Bio

Suet-Fern Lee advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt capital markets, and corporate finance. Her work also includes counseling companies and board of directors. Before joining Morgan Lewis, Suet-Fern was the founder and chairman responsible for strategic direction and oversight of a leading Asian law firm based in Singapore. The international business community and international media recognize Suet-Fern as a business leader and pioneer. Legal publications and directories have consistently praised her work and acknowledged her as a leading lawyer in the practice areas of banking, capital markets, corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions. Suet-Fern was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by Asian Legal Business in 2007, the Lifetime Achievement Award by Chambers Asia-Pacific in 2016 (becoming the first ever woman recipient), and the Lifetime Achievement Award by Euromoney in 2017. Euromoney also honored her with its Asia Women Business Law Awards for mergers and acquisitions and private equity in 2012 and 2013 and Best Lawyers Mergers & Acquisitions named her Lawyer of the Year in those years. In 2020, IFLR1000 Women Leaders recognised Suet-Fern as one of the top 300 best transactional specialists in their markets and practice areas for the third consecutive year since its inaugural edition launched in 2018. Suet-Fern also has served as a member of the board of directors of various publicly listed companies in Singapore and the region. She currently serves as director on one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory groups, Rothschild & Co. She is also a director of AXA Holdings Japan where she also serves on the Audit Committee. Amongst others, she has served on the global board of AXA, a multinational Fortune 50 company head-quartered in Paris, as well as Sanofi, a global pharmaceutical company. As a contributor to the community, Suet-Fern has taken a leadership role in a number of organizations, including as a member of the board of the World Justice Project, an independent multidisciplinary organization working to advance the rule of law around the world. Her other public service activities in Singapore include serving as a trustee for Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. She is a former president of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association and the former chair of the Asian Civilisations Museum and a member of the Singapore National Heritage Board. She is also a former member of the executive committee of the Senate of the Singapore Academy of Law, where she also chaired the committees on Convergence and Harmonisation of Laws in Asia as well as on Legal Education and Studies. She was also a member of the Accounting Advisory Board at National University in Singapore and a member of the advisory board of the Law School at Singapore Management University, where she also chaired the Centre of Cross-Border Commercial Law in Asia’s Expert Panel.