Member Profiles

Erwan Barre is a Partner (Foreign Lawyer) at RHTLaw Asia and the Co-Head of our Corporate and Capital Markets Practice. He joined RHTLaw Asia in 2015 after practicing for 16 years with Sullivan & Cromwell and Paul Hastings, two leading US law firms, in Paris and New York. Focused on corporate transactions, Erwan has extensive experience representing clients across many industries, with an emphasis in the Technology and Life Science industries. He also has management experience, being a co-founder of Vaximax, a biotech company. Erwan has been involved in many M&A, joint venture, capital markets and financing projects in Asia, Europe and the US, including several game changing transactions. Most of these deals were cross-border. His transactional expertise is based on leading over 80 deals, representing in the aggregate more than US$20 billion. 15 of his deals exceeded US$ 500 million in value. 60% of his transactions involved TMC (telecommunications, media and communications) and life science companies. He has also represented clients in other industries, including aerospace, real estate, hospitality and energy. His clients include blue chip names as well as promising start-ups and many leading investment banks. Erwan has been recognised as a leading practitioner in his field by professional publications, such as Chambers and Legal 500, and he is regularly invited as guest speaker at numerous industry conferences in Asia and in Europe.  

Tony joined Acclaim as Managing Director in 2011. He specializes in the structuring, implementation and servicing of global and regional risk solutions for clients with operations that span across the globe. Tony's current focus is to lead Acclaim into the next stage of growth and expansion.  The Firm Founded in 1983, Acclaim is one of Singapore's largest home-grown risk and insurance broking firm dedicated to address the needs of enterprises efficiently. Owned and managed by Singaporean stakeholders, we have grown over the years to become a well-respected insurance broker both locally and regionally. The Acclaim Global Network extends over 140 countries, with over 200 offices, serving enterprises' global needs with committed and qualified in-country teams. As the only local insurance and reinsurance broker with complete specialisation, Acclaim is able to effectively service multinational clients across the region in industries with complex risks such as transport, agriculture and aquaculture.  With a new venture into Japan in 2014, Acclaim has also expanded its reach across Asia Pacific and access to new clients such as large Japanese banking groups and Japanese corporations across Asia.  Acclaim has serviced more than 2,000 satisfied enterprise clients with operations across multiple countries, with complex cross-border risks and insurance needs. These clients are located all over the globe, with many of them staying with Acclaim for more than 2 decades. 

Francis was appointed Senior Counsel in January 2009 and practices international commercial and treaty arbitration and litigation. He is actively involved in cross-border commercial disputes in the areas of corporate banking, property, financial and investment related claims. He is currently acting in several cases before the Singapore International Court including representing an Australian energy entity in a very substantial dispute against an Indonesian conglomerate, being the very first case to be heard before the SICC. He also specialises in aviation law and advised in the class-action suit resulting from the crash of the SilkAir flight (Indonesia) and the SIA crash (Taiwan). Francis is recognised as a leading disputes lawyer – Asia Law Profiles (2017, 2018); Asia Pacific Legal 500 (2014-2018); Ranked Lawyers Chambers Global (2016-2018, 2019); Dispute Resolution Chambers Asia-Pacific (2016-2018); Best Lawyer in Litigation Practice, Best Lawyers International (2015-2017); Global Arbitration Review (2010); Best Litigation Lawyers in Singapore (2013); Asia Law Leading Lawyers (2009). Francis was also recognised by Asia Business Law Journal 2018 as amongst Singapore’s top 100 lawyers and is the winner of a Business Excellence Award (2019) issued by Corporate Insider, the Gateway to the World of Business; and named as a dispute resolution star by Benchmark Litigation Asia Pacific (2019). He was recently ranked as a leading disputes lawyer by Chambers Asia Pacific (2020); Labour, Employment & Benefits, Who’s Who Legal (2016, 2018, 2019); Who’s Who Legal : Thought Leaders – Labour & Employment (2020); Who’s Who Legal : Arbitration (2020); The Best Lawyers (2020, 2021 Editions) Singapore; the 5th Annual Global Business Edition of Best Lawyers (2020); Who’s Who Legal : Litigation (2020). He has appeared as counsel and has acted as arbitrator (both party appointed and presiding) in a large number of arbitrations (both ad hoc and administered arbitrations including by ICSID, ICC, SIAC, AIAC, HKIAC, BANI and the Permanent Court of Arbitration). Francis has acted for a number of parties in treaty disputes (including several Asian governments). He is currently sitting as party-nominated arbitrator of a Mauritius investor in a bilateral investment treaty (ICSID) dispute with the government of India. He is presently assisting several governments in setting up their international arbitration framework. He is the immediate past global President of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) and also the immediate past President of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association. He is a Chartered Arbitrator and also a Past Chairman of the Singapore branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He is the General Editor of two major publications - “Civil Litigation in Singapore” (Sweet & Maxwell, 2017) and “Arbitration in Singapore: A Practical Guide” (2nd Edition, Sweet & Maxwell, 2018). He has been re-appointed to the Singapore Appeal Advisory Panels (constituted under the Business Trusts Act, Financial Advisers Act, Insurance Act, Securities and Futures Act and Trust Companies Act) by Deputy PM Tharman Shanmugaratnam for a further 2-year term (1 October 2019 to 30 September 2021). He is the Chairman of the Listings Appeals Committee, Singapore Stock Exchange. He is also the Chairman of the Inquiry Panel of the Law Society of Singapore. He has been recently re-appointed as a member of the Rules Committee, Singapore Academy of Law for a further 2-year term (26 January 2020 to 26 January 2022).

Krishna Ramachandra is head of Duane Morris & Selvam's Corporate Finance and Investment and Private Client Practice Groups. His practice expertise includes M&A and capital markets, investments funds/private equity and Islamic finance law. Mr. Ramachandra has many years of experience in advising issuers, funds, investment banks, listed and private companies and high net worth individuals in Asia, Europe and the U.S. on a wide range of equity and debt securities issuances, compliance and regulatory matters. His extensive experience in mergers, acquisitions and take-overs, private equity participation and exit strategies has led to his being regularly cited by various publications as a leading lawyer. He is regarded as one of the most highly recommended lawyers in the practice areas of Capital Markets and Corporate Finance by Asialaw Leading Lawyers. Chambers Asia Pacific and the Asia Pacific Legal 500 regularly refer to his creative yet practical and client-focused approach and the IFLR1000 recognises him as an expert in the area of Islamic Finance in Singapore. Mr. Ramachandra graduated from Christ's College, Cambridge with an LL.M. in Corporate Finance on a Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer ("Freshfields") scholarship. He articled and qualified with Freshfields in London prior to relocating to Singapore with Clifford Chance. He subsequently joined Selvam LLC and is now Managing Director of Duane Morris & Selvam LLP. Mr. Ramachandra is an Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore and a Solicitor of England and Wales. He previously sat on The Singapore Law Society's Corporate Practice Committee for Mergers & Acquisitions and Insolvency, Corporate Commercial Matters, and Listing Matters. He speaks regularly on a wide range of topics relating to M&A, corporate governance, listings, fund raising and establishment of an Asian presence at venues around the world.

Richard Nelson is a partner in King & Spalding’s Projects and Energy practice, based in the firm's Singapore office. Richard focuses on energy-related projects and transactions in Asia Pacific, including on a range of oil and gas and LNG matters. Richard is the global head of the firm’s LNG practice. Based in Singapore since 2008, Richard regularly advises international oil and gas companies, host governments, project developers and sponsors in jurisdictions across Southeast Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region. With extensive experience in the Asian energy field, Richard works with clients on energy-related transactions and projects, particularly in the upstream oil and gas, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and power sectors. He has counselled clients on large numbers of LNG import projects in the region and beyond. Richard is currently ranked as a Band 1 energy lawyer in Singapore and Asia-Pacific by the leading law directories, including Chambers and The Legal 500. He has also been listed by the IFLR 1000 2018 guide as a leading lawyer in Energy and Infrastructure, Project Development, Banking, Project Finance and M&A.