Singapore
I am a graduate of the 2018 pioneer batch of Keio Law School’s Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Global Legal Practice and the University of Nottingham School of Law (LL.B.). I spent a total of five years reading law in the UK and on a scholarship sponsored by Keio Law School in Japan combined. During my school breaks I was constantly exposing myself to a corporate environment in the form of legal internships, most recently at Microsoft Japan in September 2017. My international experience as a law student and myriad of experiences in a business environment have helped me build my communication and analytical skills regardless of setting. I am not afraid to voice my opinion and I enjoy driving results through a team-oriented effort. Besides work, my experiences as a student are vast, as I constantly challenged myself to try things that were different. I took on jobs that required the use of Japanese to bring my language skills to a proficiency level that could be used in a professional setting. I have now been studying Japanese for thirteen years and am fully trilingual in English, Japanese and Chinese. After completing my Master of Laws (LLM) at Keio University, I decided to pursue a career in finance as opposed to a legal career after being inspired by my internship experiences. I wanted to be one of the parties driving a deal forward, tailoring solutions to a client’s needs instead of only providing legal support. My interests and current career goals lie in global corporate finance and I am open to all opportunities in the field- in particular, I am interested in supporting Japanese companies in their plans to expand overseas and aiding foreign firms trying to finding their way into the Japanese market. This is where I believe I will be able to make the best of my language and communication skills and my passion to connect people. Outside work, I am a bass guitar player, an avid reader of thriller novels, and love cooking for family and friends.
Energy, Materials & Power, Global Corporates, Corporate and Institutional Banking
Global Banking Coverage for Large Japanese Corporates, covering Automotives and TMT. - Identification of business opportunities and have experience in identification, sales and execution for Corporate lending products, Trade Finance, project finance, leveraged and acquisition finance, DCM, Strategic & Equity Financing and global markets related services. - Monitoring of the client portfolio, ensuring data quality in credit risk systems. - Supporting Parent Account Manager Function for the designated WRM clients. - Credit due diligence of managed clients in concert with the product department concerned (New client credit application, annual review, modification, etc.) - KYC
Member of the Global Coverage Team for Large Local Corporates (Japan) covering Domestic and cross border coverage for Automotive, TMT sectors. - Identification of business opportunities for Corporate lending products, trade & amp; project finance, E& corporate finance, DCM and global markets , and other product department - Monitoring of the client portfolio, ensuring data quality in credit risk systems. - Supporting Parent Account Manager Function for the designated WRM clients. - Credit due diligence of managed clients in concert with the product department concerned (New client credit application, annual review, modification, etc.)
Internal transfer to Mizuho Headquarters as founding team member of the Intermediation Team- a new initiative to capture the local SME Mergers and Acquisitions market in Japan. Roles and Responsibilities i. identifying M&A needs of clients at the branch level. ii. working with local Relationship Managers to pitch M&A solutions to clients iii. assessing if client needs could be met according to Mizuho's risk appetite - coordinating with M&A finance team - coordinating with boutique specialists to bring project to execution.
1 of 3 successful applicants from Singapore out of 150 applicants for the April 2018 batch as part of Mizuho’s internationalisation initiative. Solely handled periodic credit assessment rating, financing and business needs. Executed JPY160 Million of loans (cumulative) in 2018 fiscal year as a 1st year associate. Identified a client’s real estate needs, followed up by linking up client with an affiliated real estate company. Client eventually contracted, and chose Mizuho for financing their shifting operations. In addition, negotiated with client to shift 80% of their forex accounts and forward exchange contracts from a rival mega-bank to Mizuho in exchange for a lower interest rate on their loan. Potfolio of 30 Japanese Corporate Clients, covering Japanese subsidiaries of Multinational Corporates, Law firms, Trading Companies. Specialised in i. Providing banking/ treasury solutions for corporate clients ii. Periodic credit assessment ratings, customer and business relationship management, KYC, compliance for local SMEs and international clients based in Japan. iii. Facilitating good relationships for the corporation to maximise the value of new and existing relationships, maintain its current reputation as a reliable source of financing in Japan and abroad. iv. Understanding the technical and business challenges that Mizuho’s clients face v. Identify opportunities for Mizuho to keep ahead of its competitors vi. Help Mizuho’s clients utilise the corporation’s products more effectively in their businesses
I was offered an internship with Microsoft’s Corporate, External & Legal Affairs (CELA) upon a referral by my professor at Keio Law School and an interview with the CELA team. It was a prestigious and rare opportunity to intern with the company, as it was one of two slots and also because it was the first time that Microsoft Japan’s legal department was taking in interns. It was my first experience interning with an in-house legal team, and I learnt of the different mindset of lawyers who act on behalf of their company as opposed to lawyers in law firms who operate on an ad hoc basis. Working with the CELA team, we not only had to make sure that Microsoft’s strategies were legally sound, but also had to consider the financial prudence, corporate sensibility, and effect on government relations of the company’s strategy. This was done whilst having to maintain a balance with guidelines and compliance rules. Each day, I shadowed a lawyer of a different specialty who acted as my mentor. Themes of the internship included Cyber Security and Crime, the legal issues of Cloud Computing, Government Relations and Compliance. I not only had the opportunity to meet with officials from governmental bodies like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Police Agency, but also took part in meetings with progressive-thinking Japanese corporations seeking Microsoft’s counsel in making the jump into cloud computing. Over the course of the internship, I wrote a commentary on a Digital Transformation memo published by Microsoft’s lawyers urging for a more personal touch in pushing for Digital Transformation, as well as a paper on cloud computing and the future of banking, which was shared over a solo presentation before the Microsoft legal team on the last day of the internship. My biggest takeaway from my time there was to always think outside the box, as the different decisions made within a corporation play off each other to steer it towards success.
The internship at Eversheds LLP was then first time I was exposed to international arbitration, corporate law, and mergers and acquisitions from the perspective of an international English law firm. Being the only intern that the firm took in at the time, I was allocated work that was more hands on than the usual internship. I had the opportunity to proofread documents and draft legal questionnaires on behalf of the firm's clients. There were several memorable moments during this internship, one of which was attending a seminar on Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act conducted by one of the firm's senior partners for the purpose of advising employees of a logistics/ supply chain management firm. The highlight and biggest takeaway from the internship however, was when the senior partner I was under tasked me with drafting a fee proposal for a potential client; a world-renowned French corporation planning to acquire a Singaporean group of companies. The proposal I drafted was sent directly to the said corporation, who went on to make Eversheds their law firm of choice over the span of the acquisition project, leading to a contract of legal fees in Evershed's favour of approximately SGD 5 million. Today, it continues to be my proudest accomplishment as a law student and legal intern.
I decided to have a second internship at this historical law firm in the summer of my third year of law school, going further in depth in the field of litigation. Besides aiding the firm's lawyers in drafting legal documents, I had the opportunity to attend meetings with clients. In particular, it was my first exposure to construction cases where I witnessed the challenges faced by construction firms first hand. The highlight of the internship was when I was given the chance to contribute to one of the cases by doing in depth research in the field of constructive trusts and proprietary estoppel, which incidentally happens to be the topic of my research paper in the application process for Keio Law School.