Jeff Leong

Meet Our Team

Jeff Leong Pak Lim

Senior Partner

Jeff is the senior partner of Messrs Jeff Leong, Poon & Wong, Malaysia. He is also serving with the Law Association For Asia And The Pacific (LAWASIA), the peak body for national bar associations and law societies in more than 40 jurisdictions in the Asia Pacific region as Chair of the Corporate, Securities & Investment Law and Co Chair of the Belt And Road Initiative Standing Committees. He leads a Special Projects team, structure and run complex M&A deals, resolve critical problems faced by clients such as crisis management, regulatory investigations, shareholder fights and board tussles and advise founders, business owners and senior management on business transactions. With numerous IPOs and M&A deals over 30 years, he is often consulted by clients in Shipping and Logistics, Technology and Digital Economy, Oil & Gas and other heavily regulated industries on complex, urgent and critical matters. Jeff has been included on Asia Business Law Journal’s A List of Malaysia’s Top 100 Lawyers and Legal 500’s Hall of Fame for Corporate and M&A for Malaysia. He is also an accredited Mediator of the Malaysian Mediation Centre, the International Commercial Mediation Centre For the Belt And Road Initiative, Benchmark Chambers International & Benchmark International Mediation Centre, Shenzhen Qianhai International Commercial Mediation Centre, CCPIT/CCOIC Hangzhou Mediation Centre and Hainan International Arbitration Court. Jeff founded JLPW in 1999 during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis with 2 other founders, and acted in corporate rescues and mergers of banks, insurance companies and stockbrokers to resuscitate the bleeding Malaysian economy, working on some of the major corporate rescues of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Affiliations with Deacons Graham & James 2001- 2012 and Dacheng (now Dentons China) 2012-2016 quickly followed. In 2012, Jeff founded JLPW CROSSBORDER ASIA, a regional law firm network. In JLPW, he developed the current due diligence system adopted and used by industry participants in capital markets transactions in 1999. He also assisted the review of the 2020 Due Diligence Guide for Malaysia with investment bankers, accountants, capital market lawyers and other industry participants. Jeff currently lead JLPW’s Japan Services Group, assisting Japanese companies venturing into Malaysia and South East Asia with market entry strategies, M&As and post-merger integration advisory together with a Japanese speaking team. He is also leading our China Services Group and regional JLPW Belt and Road Services Group assisting Chinese companies investing and undertaking Belt and Road projects in Malaysia and other ASEAN countries. As leader, strategist, chief talent scout, builder and problem solver, Jeff initiated and developed various practice groups in JLPW and is now leading our Legal Tech initiatives to better support our clients in the new Digital Economy.

WORK DEPARTMENT
Corporate Finance & Securities Law, Corporate M&A, Takeovers, Joint Ventures

CAREER
Jeff is trained as an advocate and solicitor in Singapore and called to the Bar in Malaysia in 1991. His other appointments include:

  • External Lecturer, Nanyang Technological Institute (now Nanyang Technological University), Singapore on Company Law (1987) and Company Law/Contract Law (1988)
  • Malaysia Representative, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Symposium on International Trade Law 1995
  • ASEAN Editor and Singapore Correspondent, ASIAN LAW JOURNAL, Hong Kong (1993-1995)
  • Chairman, ASEAN SCHOLARS DIVISION, ASEAN BUSINESS FORUM, Jakarta, Indonesia (1994-1996)
  • Fulbright-Hays Visiting Scholar to the United States (1997)
  • International Copyright Fellow, Japan Council (2000/2001)

LANGUAGES
English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese

MEMBER
Member, Malaysian Bar;
Member, Law Society of Singapore;
Member, Academy of Law, Singapore;
Member, Law Association for Asia and the Pacific (LAWASIA);
Member, the Law Society, England and Wales;
Chairman, LAWASIA Corporate, Securities and Investment Law Standing Committee (1998-current);
Member, Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia (2002);
Chairman, LAWASIA Business Law Section, Darwin, Australia (1994-1997);
Member, International Legal Organisations Committee, Law Society of Singapore (1996); Member, Cross Border Practice Committee, Law Society of Singapore (1995-1996);
Vice-President, Entrepreneurship Forum, Singapore (1994-1996);
Steering Committee Member, 1995 ASIA YOUNG LEADERS FORUM, Asia-Australia Institute, University of NSW, Australia (1995).

EDUCATION
Hwa Chong Junior College, Singapore National University of Singapore (LLB Hons)

CAPITAL MARKETS

Within: Capital markets

The practice at Jeff Leong, Poon & Wong is particularly strong in equity capital markets: Jeff Leong and Kenny Poon are deeply experienced in IPOs, rights issuances and listed-company work. James Wong is especially active on the debt side, though he also assisted Linocraft Printers with its restructuring and listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s Growth Enterprise Market. Poon advised bedroom furniture exporter LY on its IPO on the Singapore Exchange.

CORPORATE AND M&A

Within: Leading individuals

Jeff Leong – Jeff Leong, Poon & Wong

Within: Corporate and M&A

Counting some of Malaysia’s largest companies among its clients, Jeff Leong, Poon & Wong is especially strong in the natural resources and logistics sectors. Kenny Poon advised Sime Darby Plantations on its RM107m acquisition of plantation businesses owned by some of Island & Peninsular’s subsidiaries. Jeff Leong acted for TASCO on its RM186m purchase of Gold Cold Transport, and on its RM30m purchase of MILS Cold Chain Logistics.