‘INSOL Asia Hub is launching its next Vlog Series ‘Women at the forefront of Restructuring & Insolvency in Asia’. In this upcoming series, we will interview a few of the outstanding women within the Restructuring & Insolvency space in Asia to gain valuable insights from their experiences, inspirations, and challenges. We look forward to hearing their stories and advice to other women interested in making insolvency and restructuring their specialty of choice.
INSOL International seeks to promote diversity in all of its activities, and we are thankful to G36 firm Rajah and Tann for sponsoring and hosting this initiative, and to the Deputy Head of its Restructuring & Insolvency practice, Sheila Ng, a Fellow of INSOL International, for graciously leading the interviews for this Series. Look out for the first episode in July 2023
Episode 5: Honourable Justice Tan Sri Nallini Pathmanathan, Federal Court of Malaysia
The Honourable Justice Tan Sri Nallini Pathmanathan is a judge of the Federal Court of Malaysia , the apex court in Malaysia. She holds a degree in Physiology from the University of London and undertook the conversion course in law, prior to being called to the English Bar in 1984. She began her career as an advocate and solicitor with Skrine in Kuala Lumpur and left a successful commercial practice after 21 years when she was invited to join the bench in 2007 as Judicial Commissioner. She was elevated to the High Court in 2009 and subsequently promoted to the Court of Appeal in 2014, and the Federal Court in 2018 where she presently sits, the first female judge of Indian ethnicity to be appointed to this prestigious position. Her journey to the highest echelons of the Malaysia’s legal system is an emphatic endorsement of her diligence , deep expertise, and exceptionally vast experience in the handling of commercial cases .
In June 2021 , Justice Nallini who serves as the President of The Middle Temple Alumni Association of Malaysia was elected as a Bencher of the Honourable Society of Middle Temple . Most recently in 2023 , she was appointed by the Prime Minister of Malaysia for a two -year term as a member of the Judicial Appointments Commission and conferred by the King of Malaysia for her meritorious accomplishments, the Panglima Setia Mahkota (P.S.M.) award which carries the honorific title ‘Tan Sri’ .
She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators as well as a certified mediator.
Justice Nallini co-authored a book entitled the ‘Law of Dismissal’ which was published in 2003 and continues to curate and review articles and otherwise provide editorial support to the Malaysian judiciary’s publication and the Malaysian Civil Procedure(2018) Edition which is the Malaysian equivalent of the White Book, as well as the first edition of Bullen & Leake & Jacob’s Malaysian Precedents of Pleadings.
Episode 4: Yuri Sugano, Nishimura & Asahi
Yuri Sugano is a partner at Nishimura & Asahi in the firm’s Restructuring and Insolvency (R&I) practice. She has more than 20 years’ experience with a strong record in handling complex cross-border restructuring and insolvency cases and has guided foreign clients from a range of industries on corporate reorganisations and turnarounds of their Japanese subsidiaries. Her expertise also extends to a wide range of labour law issues in her capacity as the co -head of the Labour Law team .
Yuri’s is notably a leading R&I practitioner and her accomplishment in this field was most recently recognised by the International Women's Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation(IWIRC) when she was named as its Asia Woman of the Year in Restructuring for 2023. She has also been ranked as one of the Top 15 Female Lawyers 2023 by Asian Legal Business and endorsed as the Restructuring and Insolvency Lawyer of the Year for the 2023 Women in Business Law Asia-Pacific commendation.
Yuri is a supporter of DEI (Diversity ,Equity and Inclusion) practices and serves as a director of the Lawyers for LGBT and Allies Network (LLAN) .
She is a graduate of Kyoto University, Faculty of Law in 2001 and was admitted to practice law in Japan in 2003. In 2012 she obtained her LLM from the New York University School of Law.
Episode 3: Pooja Mahajan, Chandhiok & Mahajan
‘Pooja Mahajan is the Managing Partner of Chandhiok & Mahajan, Advocates & Solicitors (C&M), an Indian full-service law firm. She leads the firm’s Restructuring & Insolvency(R&I) practice which includes advising on mergers and acquisitions, inbound and outbound investments, debt restructuring and corporate insolvency.
Pooja has been ranked as a ‘Litigation Star’ by Benchmark Litigation Asia- Pacific in its 2023 edition, and as a ‘Leading Lawyer’ in the Chambers and Partners Asia Pacific Guide 2022 for her expertise in the R&I space as well as earned a listing in the Super 50 Lawyers’ group of Asian Legal Business in 2021.She was the recipient of’ 40 Under 40’ in India awarded by the Legal Era magazine and recognised by Restructuring by IFLR1000 as a ‘Highly Regarded’ lawyer.
She serves on the executive board of INSOL India and is part of the IWIRC (International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation) India Network Board and Asia leadership group. Pooja has worked closely with the World Bank on various projects in the R&I field as India’s representative on the Bank’s 2019 Task Force for MSME Insolvency and the 2022 Taskforce for Insolvency & Creditor/Debtor Regimes.
Pooja has authored/ co-authored many thought leadership articles in the R&I space and is actively involved in the Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) efforts for skill-building insolvency professionals sharing her expertise at events organised by IBBI and other insolvency professional agencies including with young minds in her lectures at various universities.
Pooja has first-class honours in Bachelor in Laws from the University of Delhi and holds a distinction in Bachelor in Civil Law from the University of Oxford.
Episode 2: Phyllis McKenna, Official Receiver of the HKSAR Government
Phyllis McKenna is the Official Receiver of the Hong Kong SAR Government (Govt) overseeing its insolvency services and has held this position since her appointment on 10th February 2017. She joined the Govt in 1988 as a solicitor, working over the years in rotational stints with the Companies Registry, Lands Registry, Lands Department, and the Official Receiver’s Office in various positions and rising through the ranks before being appointed to her current post.
She holds an LLB (Hons) from Edinburgh University, and started her career as a solicitor in Edinburgh, specializing in commercial and corporate law, and moved on to join the in-house legal team of a merchant bank before relocating to HK.
Phyllis has made major contributions to the corporate and insolvency space in HK, and these include the rewrite of the HK Govt’s Companies Ordinance (Cap.622) and drafting the proposed Companies (Corporate Rescue) Bill to introduce a statutory corporate rescue procedure and insolvent trading provisions in Hong Kong; yet to be taken forward.
Phyllis lends support to the International Association of Insolvency Regulators (IAIR), an international body that brings together the collective experiences and expertise of a diverse group of government insolvency regulators from around the world, in her capacity as Executive Committee member of IAIR.
This Episode is a collaborative effort with IAIR in recognition of the institutional leadership and core commitment of INSOL and IAIR in harnessing inclusion and diversity across the insolvency and restructuring landscape, from insolvency practitioner firms and legal practices to regulatory bodies.
Episode 1: Jane Jiang, Allen & Overy, Shanghai
Jane Jiang is a partner at the Shanghai office of Allen & Overy, leading its restructuring practice. She is well regarded for her extensive expertise in advising financial services clients on a variety of regulatory issues and cross-border disputes and insolvencies. Jane is advantageously positioned to act on multi -jurisdictional cases as she is well versed with the legal and regulatory environment in China and understands the corporate culture and sensitivities of Chinese clients in cross- border transactions. She is a trusted adviser for many first-tier Chinese companies for their international operations and disputes outside of China and has guided international creditors with PRC-related restructurings and the PRC Enterprise Bankruptcy Law insolvency regime. In addition to leading the PRC institutions through overseas processes and international creditors with Chinese regulatory engagement, she is a specialist in policy developments in the restructuring space.
Jane is qualified to practice in the UK and Hong Kong and is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. She also serves on the Asian Advisory Council of INSOL.
