Singapore

SINGAPORE'S legal profession has come full circle in an amusing way, observes Deborah Barker, managing partner at Withers KhattarWong, who points to the tough environment as a catalyst for marriages between local and international practices.

"Once upon a time, we were a colony with a lot of foreign lawyers here. Then we became entirely local. Now, we've got to compete against the world - and they're all here again," she says with a laugh, adding that the sector has gone through its fair share of challenges over time.