SINGAPORE, 15 September 2011 – More than 70 international leading lawyers from the Pacific Rim countries will meet here in October to thrash out global legal issues relating to data privacy rights, emerging issues in international arbitration as well as regional insolvency and banking work-out strategies.

They will participate in the 50th Pacific Rim Advisory Council (PRAC) Conference, from Oct 15 to 18, at the Ritz Carlton Millenia hotel. 

This 50th edition of the PRAC Conference coincides with the 150th anniversary of the host, Rodyk & Davidson, Singapore’s first and oldest law firm and one of the founding members of PRAC.

Top global brand name law firms like Hogan Lovells, Gide Loyrette Nouel, Clayton Utz, King & Wood and Tozzini & Freire, will participate.


Founded in 1984, PRAC is an international law firm association representing a strategic alliance of more than 29 independent law firms who are represented in more than 45 cities and whose clients have significant business activities across the Pacific Rim.


PRAC holds bi-annual conferences to communicate on legal issues that influence and shape international businesses.
The introductory speeches for the PRAC conference will be delivered by Philip Jeyaretnam, S.C., Managing Partner of Rodyk & Davidson and S. Sivanesan, Partner at Rodyk, previous chairman of PRAC and chairman of the Conference organising committee.

‘Since the 1990s, our clients are increasingly facing more complex legal issues and challenges from the internationalisation of businesses. These are often multi-disciplinary and transcend several legal jurisdictions. As the world gets smaller, the business world gets more interconnected. The Conference will explore the most current issue in Singapore of data privacy and how it impacts business and consumers. Further, PRAC will address the best seat for international arbitration among emerging financial centres, be it Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Sydney, or Sao Paolo. Quite often, parties in an international transaction may not appreciate the need to carefully consider the seat of arbitration. This could possibly arise because parties would rather focus on the potential business and commercial benefit in the transaction than the dispute issues which may occur,’ said Mr Sivanesan.

Of PRAC 2011, Mr Jeyaretnam said, “It is a significant honour for Singapore, the host country, and a double celebration for PRAC and Rodyk. The PRAC Conference celebrates its 50th edition while Rodyk, Singapore’s first and oldest law firm, will mark our 150th anniversary.”

Mr Jeyaretnam said with globalisation giving rise to more complex and diverse cross-border transactions and litigation, this PRAC Conference will further examine the changing face of the legal industry where national and international law firms have to refresh survival strategies to address the challenges of a global market. He said, “PRAC will also tackle banking credit workouts in Asia; how they work and don’t work. In all, we can expect robust discussion to drive collective strategies,” said Mr Jeyaretnam.

PRAC will hold a closed door, invitation-only seminar on data privacy, titled ‘Latest developments in data privacy – the public fights back’ for clients and guests of the participating international law firms.

About Pacific Rim Advisory Council
The Pacific Rim Advisory Council is an international law firm association with a unique strategic alliance within the global legal community providing for the exchange of professional information among its 29 top tier independent member law firms. Since 1984, Pacific Rim Advisory Council (PRAC) member firms have provided their respective clients with resources and expertise on the legal and business issues facing not only Asia but the broader Pacific Rim region. It currently has over 12,000 lawyers practising in more than 45 key cities around the world, including Latin America, Middle East, Europe, Asia, Australia and North America.

About Rodyk & Davidson
Rodyk & Davidson LLP, established 1861, enjoys the distinction of being Singapore’s first and oldest law practice. It celebrates its 150th year as one of Singapore’s largest full service law firms in 2011. Rodyk’s team of about 170 lawyers serves clients in the practice areas of corporate, finance, litigation & arbitration, real estate, intellectual property and technology. Rodyk is headquartered in Singapore with an office in Shanghai and an associated office in Jakarta.