Employment
— Chambers Asia Pacific 2026“Shook Lin & Bok provided good legal advice framed in a commercial way. ”
— Chambers Asia Pacific 2026“Shook Lin & Bok have been able to answer our queries and provided answers, no matter how complex the question.”
— Chambers Global 2025“Shook Lin & Bok gave clear and precise responses. Their replies, advice and solutions are always highly valued.”
— Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2025“Full-service team with the right blend of corporate, employment and support teams to advise on mandates where local Singapore law advice is required.”
— Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2025“The firm has a great balance of commercial knowledge and legal expertise. They are highly flexible and capable of supporting us on a wide range of legal issues, from contract negotiations to advising on complex legal matters.”
— Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2025“Very good at applying a litigation lens to potential employment issues. Good at adding client protections to boilerplate contractual documents.”
Our Employment Practice has been consistently recognised across reputable directories including Benchmark Litigation, Chambers Asia Pacific, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific and Asialaw Profiles, reflecting our depth of experience and our ability to deliver clear, practical and commercially attuned advice.
We act for medium to large local and multinational corporations across a wide range of industries, including technology companies, private equity firms and their portfolio companies. We also frequently advise and represent individuals, including founders, directors, C-suite level executives and multinationals, in actual and potential disputes with current and former employers.
Our practice is distinguished by its strength in both contentious and non-contentious employment work. Our transactional team regularly advises on all aspects of the employment lifecycle, from onboarding to offboarding, as well as employment issues arising from mergers and acquisitions, ensuring that our clients receive integrated and practical legal solutions tailored to their business objectives.
Our disputes team acts in matters before all levels of the Singapore Courts, including in pre-action production applications and applications for injunctive relief, and advises clients on navigating matters before the Employment Claims Tribunal, Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management (TADM), Tripartite Alliance for Fair & Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM). This dual capability allows us to provide end-to-end legal support, from strategic advisory and compliance to dispute management and resolution.
The practice’s expertise includes advising on:
- The full suite of employment documentation including employment contracts, employee handbooks and policies and employee benefit and incentive schemes
- Transactional employment aspects of mergers, acquisitions, corporate restructuring
- Workplace investigations and regulatory investigations, including investigations into misconduct, discrimination, compliance with regulations and fair employment practices
- Employment disputes, including matters relating to restrictive covenants, misuse of confidential information, wrongful termination and breaches of employee or fiduciary duties
- Immigration matters
- Workplace health and safety
Chambers Asia Pacific
- Ranked in Employment (2014 – 2018, 2022 – 2026) – Current Ranking: Band 3
Benchmark Litigation
- Ranked in Labour & Employment (2022 – 2023, 2025 – 2026) – Current Ranking: Tier 3
Legal 500 Asia Pacific
- Ranked in Employment (2012 – 2025) – Current Ranking: Tier 3
Asialaw Profiles
- Ranked in Labour & Employment (2015 – 2025) – Current Ranking: Recommended
