JLP - Advising Clients on Deal Structures

Professor Andrew Godwin

Professor Andrew Godwin is Professor of Commercial Law at Melbourne Law School, Director of the Melbourne Law Masters, Joint Associate Director of the Corporate Law and Financial Regulation Research Program at the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law and Associate Director (Commercial law) of the Asian Law Centre. Prior to joining Melbourne Law School as a member of the academic staff in 2007, Andrew was in legal practice for over 15 years, 10 of which were spent in Shanghai where he was a partner of an international law firm. 

Andrew works and researches in the areas of financial regulation, financial services law, corporate and insolvency law, property law, and the regulation of the legal profession. Andrew has published extensively in both academic and professional journals. He is a co-author of Sackville & Neave Australian Property Law and Ford, Austin and Ramsay Principles of Corporations Law, and co-editor of Research Handbook on Asian Financial Law (Edward Elgar, 2020), The Cambridge Handbook of Twin Peaks Financial Regulation (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and Technology and Corporate Law (Edward Elgar, 2021).

Andrew served as Special Counsel and Acting General Counsel at the Australian Law Reform Commission from September 2020 to February 2024. Andrew has acted as a consultant to a broad range of organisations, regulators and governments, including the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department, the Australian Federal Police, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. Andrew is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, a Distinguished Fellow of the Singapore Academy of Law and a member of the Advisory Board of the Asian Business Law Institute in Singapore.

K Gopalan

Consultant, Ethics & Professional Development, Singapore Academy of Law

• Formerly Director and Head of Department, Regulatory Department, Law Society of Singapore (2013 to 2023)

• Duties included leading a team of 5 lawyers and 2 paralegals, overseeing compliance with Part VII of the Legal Profession Act, Disciplinary Proceedings against Advocates & Solicitors, compliance with Solicitors Accounts Rules, managing Compensation Fund claims, managing the Professional Indemnity Insurance Scheme for legal practitioners, overseeing inadequate professional service complaints against practitioners, generally conduct and discipline of lawyers.

• Also conducted courses, seminars and talks  for practitioners on Professional Responsibility and Compliance with the Solicitors Accounts Rules

• Facilitator, Ethics & Professional Responsibility, SILE (2015 to 2024)

• Private Legal Practice (1980 to 2013) principally in Civil Litigation. Real Estate Law, Family Law & Probate Practice and Insurance Law

• IRAS officer from 1978 to 1980

Kuan Cheng Tuck

Cheng Tuck holds dual qualifications in accounting and law, complemented by the Chartered Valuer and Appraiser (CVA) qualification, making him exceptionally equipped to deliver insightful courses across a wide range of subjects. He seamlessly integrates his extensive expertise in accounting, business, law, taxation, and business valuation, offering participants a multidimensional perspective. Renowned for his ability to simplify complex concepts, Cheng Tuck presents intricate topics in an engaging and accessible manner.

Cheng Tuck brings over 25 years of experience in accounting, auditing, business advisory, financial management, and tax advisory.  He regularly advises clients on financial reporting, auditing, risk management, corporate governance, taxation, and business valuation, leveraging his deep knowledge to deliver practical and impactful solutions. He currently serves as an independent director and Audit Committee Chairman for several listed companies in Singapore.  Additionally, he is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Law Faculty of the National University of Singapore, teaching the ‘Applied Accounting and Finance for Lawyers’ module for the LLM (International Business Law) program.

Valerie Wu

Partner & Head of Tax & Private Wealth, Asia

Pinsent Masons

Valerie set up the tax & private wealth practice for Pinsent Masons in Asia, recognised as Top tier practice by Legal S00 since 2018. She advises families, individuals, their family offices and service providers in tax, trust, funds and regulatory matters; acts as counsel to many UHNW individuals & families, on the tax considerations of family asset holding structures, to tailor solutions and provide ongoing advice for tax & succession planning needs, balanced with commercial, family dynamics & business continuity considerations.

She acts as counsel to many ultra high net worth individuals and families, on the strategic and tax considerations of the family asset holding structures, advice to licensed trustees and global financial institution clients, UHNW individuals and multinational corporations to tailor solutions and provide ongoing advice for tax and succession planning needs, balanced with commercial, family dynamics and business continuity considerations. Valerie is on the panels of and works with family offices as well as licensed entities such as trust companies, fund managers, private banks, wealth advisory teams for their cross border tax, regulatory and AML matters. She has a proven track record in managing tax & regulatory matters/ health checks for clients ranging from licensed trustees and global financial institution clients, UHNW individuals and multinational corporations to charitable organisations and educational institutions, as well as family-owned businesses in recent years in view of the rising tax compliance and regulatory requirements globally.

In view of her expertise on intricacies of succession planning &business continuity, Valerie is frequently consulted for her strategic advice on tax & regulatory matters re family businesses and family offices, customising family governance documents that meet the wishes of multiple generations, to managing cross-border tax & reporting considerations for families whose footprint covers multiple jurisdictions, as well as strategic advice/ risk management with a view to safeguarding the clients’ position. Valerie and team also provide ongoing legal support to one of the largest private banks.

In January 2020, Valerie has successfully set up one of the first 20 VCCs (Variable Capital Companies) as part of a pilot program in collaboration with the Singapore regulator, Monetary Authority of Singapore. With this, she has enabled and continue to assist more institutional and individual clients from both the wealth management and fund management spheres to leverage on this new investment fund vehicle to better consolidate, organise and plan their investments and to augment the succession planning process for families and individuals. Since the VCC was launched in January 2020, Valerie and her team has built up considerable experience in advising institutional clients on utilising the new investment vehicle, be it from the regulatory perspective or the tax planning perspective.

Prior to joining the firm, Valerie held senior positions at law firms and wealth management funds – from Partner in private practice, to Head of Legal of Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund’s fully owned fund management subsidiary, and Director of Wealth Planning Asia Pacific for one of Europe’s oldest trustees.

Legal S00 listed the private wealth practice setup by Valerie as Top Tier firm for Private Wealth in the Legal S00 Singapore Guide 2018 to 202S, and also recognised Valerie as a leading individual in private wealth in 2021 to 202S. The practice is also ranked for Tax in 2023 to 202S. Most recently, Asian Legal Business in Dec 2022 also listed Valerie as the Top 15 Private Wealth Lawyers in Asia. Valerie was also listed as a thought leader and global leader by Who’s Who Legal for Private Client in 2018 to 2024, Citywealth’s IFC Power Women List 2018, Citywealth Leaders List 2016 to 2018 and was also named in Legal Week’s Global Private Client Elite 2018 / 2017, and the International Trusts and Private Client Elite, a list of 100 private client lawyers and advisors worldwide tipped to be “at the top of their field .” Valerie was selected for the Global Elite Directory, a list of the world’s most respected lawyers advising UHNW clients.

Valerie is a Faculty at the Wealth Management Institute (WMI}. She is also nominated as a Senior Member of the WMI. She works regularly with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and was the only lawyer on Anti-Money Laundering Working Group.

Stanley Park

Founder / Director

Stanley Park Associates Pte Ltd

Stanley Park is the Founder/Director of Stanley Park Associates Pte. Ltd. and Honorary Member of the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association, serving as a member of the Board from 2014 ~ 2025.

Stanley was Managing Director and Head of Legal - Asia Pacific Region for Scotiabank's Global Banking and Markets Division from Mar 2014 – Apr 2023.  Based in Singapore, Stanley was responsible for all legal matters across the region, including China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore.  Among other responsibilities, Stanley provided (i) transactional advice and support to the Bank's businesses related to capital markets, investment banking, commodities, corporate lending/trade finance and global transaction banking; (ii) regulatory advice and support re the Bank's businesses; (iii) management of litigation and disputes; (iv) advice and support to the Bank's internal or proprietary functions (including proprietary investments, HR matters, Finance); and (v) participation in corporate governance or oversight.

Prior to joining Scotiabank, Stanley was with Daiwa Capital Markets, as Senior Legal Counsel, in Singapore and Hong Kong from 2011 – 2014; with Barclays Global Investors, as General Counsel, in Tokyo from 2009 – 2010; with DKR Oasis, as Chief Compliance Officer, in Hong Kong in 2008; with Salomon Smith Barney and UBS Securities in Tokyo from 2001 – 2007; and with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton and Coudert Brothers in NYC, from 1992 - 2001.

Stanley graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics in 1985 and received his law degree from the Harvard Law School in 1988, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review.  Stanley has been a member of the New York State Bar since 1994.

Wan Kwong Weng

Group Chief Corporate Officer, Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd

Mr Wan is responsible for all legal, compliance, corporate secretarial, human resource as well as corporate communications, corporate social responsibility and administration matters across all business units and countries. He is also concurrent Group General Counsel and the Joint Company Secretary of Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd and the three Mapletree Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Managers.

Prior to joining Mapletree as General Counsel in 2009, Mr Wan was Group General Counsel – Asia at Infineon Technologies. He started his career with one of the oldest law firms in Singapore, Wee Swee Teow & Co., and was subsequently with the Corporate & Commercial/ Private Equity practice group of Baker & McKenzie in Singapore and Sydney.

Mr Wan has an LL.B. (Honours) (Newcastle upon Tyne), where he was conferred the Wise Speke Prize, as well as an LL.M. (Merit) (London). He also attended the London Business School Senior Executive Programme. Mr Wan is called to the Singapore Bar, where he was awarded the Justice FA Chua Memorial Prize, and is also on the Rolls of Solicitors (England & Wales). He was conferred the Public Service Medal (PBM) in 2012 and Public Service Star (BBM) in 2017.

Mr Wan is also appointed as a Member of the Valuation Review Board, the Corporate Law Advisory Panel (CLAP) and the Reform of Legal Education Standing Committee. In addition, he is Secretary of the SMU Advisory Board for the Real Estate Programme.

SILE Attendance Policy

Participants who wish to obtain CPD Points must comply strictly with the Attendance Policy set out in the CPD Guidelines. For this activity, participants are reminded to sign in on arrival and sign out at the conclusion of each day of the event in the manner required by the organiser. Participants must not be absent from each day of the event for more than 15 minutes. Participants may obtain Public CPD Points for each day of the event on which they comply strictly with the Attendance Policy. Participants who do not comply with the Attendance Policy on any particular day of the event will not be able to obtain CPD Points for that day. Please refer to www.sileCPDcentre.sg for more information.

Category of Individuals

Singapore Citizens and Singapore Permanent Residents

Employer-sponsored and self-sponsored Singapore Citizens aged 40 years old and above

SME-sponsored local employees (i.e. Singapore Citizens and Singapore Permanent Residents)

Funding Source

SkillsFuture Funding (Baseline)

SkillsFuture Mid-career Enhanced Subsidy

SkillsFuture Enhanced Training Support for SMEs

Course Fee

$1,600

$1,600

SkillsFuture Funding 

$800

$1,120

Total Nett Fee

$800 

$480

GST of Course Fee (9% x $1,600)

$144

$144 

Total Fee Payable to SAL

(including 9% GST)

$944 

$624