Latham & Watkins has confirmed that Angie Ng will join its Antitrust & Competition Practice as a partner based in Singapore, moving from Ashurst LLP. The hire adds a lawyer widely regarded as one of the region’s most accomplished competition specialists to a firm seeking to broaden its Asia Pacific footprint alongside an already established China antitrust practice.
Ng’s career spans work in Australia, mainland China and Hong Kong, and she has appeared before competition authorities in most of the region’s major jurisdictions.
A prior background with the Singapore diplomatic service gives her a policy-facing perspective that sits alongside her transactional and enforcement experience. She holds an LLB from the University of Sydney and a BA (Hons) from the National University of Singapore, and is admitted as a solicitor in both Australia and Hong Kong.
Posit Laohaphan, Office Managing Partner of Latham’s Asia offices, said Ng’s arrival strengthens the firm’s ability to support clients on strategic M&A, private equity and regulatory work, while reinforcing its broader antitrust platform in the region.
Lawrence Buterman, Global Chair of the firm’s Antitrust & Competition Practice, framed the appointment as part of a deliberate investment in Asia at a time when regulatory scrutiny and enforcement coordination across the region continue to intensify.
Farhana Sharmeen, Co-Deputy Office Managing Partner of Latham’s Asia offices, pointed to rising demand for sophisticated antitrust advice as competition authorities across the Asia Pacific become more active and better coordinated with one another.
In-house teams running multi-jurisdictional deals will see this as another sign that senior antitrust talent is consolidating at firms able to coordinate clearance strategy across the United States, Europe and Asia at once.
Deals that once cleared regional authorities one at a time now often face scrutiny from several simultaneously, and clients are leaning harder on advisers who can run that coordination directly rather than stitching it together through local counsel in each jurisdiction.
The hire also fits a broader trend: firms are competing hard for antitrust and competition specialists in Singapore and Hong Kong, trying to keep enforcement capacity in step with how fast regional deals are moving.
The hire also fits a broader trend: firms are competing hard for antitrust and competition specialists in Singapore and Hong Kong, trying to keep pace with regulators like the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore as regional deal volume grows.
Law firm management will take this as confirmation that competition practice depth in Asia is now a genuine point of client differentiation, not a secondary offering run out of a Western hub. Firms without comparable regional bench strength may feel growing pressure to make similar appointments as cross-border merger control becomes a routine part of dealmaking in the region.