With a strong background in advising both lenders and corporates on the full spectrum of financing transactions, Zhi Chao has been involved in numerous significant cross-border deals with multi-jurisdictional elements. Known by clients across South East Asia for both his business and legal acumen, he is adept at communicating effectively with commercial parties and legal practitioners alike, consistently delivering commercially-minded solutions on complex and high-value transactions.

In 2023, Singapore Business Review, the leading magazine serving the country’s business community, recognised Zhi Chao as one of Singapore’s 30 most influential young lawyers under the age of 40. He has also been acknowledged as for his expertise by the Legal 500. Prior to joining Penningtons Manches Cooper in 2025, Zhi Chao was a partner at two other Singapore-based law firms.

Her expertise spans funding and security arrangements, including bilateral and syndicated loan facilities, equity funding, intercreditor arrangements, development and off-balance sheet funding, derivatives, intra-group loans, security trusts, joint venture arrangements and the restructuring of entire loan portfolios.

As a capital markets funding specialist, Naomi has advised clients on bond issuances worth billions of pounds. Her experience includes private placements, public bond issues and setting up, issuing under and updating EMTN programmes. She also regularly advises on complex group restructurings, including loan portfolio due diligence and lender consent processes.

Naomi is a leading adviser in green, social and sustainable finance. She supports clients on green loans, sustainability linked loans and private placements and provides ESG training, impact reporting guidance and compliance advice. She contributed to the development of the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing and the LMA Sustainability Linked Loan Principles for Real Estate Finance. Naomi also sits on the City of London Law Society’s ESG committee and is a frequent speaker on ESG and sustainable finance.

As well as regularly advising on pre- and post-nuptial agreements and cohabitation agreements, Anna represents many international individuals and families and has significant expertise in international relocation cases. She represented the father in the reported case of Re C (Permission to Remove from Jurisdiction) and the mother in Re D (Leave to Remove: Shared Residence). In addition, Anna represented the father in the landmark internal relocation of Re C which determined there should be no difference in the approach of the courts to internal and international relocation cases. She co-wrote Relocation: A Practical Guide, the first comprehensive guide to the law concerning relocation of children (second edition published 2016) and is also the General Editor of Practical Law’s Global Guide to the International Relocation of Children.

In September 2019, she was profiled in Spear’s Magazine as ‘family law’s new superstar’, and she features in the Tatler Address Book in its family law advisory section. Anna is a leading individual in The Legal 500 and a highly ranked lawyer in the Chambers family law directories, including Chambers High Net Worth. She is a ‘Top Recommended’ family lawyer in The Spear’s 500 and appears as a top-rated lawyer and ‘Power Woman’ in the Citywealth Leaders List; ‘one of the star performers of her generation, destined to be at the forefront of family law for many years to come.’ Anna is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL) and leads the IAFL’s Relocation of Children Committee. She is a member of Resolution’s International Committee and a collaborative lawyer. In March 2023, Anna won the ‘Inspirational Woman of the Year’ Gold Award at the Citywealth Powerwomen Awards.

He is regularly involved in Employment Tribunal hearings, including those relating to complex unlawful discrimination and whistleblowing claims, and has assisted with appeals to the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Other areas of his expertise include helping to resolve boardroom disputes, advising on TUPE, working with businesses on the management of redundancy and restructuring exercises, and supporting employers during trade union disputes. Eugene has also assisted senior executives with the negotiation of service agreements and high-value severance deals and has provided strategic advice on team moves. He acts in post-termination restrictive covenant disputes, some of which have involved High Court injunction proceedings.

A member of the Employment Lawyers Association, Eugene is co-author of Drafting Service Agreements, a book published by Bloomsbury Professional. He regularly speaks at conferences and training events.

Her work includes regularly advising on day-to-day employment matters and HR issues including employee relations issues, grievances and disciplinary matters, together with regulatory matters in the education and financial services sectors. In addition, she advises on whistleblowing complaints, subject access requests, removal of senior directors and employees and the application of TUPE on the transfer of business or commercial outsourcing agreements. The wide range of Gemma’s work includes acting for both national and international organisations and supporting employers in relation to litigation at the Employment Tribunal, Employment Appeal Tribunals and the Court of Appeal. She also advises on the enforceability and applicability of post-termination restrictions, including injunctive action, and provides corporate support in relation to business and asset sales acquisitions.

As well as businesses, Gemma advises independent schools and academies on a number of HR and education-specific issues, including safeguarding responsibilities and compliance requirements, and regularly writes articles in education publications such as the ISBA Bursar’s Review and ISA publications. She provides training to schools and employers on employment updates, safeguarding requirements, and management of staff, including performance management. Listed as a leading partner in the Legal 500 and ranked in Chambers UK, Gemma has been described as providing excellent advice and achieving a workable solution for all parties and engendering a high degree of trust.

Aside from casualty-related work, Johan advises regularly on dry shipping matters relating to contracts of carriage and coverage issues, including misdelivery claims, charterparty issues and marine policy disputes. He has substantial experience handling arbitration proceedings in Singapore, Hong Kong and London, and he regularly receives instructions from container lines, dry bulk and tanker owners as well as charterers, P&I clubs and H&M insurers.

Johan has been highlighted by the Legal 500 Asia Pacific, Chambers Asia and Chambers Global and is ‘praised by interviewees for his ability to work across various jurisdictions and legal cultures’. Clients have also commented that ‘he manages his cases in an exemplary fashion, fights hard and does it with respect and vigour’.

Transactions that Richard works on are typically complex, strategic, or high value in nature, and many of them have an international dimension, particularly North America and the EU. He brings project management skills, as well as being hands on, to deliver projects to the highest standards. Richard has a particular focus on the business support, technology, and energy sectors, where he is able to utilise his industry-specific insights. A trusted adviser to many long-standing entrepreneurs and businesses, Richard is also a non-executive director for Claverley Group Limited, which has reinvented itself since 2018 from traditional print media, such as the Express & Star newspaper, to a more modern communications focus.

Ranked as a leading individual by Chambers UK and the Legal 500, Richard has been described by the directories as ‘a seasoned and high-quality professional’ and ‘an excellent lawyer’. Clients say that Richard is not only ‘very experienced, knowledgeable and totally trustworthy’, but he is also ‘technically strong with very pragmatic, client-focused advice’.

He advises businesses throughout their life cycle, from start-up or spin-out, through multiple funding rounds and ultimate exits. James also works with clients on employee share incentive programmes, ongoing corporate governance and other compliance needs, and generally how to achieve and maintain transaction-readiness. His deep knowledge of clients and the long-term relationships he establishes help pave the way for successful transactions.

The breadth of James’s work means his experience includes complex and high-value mergers and acquisitions, often with cross-border elements, particularly UK-US deals. The venture capital funding transactions he advises on range from pre-seed and seed stage, through series C fundraisings and beyond. James joined the firm in 2001 after training in the City of London. He has a first-class degree in law from Lincoln College, Oxford, and an LLM from Christ’s College, Cambridge. He is recognised as a leading individual in the Legal 500.