Singapore’s Parliament has approved legislative changes that would clear the way for mergers between international and domestic firms.
The island nation’s Ministry of Law had announced Tuesday that it had proposed amendments to Singapore’s Legal Profession Act permitting foreign law firms to own stakes of up to 33 percent in local law firms. Previously, only individual foreign lawyers, not firms, were permitted to hold such stakes. The amendments were approved Wednesday and will go into effect in the second quarter of 2012.