News

Singapore, 1 July 2025 – WongPartnership is pleased to announce the next stage of its leadership transition. Ng Wai King, who has steered the Firm through a period of significant growth and innovation, will lead the Firm as Chairman and Senior Partner. Chou Sean Yu (who is currently the Firm’s Deputy Managing Partner) will be appointed as the Firm’s new Managing Partner with effect from 1 July 2025.

Sean Yu is a leading practitioner in banking and trade finance disputes, financial services regulatory and commercial disputes. His area of expertise includes domestic and international commercial arbitration. He is ranked as a leading commercial litigator in various legal directory publications and was the only Singapore lawyer recognised as a Global Elite Thought Leader in Banking by Lexology Index's Client Choice guide. He was also named in Thomson Reuters’ list of Stand-out Lawyers.

Sean Yu frequently sits as an arbitrator and is a member of the Panel of Arbitrators for various international arbitration centres, including the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board. He is a member of the Court of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and is a Chartered Arbitrator of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He is a Fellow of the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Singapore. Sean Yu is also appointed to the Specialist Mediator Panel of the Singapore International Mediation Centre.

Said Wai King, "I have every confidence in Sean Yu’s leadership and vision. He is the Head of our Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group and an essential part of our Executive Committee for many years and under his stewardship, the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group has grown in leaps and bounds. His ability to forge relations and strategic nous will be invaluable as we look towards future opportunities and challenges, both in Singapore and across Asia." 

Ng Wai King, a pre-eminent corporate lawyer, is widely regarded as a leading M&A and private equity lawyer in renowned legal publications including Chambers Asia-Pacific, Chambers Global and The Legal 500, among others. He has served as managing partner of the firm since 2013, initially as a Joint Managing Partner before assuming the role of sole Managing Partner in 2016. Under his watch, the Firm achieved many significant milestones, including winning the “Most Innovative ASEAN Law Firm” at the inaugural 2014 FT Innovative Lawyers Asia Pacific Awards, “Corporate Citizen Law Firm of the Year” at the 2016 ALB SE Asia Law Awards, “Best Law Firm in Singapore” at the 2019 FinanceAsia Country Awards, being the only law firm to be recognised as one of Singapore’s Best Employers in The Straits Times’ Singapore’s Best Employers Top 200 list in 2022, being awarded the top firm in Asia Pacific for “Innovation in Training and Development” at the 2023 FT Innovative Lawyers Asia Pacific Awards, and clinching the “Singapore Corporate & Finance Domestic Law Advisers of the Year” at the 2025 Chambers Asia-Pacific and Greater China Region Awards.

A keen advocate of technology, Wai King’s vision led to WongPartnership becoming the first Singapore law firm to harness legal technology in 2017. This commitment to innovation continues to shape the firm’s future, with recent initiatives, such as its partnership with Harvey - a generative legal AI platform – making it the first Singapore law firm to do so, and its collaboration with Thomson Reuters on a pilot for CoCounsel, a generative AI assistant for legal professionals. These efforts reinforce WongPartnership’s position to be at the forefront of legal technology in Singapore.

Said Sean Yu, “I am grateful for the trust placed in me by Wai King and my fellow partners in being given this opportunity to lead the Firm. This is a proud personal milestone for me, having started in the Firm as an associate in 1997 and learning the ropes from luminaries such as Wong Meng Meng SC, the late Alvin Yeo SC and Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara. Wai King’s leadership over the past 12 years has seen our Firm buttress our already strong legal rankings and establish ourselves as a leader in innovation in the industry, and I hope to be able to build on this growth momentum. I am pleased that he will continue as our Chairman and Senior Partner as his experience will be a key pillar of our leadership.”

To read more about Chou Sean Yu, click here.

ABOUT WONGPARTNERSHIP LLP

Headquartered in Singapore, WongPartnership is a market leader and one of the largest law firms in the country. Through our WPG regional law network, our clients benefit from unparalleled legal expertise and tailored solutions across Asia and the Middle East, encompassing key markets such as Abu Dhabi, China, Dubai, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

For media enquiries, please contact:

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

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