Thailand

Local expertise, global approach

As the largest law firm in Thailand, our team offers a full range of legal services. From routine corporate registrations to the most complex cross-border M&A transactions, our clients benefit from our ability to bring the right team to every matter. We also have specialized foreign desks to better serve our clients from Japan, Europe and China that are investing in Thailand.

A distinguished list of landmark deals executed by our Financial Services and Tax teams demonstrates our innovative approach to Banking & Finance, Capital Markets and Major Projects. We recently advised on Thailand’s first hybrid bond offering and first amortized bond offering, assisted a leading energy company in structuring the country’s first green bond offering, and helped establish the country's first publicly-traded real estate investment trust (REIT).

Our Corporate and Commercial practice advises on inbound and outbound trade, M&A, joint venture agreements, BOI investment privileges, environmental laws, consumer protection laws, and antitrust and competition matters. Our expert Insurance team leads the market in transactional, regulatory, bancassurance, and litigation work.

Our Real Estate practice is the largest and most accomplished in Thailand, advising on high-profile transactions and developments in Thailand. Our Healthcare team has deep experience in local regulatory processes and laws affecting pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology businesses. We also provide clients with guidance on WTO rules and regulations, regional trade agreements, and multilateral and bilateral agreements, including the US-Thailand Treaty of Amity.

Our Dispute Resolution lawyers represent clients in domestic and international litigation and arbitration, including bankruptcy, corruption, insurance claims, administrative law, labour, antitrust, cross-border fraud, class action, and international financial instrument enforcement.

As one of the leading Intellectual Property legal consultancies in Thailand, our IP team provides patent and trademark registration and enforcement services, as well as a full range of copyright, trade secret, online advisory, licensing, and outsourcing guidance. We also play a significant role in the development of Thailand's IP laws and regulations.

Our Sustainability Group in Bangkok is a multidisciplinary team with collective sustainability expertise to help organizations identify and minimize risk, establish sustainable structures and best practices, execute pivotal deals, benchmark performance and integrate sustainability into business models and operations to meet changing regulation. With diverse expertise, our team helps clients address the full spectrum of ESG concerns, from environmental compliance and carbon reduction to sustainable finance, supply chain, human rights, inclusion and diversity, values, corporate governance and more.

Awards

• Thailand Law Firm of the Year – Chambers Asia Pacific & Greater China Region Awards 2023
• Thailand Law Firm of the Year – ALB SE Asia Law Awards 2023
• Thailand Law Firm of the Year – Asia Business Law Journal 2023
• Thailand Law Firm of the Year – Euromoney Asia Women in Business Law Awards 2023

Practice Area Rankings

Banking & Finance

• Band 1 – Thailand – Chambers & Partners 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – Legal 500 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – IFLR1000 2023

Capital Markets

• Band 1 – Thailand – Chambers & Partners 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – Legal 500 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – IFLR1000 2023

Competition/Antitrust

• Band 1 – Thailand – Chambers & Partners 2024

Corporate and M&A

• Band 1 – Thailand – Chambers & Partners 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – Legal 500 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – IFLR1000 2023

Customs and International Trade

• Tier 1 – Thailand – Legal 500 2024

Dispute Resolution

• Band 1 – Thailand – Chambers & Partners 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – Legal 500 2024

Dispute Resolution: International Arbitration

• Tier 2 – Thailand – Legal 500 2024

Employment

• Band 1 – Thailand – Chambers & Partners 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – Legal 500 2024

Insurance

• Band 1 – Thailand – Chambers & Partners 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – Legal 500 2024

Intellectual Property

• Band 1 – Thailand – Chambers & Partners 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – Legal 500 2024

Projects

• Band 1 – Thailand – Chambers & Partners 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – Legal 500 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – IFLR1000 2023

Real Estate

• Band 1 – Thailand – Chambers & Partners 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – Legal 500 2024

Restructuring/Insolvency

• Band 1 – Thailand – Chambers & Partners 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – Legal 500 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – IFLR1000 2023

Tax

• Band 1 – Thailand – Chambers & Partners 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – Legal 500 2024

TMT

• Band 1 – Thailand – Chambers & Partners 2024
• Tier 1 – Thailand – Legal 500 2024

Transport

• Tier 2 – Thailand – Legal 500 2024

The Bangkok office takes pride in its dedication to CSR projects and pro bono activities. Corporate responsibility in the Bangkok office comprises two distinct areas: the pro bono initiatives our lawyers conduct and our social actions.

Over the past 45 years, we have developed strong partnerships with local NGOs and charities in Thailand as part of the Firm's push to help its local communities. We believe that our pro bono activities define who we are; our partners and lawyers are constantly committed to raising the bar and providing the neediest of society with comprehensive advice on a range of issues.

Along with education, we are additionally passionate about the health of our planet and environment. We've signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Thailand Greenhouse Gas Management Organization on 11 April 2022 to collaborate on building an enabling legal environment to promote the implementation of climate action in Thailand.

As a CSR conscious Firm, we understood that we had an obligation to take positive action against the COVID-19 pandemic which has brought upon unprecedented challenges and difficulties to our society. Since the third coronavirus wave in Thailand which began in April 2021 and the sudden emergence of the Delta variant, the country's healthcare system was in a critical situation. Throughout various waves of the pandemic, we have made significant monetary contributions, as well as supplemented critical medical equipment to numerous hospitals throughout Thailand.

Outside of the pandemic, we have worked on labor and employment rights for asylum seekers, subsequently strengthening anti-human trafficking measures with a particular emphasis on children and women. These efforts have translated into our Bangkok office, alongside our client 3M Thailand, working on the End Violence Against Children Project. In early 2019, World Vision and Baker McKenzie launched a pro bono partnership in support of World Vision's five-year global campaign, "It Takes A World to End Violence Against Children." The cooperation includes the production of six legal guides that will empower local communities and social workers to end violence against children.

Our social initiatives form the backbone of our CSR projects. Throughout 2020 to 2022, we supported the Queen Sirikit Centre for Breast Cancer Foundation and provided scholarships to law students from Chulalongkorn and Thammasat universities. We have devoted serious involvement and commitment in higher education for over two decades. Our team also took part in a pro bono project for the International Social Service in relation to surrogacy rights in Thailand.

Furthermore, the Bangkok team has contributed to the Legal Atlas for Street Children project on a pro bono basis. Under this project, we partnered with in-house legal team of Cargill for Team Thailand in collecting and sharing information on laws, policies and numbers of children in street situations in Thailand, which form part of the world's first ever Global Advocacy Atlas on Street Children. This global project is a partnership between Baker McKenzie and the world’s only global network of street children’s organizations, Consortium for Street Children.

The Bangkok office had the special opportunity to support a great cause and proudly presented a donation of computers, monitors and telephone sets to our friends at the Baan Nokkamin Foundation. The Baan Nokkamin Foundation is dedicated to helping underprivileged children including, street children, orphans, children of broken families and children at risk by providing them with a warm, loving and caring environment.

We are supporting Bangkok's Disability Person Association by providing funding for prostheses to help improve the lives of people with disabilities. This initiative is part of our commitment to supporting our communities and improving the well-being of those in need.

As part of our commitment to higher education, the Bangkok office offers scholarships to deserving and underprivileged students needing financial assistance through the Graduate Studies of Mahidol University Alumni Association.

As part of Baker McKenzie's 75th anniversary celebrations, Baker McKenzie Thailand has partnered with Khon Kaen University and UN Women on a transformative "Training of Trainers" program. This initiative is designed to empower women, particularly those disadvantaged, by equipping them with essential business planning skills. By adopting the Competency-based Economies Formation of Enterprise (CEFE) approach, we aim to foster sustainable economic development through experiential learning and action-oriented methods. We are proud to have four women entrepreneurs nominated by the UN WE RISE Together project participate in this program. As we mark this milestone, we reaffirm our dedication to inclusion, diversity, and equity. We believe in the power of collective action to bring about positive change in society.