Veteran and young lawyers in various fields honoured

A veteran senior counsel in a storied firm and a young lawyer in a year-old firm were both named in a list of the 20 top-rated lawyers in the ST-Statista Singapore’s Best Law Firms 2025 survey.

Senior Counsel Tan Tee Jim made the cut in the area of intellectual property, while lawyer Mark Yeo hit the mark for criminal law.

The list – not in order of merit – is a new addition to the annual survey, and was drawn from participants’ responses.

The lawyers on the list had the highest overall number of recommendations from clients and peers, across multiple fields. The survey highlighted their strongest legal field and did not include every area in which they were recommended.

No criteria were suggested, but it is believed participants considered factors like competency skills, referrals by others while hiring lawyers, and affordability.

Senior Counsel Tan of Lee & Lee credited his clients, associates and colleagues for their support during his 44 years of law practice.

“I thank them and without their support, I would not have been able to receive this rare honour,” he said.

“Stay relevant, be curious and keep in touch with legal developments – these are the principal attributes for achieving any measure of success in the field of intellectual property law. Also, integrity, honesty and capacity for hard work are a given,” he added.

Mr Yeo, who at age 33 is the youngest on the list, credits his rise to making sure he and his colleagues have a good work-life balance.

Dismissing the gloom and doom of young lawyers leaving the profession, and backed by his own exposure at the Attorney-General’s Chambers and experience in a private firm, he started Fortress Law Corporation with Mr James Ow Yong and Mr Trent Ng in November 2023.

“We started this firm because we believe that it is possible for young practitioners like us (we are all well under 40) to provide exceptional legal services to our clients, yet to do so in a way that is sustainable for ourselves as lawyers,” Mr Yeo said.

“We saw building our own firm as the best way to create the law firm that we ourselves wanted to practise in.”

The firm of seven lawyers covers a wide range of practice areas in criminal and civil litigation.

“While there was certainly risk involved since we did not have any recognisable or established senior practitioner with us, we took a chance on ourselves to be able to compete in the legal marketplace,” Mr Yeo added.

The father of two wanted to be able to balance work commitments with parenthood, and said the recognition affirmed “our belief that it is possible to provide great legal services without burning ourselves out at the same time, and spurs us on in this journey”.

Oon & Bazul’s managing partner Bazul Ashhab, who together with Mr Keith Han from the firm was also named in the list of top-rated lawyers, hailed the list for “celebrating lawyers who have set consistently high standards in their field”.

He was chosen for the field of arbitration & dispute resolution, while Mr Han was chosen for insolvency & restructuring.

Expressing honour in being recognised this way, Mr Ashhab noted the achievement comes atop the firm’s placement in eight law fields of the Best Law Firms 2025 list.

“I am incredibly proud of our firm’s recognition and this accolade reflects the dedication, skill and hard work of our entire team, and it serves as a testament to our ability to handle high-value, complex and cross-border matters,” he said.

Source: Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction.

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