Bo Zhou
Partner, Fangda Partners (China)
Bo is the leading partner of Fangda Partners’ labour and employment team and advises on employee misconduct investigations, labour arbitration and litigation, and employee stock ownership plan (‘ESOP’) dispute cases. He also provides advice on redundancy and employee transfer issues in relation to various types of business transactions (e.g. equity deals, asset deals and company splits).
Dr Burkard Göpfert
Partner, Kliemt.HR Lawyers (Germany)
Dr Burkard Göpfert advises and negotiates complex transformation, integration and restructuring projects and supports social partners in solving difficult challenges. His main focus is on the metal, coal and steel and chemical industries and covers social plan, social collective bargaining and collective bargaining negotiations as well as the development of modern transformation units and companies. He is the author and (co-)editor of numerous specialist books on restructuring and employment law and is a lecturer at the Frankfurt School of Finance and the University of Passau. He has chaired the Handelsblatt's annual “Restrukturierung” conference for 20 years. Burkard Göpfert is the co-editor of ZIP.
Chris Mandel
Partner, Yulchon (South Korea)
Christopher is a senior foreign attorney at Yulchon who primarily practices in the area of labour and employment. He previously worked as an associate in the New York office of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, and clerked for the Honorable William H. Yohn, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Desmond Wee
Partner, Rajah & Tann (Singapore)
Desmond is co-head of Rajah & Tann Singapore’s Employment Practice and leads the employment advisory team, which has one of the largest teams of lawyers in Singapore. Highly regarded for his strong expertise in the labour and employment field, Desmond has been recognised as a Recommended Practitioner by Who’s Who Legal, a Notable Practitioner by Chambers Asia-Pacific, a Leading Individual by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, a Distinguished Practitioner by asialaw, and a Recommended Lawyer in Doyle’s Guide.
Rohit Kochhar
Chairman & Managing Partner, Kochhar & Co (India)
Rohit is the founder and managing partner of Kochhar & Co. Specialised in employee disputes, white collar crime, sexual harassment and discrimination, Rohit has expertise in advising clients on complex and contentious employee retrenchment issues including handling sensitive litigation matters in various Indian courts. Rohit also heads the White Collar Crime and Prevention of Sexual Harassment Practice (POSH) at the Firm.
Doreen Chia
Partner, Rajah & Tann (Singapore)
Doreen is a Partner in the top-ranked Employment Practice at Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP, a leading full-service law firm in Asia. Doreen’s practice spans a wide range of complex employment matters including cross-border investigations, employment litigation and regulatory compliance.
With over a decade of experience advising multinational corporations and regional clients, Doreen works closely with colleagues across the Rajah & Tann Asia network to assist clients in navigating sensitive employment issues, with a focus on strategic risk management.
Fiona Lai
Assistant Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (Acting) (Legal), PCPD (Hong Kong)
Fiona heads the Legal Division of the PCPD, which advises on the amendment of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance, furnishes comments to stakeholders on privacy initiatives and technological developments from the perspective of personal data privacy protection, as well as provides legal support to all facets of the PCPD’s daily operation. Representing the PCPD, Fiona also provides policy advice and helps develop guidance in relation to personal data protection having regard to the international privacy landscape.
Prior to joining the PCPD, she was a Senior Government Counsel at the Department of Justice.
Katie Sweatman
Partner, Kingston Reid (Australia)
Katie is an insightful and forward-thinking employment, industrial relations and discrimination lawyer who partners with businesses to identify, manage and resolve risk so that they can focus on what they do best.
Her clients include large national and international employers across a diverse range of industries including health, defence, aviation, technology and financial services, covering large private, publicly listed and Government entities. Katie has close ties with the broader industrial relations community and is a past President of the Industrial Relations Society of Victoria.
Katie has been recognised as a recommended lawyer in the Doyles Guide 2021 - 2024, and as a leading lawyer in 2025. She has also been recognised by Best Lawyers in Employee Benefits Law, and Labour and Employment Law in 2024 and 2025.
Lisa Zhao
Partner, Fangda Partners (China)
Lisa has 15-year experience in practicing labour and employment law in China and is highly skilled in both contentious and non-contentious matters. She excels in advising cross-jurisdictional employment activities and complex issues that intersect labour law with other legal areas. Her sharp business acumen and ability to navigate challenges ensure that her clients receive well-rounded legal guidance and tailored solutions.
Lisa is highly recognised in the market and is a member of the Labour Dispute Resolution Committee of the Belt and Road International Lawyers Alliance.
Lisa is admitted to practice in China.
Marshall Chu
Legal Director, GogoX (Hong Kong)
Marshall is the Legal Director of GOGOX, a leading technology-driven logistics platform in Asia. With over a decade of legal experience across international law firms and listed companies, Marshall brings deep expertise in corporate law, regulatory compliance, and platform governance. At GOGOX, he advises on legal strategy and risk management across the company’s gig economy operations, with regional oversight. He is passionate about building sustainable legal frameworks that enable innovation while balancing regulatory and stakeholder expectations in tech-enabled business models.
Peter Kiely
Partner, Kiely Thompson Caisley (New Zealand)
Peter is Senior Partner in the New Zealand employment law firm Kiely Thompson Caisley with offices in Auckland and Wellington. He has over 30 years of experience in employment law and in 1997 was appointed Adjunct Professor of Employment Law at Victoria University of Wellington.
He regularly appears in the Employment Court and Court of Appeal in New Zealand on contentious issues. His firm advises Asia Pacific businesses in relation to executive appointments and contractual agreements and policies, restructuring, employment incentives and benefits, and global mobility and immigration issues.
He is a former Pro-Chancellor of the University of Auckland and in 2017 was appointed by HM the Queen an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to employment law.
Sherman Deng
Partner, Fangda Partners (China)
Sherman’s practice focuses on data privacy and cybersecurity compliance. Sherman is currently representing both domestic and multinational clients in banking, tourism and manufacturing (including US headquartered companies) on data governance, incident response and cross-border data transfer matters.
His work includes advising on data breaches and enforcement investigations relating to bot attacks, cross border data transfers, data localisation and compliance systems for the Personal Information Protection Act.
Sherman has worked with many MNC’s doing business in China to inventory their AI in use, complete risk assessment and algorithm filing, as well as AI procurement. He has also represented data brokers in licensing training data to PRC AI companies, and has represented PRC AI companies in their algorithm and application filings with the Chinese government.
Steven Tobin
Senior Labour Economist (APAC), International Labour Organisation (Thailand)
For more than two decades, Steven’s career has been dedicated to providing data, research and policy insights on a range of cross-disciplinary subject matters in countries across the globe. He is currently a leading Labour Market Specialist with the International Labour Organization (ILO) at its Regional Office in Bangkok.
Prior to joining the team in Bangkok, he led the development of small private consulting firm dedicated to helping global clients navigate complex labour market issues. Steven was also responsible for the start-up of a national not-for-profit institute in Canada focused on innovative ways to support career, education and workplace choices.
Earlier in his career, he spent nearly a decade at the ILO’s headquarters in Geneva where he was responsible for coordinating their flagship research report. He also worked as an Economist at the OECD and held senior roles within the federal and provincial governments of Canada.
Shelley Williams
Partner, Kingston Reid (Australia)
Shelley is a dedicated and highly experienced employment and industrial lawyer, and specialises in all aspects of employment, industrial relations and discrimination law, including advice, litigation and investigations. Shelley represents clients in high-stakes litigation across the full range of collective and individual workplace disputes. Shelley is experienced at advising clients on global restructures which interact with Australia’s complex workplace laws.
Tony Falso
Chief Human Resources Officer, Peak Re (Hong Kong)
As Peak Re’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Tony is responsible for developing the company’s talent strategy, building out its human resources capabilities and helping to shape the company’s culture.
Prior to joining Peak Re in 2023, Tony worked at Macquarie, MSCI and most recently at Jardine Matheson. He has a broad background in all functional aspects of Human Resources and a distinct record of success in talent & leadership development, employee compensation and benefits, cultural change and employee relations.
Tony has lived in Hong Kong since 2000. He obtained a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.
Yuka Kamio
Partner, Anderson Mori & Tomotsune (Japan)
Yuka primarily handles labour and employment matters. She provides both Japanese and non-Japanese companies and organizations with a wide range of legal services including representation in litigations and other dispute resolution procedures, assistance with harassment investigations, and advice on compliance and other employment-related issues or matters.
She has extensive experience in giving advice to non-Japanese clients who are unfamiliar with Japanese labour laws and practices. Ms. Kamio also has considerable experience in general corporate matters. For non-Japanese clients who wish to establish businesses or undergo organization restructuring or liquidations in Japan, she provides them with a comprehensive range of legal services including advice from corporation law and labour law perspectives.