East), Foong & Partners (Malaysia), Makes & Partners (Indonesia) and ZGLaw (Philippines). Doing business together is not only better, it is now easier.

WPG. Winning Partnerships. Leading Excellence.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Jarrod Ng
Chief Operating Officer
DID: +65 6416 8095
Mobile: +65 8268 3279
Email: jarrod.ng@wongpartnership.com

Debbie Ng
Associate Director – Marketing & Communications
DID: +65 6416 8066
Mobile: +65 9061 2088
Email: debbie.ng@wongpartnership.com