Demand for legal services in Southeast Asia is shifting in step with a rebalancing of capital flows, away from established Western and Japanese sources and towards the growing influence and expanding footprint of Chinese corporates and private wealth.

Chinese companies and ultra-high-net-worth ( UHNW ) families are increasingly active in Southeast Asia’s investment landscape. Their growing capital allocation into sectors such as e-commerce, infrastructure, logistics, and private equity is also reshaping legal demand in Singapore and other regional legal markets.

Private capital, digital assets, regulatory enforcement, and cross-border structuring are now key drivers of dispute work in the region, and Singapore remains central to this activity due to its legal infrastructure, financial markets, and neutral standing in global legal forums.

The Asset recently met with Setia Law, a Singapore-based boutique firm spun out of a larger Singapore practice, which specializes in high-value cross-border litigation, asset recovery, and financial crime, and services clients across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

The firm’s exposure to emerging legal trends in regional wealth flows, regulatory investigations, and cross-border asset disputes offers timely insights into how legal strategies are evolving to meet the demands of a rapidly shifting investment landscape.

Danny Ong, managing director of the firm, observes that the legal exposure of Chinese entities has increased significantly in recent years. “The profile of the cases has changed. Ten years ago, most of the litigation work involved Western corporates or global financial institutions. Now, a significant share involves Chinese-origin capital,” he notes.

Cross-border exposure

Chinese investment in Southeast Asia is generating legal exposure across multiple jurisdictions. Disputes often involve financial flows through Singapore, with parallel litigation in Hong Kong, Dubai, Taiwan, and Indonesia. “The capital structures are more complex now. Many deals involve layered ownership, offshore vehicles, and multiple jurisdictions for enforcement,” Ong explains.

In terms of speed and scale, Chinese outbound investment has exceeded prior trends seen from Western firms entering the region. “This includes not just major corporates but also mid-sized firms and [ultra-high-net-worth] families moving capital into Asean markets,” he says.

There has been a clear transition in the type of legal clients. Traditionally, litigation and enforcement work was driven by commercial banks. Today, much of the demand originates from private capital, including hedge funds, private credit funds, and asset managers.

“Private credit has grown significantly, and with that, so have enforcement issues,” Ong says. “Our clients are now predominantly non-bank lenders facing defaults or fraud scenarios.” This mirrors broader financial trends in the region, where alternative credit has become a major funding source for corporates.

As markets experience pressure from interest rate moves, currency volatility, and liquidity constraints, Ong expects further defaults, especially in the private credit segment. “There’s been a lot of capital deployed in the last five years. Some of it is now under stress,” he says.

Crypto and wealth disputes

Ong and his team have built a track record in the digital asset space, having acted on litigation related to cryptocurrency trading disputes, insolvencies, and other high-profile digital asset failures.

“The crypto downturn triggered a wave of restructuring, liquidation, and asset recovery work. That created litigation mandates from both creditors and insolvency professionals,” Ong says.

The firm’s involvement in early crypto fraud cases gave it a first-mover advantage in understanding digital asset mechanics. “There is still legal uncertainty in this space, but financial losses have been significant, which makes it a litigation-heavy sector.”

UHNW families establishing family offices in Singapore are also driving increased legal activity. In recent instances, investigations have been initiated into the misappropriation of assets within family office structures.

These situations often occur when principals based overseas delegate financial oversight to local staff or advisors. In some cases, losses have reportedly exceeded millions, with funds diverted over time through internal manipulation.

The growth of the family office sector, combined with increased scrutiny by banks and regulators, is also placing pressure on governance. “There’s more compliance, more documentation, and more KYC required. That has created friction, especially for family offices trying to onboard with banks,” Ong says.

Despite the weighty outbound investment by Chinese corporates and individuals, Chinese law firms have been slow to expand and follow their clients into Southeast Asia. According to Ong, this is due to both structural limitations and limited demand from Chinese corporates for home-country legal representation abroad.

“Most Chinese firms operate on a team-based model, with distributed P&Ls and minimal central investment capacity. That makes foreign expansion more difficult,” he explains. “When Chinese companies invest in Malaysia or Indonesia, they prefer to engage domestic law firms.”

Chinese firms that have entered Singapore have done so cautiously. “We’re seeing small setups, five to ten lawyers. It’s very conservative, and much smaller than the expansion Chinese firms have undertaken in Africa or Belt and Road markets.”

Neutral venue

Singapore is also strengthening its position as a preferred venue for resolving cross-border disputes. With the establishment of the Singapore International Commercial Court ( SICC ), along with a panel of international judges, it has become a key venue for contract enforcement involving Chinese, Indian, and Western counterparties.

“If a dispute involves a Chinese party and a Western investor, Singapore is increasingly preferred over Hong Kong. It’s viewed as more neutral,” Ong says.

The SICC and related dispute resolution mechanisms have allowed Singapore to handle complex financial and commercial disputes linked to regional investment flows, including contracts governed by Singapore law and transactions involving local intermediaries.

Regulatory enforcement is also emerging as a growth area, particularly in cases involving alleged breaches of export controls, trade sanctions, and compliance with semiconductor restrictions.

“There’s a growing layer of work involving regulatory issues, including tariff rules, sanctions regimes, and competition policy,” he says. These cases often originate from changes in the United States, the European Union, or local regulatory environments, and they impact Chinese companies operating in Asean.

In particular, sectors such as batteries, electric vehicles, and semiconductors are more exposed to this type of legal risk due to geopolitical sensitivity.

“We’re seeing legal disputes involving licensing, export bans, and compliance failures. These are now all part of the legal risk profile for Chinese corporates investing overseas,” says Ong.