Kirkland & Ellis Competitors

Cecil Leong is the Regional Director, Trade Consulting at K&L Gates Straits Law and oversees the International Trade/WTO consulting operations in the Asia Pacific. He is part of K&L Gates' Policy & Regulatory practice, which groups together professionals with specialty practice areas within international trade in Asia, North America, Europe and Latin America. Cecil assists clients in matters pertaining to customs valuation, classification, post-entry audits, transfer pricing, wholesale/distribution/dealer contracts and advocacy with customs authorities, and has been involved in many important cases before customs authorities in China and Singapore. In China, he has been involved in several significant customs valuation cases over the past decade. He has also handled customs, import regulatory and compliance matters in Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan and India. Cecil also advises companies on optimising their regional supply chains with a focus on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), including the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), etc. He is actively engaged in Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines where he has brought together foreign investors and leading local businesses to undertake joint ventures in the areas of infrastructure development. Cecil is the chair of the Singapore steering committee to the ASEAN Japan Business Meeting for the last 10 years. In Oct 2015, he served as chair of the 40th ASEAN Japan Business Meeting which was held in Singapore. Mayer Brown, Accenture, Tan Chong, SMBC Bank, Ascendas-Singbridge and IM Holdings as sponsors. Singapore Business Federation and Kezai Doyukai were co-organizers with Mayer Brown with support from JETRO and JCCI. Chambers Global and Chambers Asia Pacific have ranked Cecil in Band 1 for International Trade/WTO in 2018 & 2019

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE: LEADERSHIP AND EXPERIENCEI have substantial experience in the HE sector at the highest levels of senior management both through my present appointment as Senior Vice-President (Global) and in my previous roles of Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) and Pro Vice-Chancellor (International relations) at the University of Surrey. Prior to joining Surrey in September 2012, during my tenure at UCL I was a significant contributor to the senior management team of the School of Life and Medical Sciences and Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and a major lead on quality assurance (in both teaching and learning and research) for the University. I also spearheaded our regional engagement programme through my role as a Pro-Provost. Most of my roles require, or have required, significant diplomatic skills and an ability to lead multidisciplinary complex teams in order to deliver the desired outcomes without the individuals necessarily being under my direct line management. Effective communication and ability to articulate a vision has been instrumental in achieving success together with effective use of networks of key individuals to deliver strategies . I am well versed in leading significant organisational change through engagement and persuasion. I regularly speak at Higher Education, research and International Summits in the UK and globally relating to research led teaching, building academic links with Asia, opportunities for educational development between the UK and other countries and university governance and management of strategic international developments. I sit or have sat on advisory boards for a range of Biotech and large Pharma companies including Roche, Novartis, MSD, Janssen, Johnsons and Johnson and also SMEs in the biotech sector. I have also undertaken medico-legal work as an advisor/witness for both defence and prosecution cases relating to organ transplantation and infectious diseases.