Meet the members of our Asia-Pacific focus group

Avik leads the Employment Law Practice Group of Khaitan & Co. Avik is an alumnus of the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) and is well known for his employment law expertise across all industry sectors. Avik is also very well regarded for his strategic advice to the legal and HR functions of multinational corporations in relation to employment risk mitigation/management and related best practices in Indian markets. While Avik’s work primarily revolves around all facets of employment law, he also frequently advises and assists foreign corporations in entering Indian markets and setting up their local operations across India, especially with reference to compliance with local labour legislations. Prior to Khaitan & Co, Avik had the benefit of working both with an in-house team of one of India’s largest technology companies as well as with one of the largest full-service law firms in Bangalore, wherein he established their employment law practice. Avik has been ranked by Chambers and Partners, since 2011, as one of India’s highly recommended employment lawyers.

Partner Thomas Choo leads the employment, immigration and pensions practice at Clyde & Co Clasis Singapore. As a key member of the global employment group, Thomas regularly advises on a wide range of non-contentious employment and immigration matters, including reviewing and drafting employment and service agreements and severance packages, establishment of complex incentivisation schemes for senior executives, and advising on Singapore’s laws and regulations in the area of employment, immigration and industrial relations. Thomas has published widely and is frequently invited to speak at international conferences on corporate, transactional, data protection, employment and immigration topics.

Michael is the Chairman and Senior Team Leader of Harmers Workplace Lawyers, and has 40 years’ experience in workplace relations. During this time he has provided legal and strategic advice in a number of major enterprise bargaining and change management initiatives and has built up extensive experience and expertise in all areas of workplace relations and safety law. This has included the conduct of some of the leading cases in Australia on sex discrimination and sexual harassment.

Michael’s background includes managing a major industrial law practice as a partner in one of Australia’s largest law firms and previously having been:

• Research Officer to Presidential members of the then Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission (undertaking legal, economic and arbitral research and advice work initially for Sir John Moore and later Mr Justice Maddern);
• Solicitor for the New South Wales Department of Industrial Relations (advice and prosecution work in industrial relations, employment and occupational health and safety);
• Industrial Officer for a private sector employer (oil industry); and
• Research Officer for one of Australia’s largest unions.
• Michael has extensive advocacy and negotiation experience in relevant Federal and State Tribunals.

His practice places special emphasis on the preventive law approach in assisting clients in the informed management of a range of human rights, WHS and employment issues. Michael is also recognised for his specialist advice concerning the employment of senior executives.

Mr. Yamashima is a partner of Atsumi & Sakai and heads the firm’s labour and employment team. He has significant experience in labour and employment law, practicing for more than fifteen years. He advises and represents multinational companies on all aspects of Japanese employment law. He also has experience in antitrust and competition, compliance and government regulations.

Amy Zhang a multi-award winning Partner at Harmers Workplace Lawyers. Having joined the firm in 2012, she has built a distinguished career and is recognised as a leading employment lawyer in Australia.

Over the years, Amy has worked across a wide range of practice areas, and has expertise in areas including restraint of trade, sexual harassment, discrimination, regulatory investigations/prosecutions, WHS, performance management, terminations, redundancies, collective and industrial matters, and contract and policy drafting. She has successfully acted in a number of significant and complex test cases, including at High Court level, and is well-versed in running and defending complex litigation, as well as providing commercial and practical day-to-day advice to clients. She acts for corporate, government, industrial association, not-for-profit, and individual clients.

Amy is a regular commentator and contributor to industry publications and the media, where she shares her insights on employment law and law reform. She has also lectured in law at both the University of Sydney and the University of Technology, Sydney.

Amy also sits on the L&E Global board.

In addition to her professional experience, Amy has an extensive background in volunteer work, having contributed to organisations such as the Australian Human Rights Centre, the Students Legal Education Group,  Amnesty Australia, the Asian Australian Lawyers Association, the Law Society of New South Wales and various community legal centres.

Amy holds a combined Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree from UNSW, which she completed with distinction. She is a member of the Law Society of New South Wales and is authorised to practice in all Australian jurisdictions.

Carol Zhu’s practice focuses on all aspects of labour and employment-related matters, including establishment and enforcement of company policies, HR documentation, hiring and termination, employee compensation and benefits, mass redundancies, labour dispatch and transition, cross-border employment issues, labour dispute resolution, employee transition issues in mergers, acquisitions and restructurings, trade union matters, collective bargaining, global mobility and immigration, investigation into employment related misconducts and training, as well as due diligence of HR compliance. Before beginning her law firm practice, Carol accumulated more than ten years of experience working as head of HR in Asia and China for several international companies, where she handled HR and employee relations for companies employing thousands of workers.

Rashel is the Deputy Head of the Labor Practice Group and a Partner of Villaraza & Angangco Law.

She has an extensive experience with domestic and international clients on all aspects of employment and industrial relations, including:

• general employment advisory and assistance,
• employee investigation,
• employment and industrial relations disputes,
• international transfers and global mobility matters,
• large-scale reductions in workforce and corporate restructures and
• the employment aspects associated with corporate transactions.

She regularly assists in navigating complex contentious and non-contentious employment matters faced by multinational companies with presence in the Philippines.

She strategises with employers to foster early resolution of disputes with due consideration to the clients’ business realities and plans.

Al is the head of the Labor and Employment Practice Group and the Managing Partner of Villaraza & Angangco Law.

With more than 30 years of experience in litigation, dispute resolution, labor, and commercial law, Al has successfully defended billion-dollar businesses in various labor and corporate suits in and out of the country.

He regularly advises domestic and multinational companies on various aspects of Philippine employment law, such as significant issues connected with large-scale corporate restructuring, retrenchment, negotiations with labor organizations, and formulation and implementation of far-reaching company policies.

Gary Chen is a partner at Lee and Li, Attorneys-at-Law. His core practice areas include corporate investment, mergers & acquisitions, regulatory & investigations, antitrust, employment and dispute resolution.

Gary has skills and experience in providing comprehensive legal services to support foreign investors, including establishment, restructuring, organization and implementation of investment projects. He is experienced in advising on wide spectrum of transactions as well as global restructuring projects for many industry sectors and acted as lead counsel in many high profile transactions. Gary is also experienced in handling matters in relation to antitrust, bribery and corruption, fraud, and other misconduct and represented many clients in cartel investigations before local and foreign regulators and also led many misconduct and FCPA investigations and represented many clients in courts and before administrative agencies for employment matters.

As a seasoned litigator, Gary is also experienced in handling complicated disputes relating to high value M&A deals and other transactions. Recently, he won a milestone case before the Constitutional Court which recognizes and protects attorney-client privilege in Taiwan.

Gloria specializes in employment law, including advising on employment and privacy/data protection issues, conducting disciplinary investigations, sexual harassment investigation, handling employment related disputes including mediation and litigation regarding post-termination and occupational injury issues. She has also been continuously advising on early retirement, employee transfer and mass redundancy issues as a result of business transfer/restructuring. She is also familiar with IPR-related license, negotiation and dispute resolution. She has represented famous domestic and foreign enterprises in patent infringement cases.

Gloria has been providing legal consultation on corporate compliance for domestic and foreign enterprises for years. She also has substantial experience in providing comprehensive legal services regarding corporate matters such as the drafting and review of various contracts and negotiation of commercial disputes, etc.

Patrick Chu is a member of the Taiwan Bar Association. He is an experienced corporate and litigation lawyer at Lee and Li, and his main practice areas include dispute resolution, insolvency, consumer protection, competition law, labor law and M&A transactions.

Patrick represents many international financial institutions and companies handling compliance and general corporate matters, as well as civil actions and arbitrations. Patrick also assists international TV-content providers and media businesses with regulatory issues and contract reviews. Such extensive experience in handling disputes and litigation and insights from having advised multinational companies in various industries enable Patrick to offer his clients sophisticated legal solutions.

In addition to handling English matters, Patrick worked for Japan Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu Law Firm as a visiting lawyer and is very experienced in Japan related legal affairs and Japanese matters.