Matthew Secomb, formerly head of international arbitration in Asia-Pacific for White & Case, has left the global law firm to join his wife, Anne, at their boutique practice, Secomb Arbitration.
Having operated for nearly a decade, Secomb Arbitration’s sole arbitrator has been Anne and will now operate as a two-member practice.
Secomb said he and his wife would both use the title of independent arbitrator, as neither held any management-based roles within the firm.
“We focus entirely on international arbitration. Each of us have decades of experience in the field. However, in contrast to our previous work, moving forward, we will focus almost exclusively on arbitrator work (as compared to advisory, counsel, etc),” he told Asia Business Law Journal.
Although the firm currently comprises only him and his wife, Secomb did not rule out expanding the team in the future.
“No immediate plans, but long-term we may consider taking on one or two juniors to support us, or perhaps another arbitrator or two,” he said.
Looking ahead, he aims to grow Secomb Arbitration’s pipeline of appointments and focus on the firm’s strengths in certain sectors.
“We want to have a solid flow of good arbitral appointments. Ideally with a good mix of common and civil law work in the fields where we already have strong experience – corporate [and] M&A, energy, construction, etc.,” he said.
Secomb Arbitration currently has offices in Singapore and Paris. While there are no immediate plans to expand into other jurisdictions, particularly within the Asia-Pacific region, Secomb did not rule it out entirely, saying “never say never”.
