The Year In Review 2024

The year of 2024 has been full of excitement and new discoveries for ABLI.

We had four full public releases on contract law, cryptoassets and data. Mostly made freely available, these publications offer practical value to readers supported by solid research and rigorous analysis.

Readers who are fascinated by emerging legal topics have available to them the Cryptoassets and Property Law (civil law edition) and two publications concerning the concept of “data embassy”. The former examines the treatment of cryptoassets as property under the laws of China, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam. It completes our series on the “property question” of cryptoassets which includes a Singapore edition and a common law edition (Australia, India, Malaysia and New Zealand), providing readers with a panoramic view of how cryptoassets are treated under the laws of these key jurisdictions in the Asia Pacific in the comparative context. The “data embassy” publications, including both an issues paper and a detailed mapping, are a continuation of our ongoing efforts to promote convergence of risk management practices with a view to facilitating the transfer of data across Asia. In the more established area of the law, we also released Contract Laws of Asia – Remedies for Breach of Contract, the fifth publication under our Contract Laws in Asia project. This publication introduces the different types of remedies available for breach of contract in China, Singapore and Vietnam, a mix of civil and common law jurisdictions that are among the key destinations for cross-border contracting in Asia, with the hope of empowering readers to more confidently navigate the unfortunate situations of breach or non-fulfilment of contractual obligations. In addition, the Guide on Conducting an Out-of-court Workout in Asia published in 2023 continues to gain traction, with download numbers continuing to increase and new citations.

On top of these publications which ABLI has been proudly releasing over the years, 2024 also saw us adopting a stronger focus on policy work in the field of data and digital economy, an indispensable pillar of the modern economy. We have been working closely with public sector agencies in the region on a number of initiatives, during the course of which we have had the privilege of engaging diverse stakeholders from different sectors and countries who generously shared with us both their priorities and pain points. We look forward to continuing such meaningful partnership in the years ahead.

This stronger focus on policy work, however, has not led to any diminished attention to our line-up of staple webinars which remained a draw to attendees from different parts of the world. We also held an intimate in-person sharing session with young and aspirating legal professionals, an opportunity for us to bring together brilliant young minds.

Thank you

At ABLI, we sincerely thank all the people, of which there are too many, who generously volunteered their expertise, time and effort to assist us in making the above achievements possible. We could not have done it without each and every one of you.

Here is a look at our selected highlights in 2024.

data and digital economy

corporate restructuring and insolvency