cnpupdate - Colin Ng and Partners

THEBACKPAGECNP 15th Anniversary CelebrationsTo celebrate the 15th anniversary of the firm, CNP is organising afun-filled evening for clients and staff on 6th November 2003(Thursday). CNP will be hosting over 800 guests and staff forcocktails and a movie at the Cathay Cineleisure Orchard. Ourintended guests will include senior management and membersfrom various local and multinational corporations and bankinginstitutions. What better way to entertain the guests at this inviteonlyevent - apart from the scrumptious spread of finger-food -than to travel to the future and awaits the human race’s fate with themuch-anticipated final instalment of The Matrix trilogy: “The Matrix: Revolutions”!CNP wins CCH Legal TechnologyAward for ClientNetCNP won the inaugural CCH Legal Technology Awards Singapore, whichrewards and recognises outstanding IT movers and shakers in the legalcommunity. CNP bagged the award in the “Best Developer” category forthe development and implementation of ClientNet, the firm’s in-house webbased software solution for data management and on-line resourcecurrently used by the Credit Management, Conveyancing and IPdepartments. The Best Developer category is open to all law firms thathave developed and implemented an in-house application or solution.With ClientNet’s benefits easily identifiable to users - clients and in-house personnelalike - the award was another mark of recognition for the year-old system. The awardwas given at the Law Society Dinner & Dance on 18th October 2003.CNP launches the Chinese websiteCNP is proud to announce the launch of the firm’s Chinesewebsite (www.cnplaw.com). The site is created for clientsof the firm who have businesses in Greater China andvisitors to the firm’s website who are more familiar withChinese language. More than a mirror site of the existingEnglish web page, the Chinese website houses all thepertinent information on CNP, including latest news at CNP,topical articles as well as insight into CNP, its lawyers, history and areas of practices.CNP, Freehills and Haarmann Hemmelrath ina joint seminar on “Competition Law”Competition issues will become increasingly important forbusinesses in the structuring of their operations andoverseas expansion with globalisation of markets. Most ofthe countries with whom Singapore has close economicties have competition law regimes in place. In Singapore,currently there are sectoral competition frameworksadministered by regulators of the infocomm, media andenergy industries. Singapore intends to enact a generic competition law by January2005. Business executives should begin to gear up to compete in the marketplaceunder a new ball game. CNP has formed a competition law focus group, staffed bylawyers trained in competition law and exposed to competition issues in practice.In conjunction with this new launch, CNP held a joint seminar with Freehills (one of thelargest law firms in Australia) and leading European law firm Haarmann Hemmelrath oncompetition law on 22 October 2003 at The Oriental, Singapore. The three-hourseminar and cocktail session saw the Principal Economist of the Market AnalysisDivision of the Ministry of Trade & Industry Dr. Robert Ian McEwin and speakers fromthe three firms sharing the basic concepts and principles of competition law commonin most jurisdictions. The event was well attended by legal counsels, managers anddirectors from local and multinational companies and financial institutions.If you would like information on any article or if you would like to receive this publicationvia email, please do not hesitate to contact our Corporate Affairs Executive, Ms Thin Lei Winat Tel: 6349 8727 or Email: lwthin@cnplaw.com.If you receive our regular newsletters but would like to be deleted from our circulation list,please advise Linda Koh at Tel: 6349 8606 or Email: lkoh@cnplaw.com.This newsletter can also be found on our website: www.cnplaw.comChina Food IndustriesLimited IPOWe would like to congratulate China FoodIndustries Limited for its recent public offeringof shares in Singapore and its listing on theOfficial List of the Stock Exchange of SingaporeDealing and Automated Quotation System(SESDAQ). China Food is principally engagedin the business of distribution of food products,pig farming, production and sale of animal feedand production of pork, pig by-products andvariety meats.The public offer consisted of 27 million newshares, of which 2.5 million shares were by wayof public offer and 24.5 million shares were byway of placement, at an offer price of $0.22 foreach share. The net proceeds from the publicoffer amounted to approximately $4.3 million.CNP were the solicitors to the public offer. Thepublic offer was handled by Partner and Co-Head of Corporate Finance, Tan Min-Li andassociates, Chua Kern and Tok Boon Sheng,from our Corporate Finance Group.CNP Participated in InternationalDesign Forum (IDF)The Technology and Intellectual PropertyPractice Groups from Colin Ng & Partnersparticipated in IDF, an IE Singapore eventorganised by Reed Exhibitions, held from 2ndto 4th October 2003. The conference featuressome 20 speakers from 9 countries andincluded design leaders from prestigiouscompanies and institutions such as IBM,Stanford University and 3M. The event had twoother elements: exhibition and fringe activities.CNP was involved in all three.CNP Co-Head of Intellectual Property PracticeGroup and Resident Hong Kong Partner Ai-Leen Lim participated in the Business Panelon the first day of the conference (BusinessPerspective) and shared the legal issuesinvolving the importance of copyrights andpatents for designs. Ai-Leen also addressedthe visiting ASME members on the 3rd October2003. CNP also had a booth where IP/ITlawyers were on hand to advise visitors on IP/IT related matters.Mitigating HR Risks inSingapore Employment SeminarAs more and more businesses go throughrestructuring, decision-makers need to beaware of the relevant legislation governingEmployment. This seminar seeks to arm all HRdecision-makers with the relevant strategiesto secure their businesses against any formof liability and to effectively manage potentialemployment disputes. The Litigation Teamfrom Colin Ng & Partners, led by Head andPartner Samuel Chacko, will be conducting atwo-hour workshop on drafting employmentcontracts and retrenchment letters. Theseminar, organised by JobStreet Businessconferences, one of the largest onlinerecruitment websites in Asia Pacific, will beheld on 3rd December 2003 (Wednesday)at the Amara Hotel from 9:00am to 5:30pm.For more information, please contactHanson Poh at (65) 6827 5600/5601 orregistration@watchtowerasia.com.