How this Singaporean law firm relies on technology to navigate global challenges

Successfully navigating the high-stakes world of shipping, commodities, commercial disputes, corporate, banking and finance, as well as employment requires specialist legal expertise.

That's where Helmsman LLC Singapore comes into the picture.

Founded in April 2019, the firm has grown to become one of the world's leading law firms with a deep and dedicated focus, according to Jonathan Tan, a Director at the firm.

"In Singapore, London, and Hong Kong, our team of lawyers and specialist consultants advises on shipping, commodities, corporate, banking and financing, dispute resolution, and employment matters around the globe," he shares.

"We're the first port of call for some of the world's largest commodity traders, protection and indemnity clubs, shipowners, charterers, banks, and corporations. Many of them are long-term, repeat clients who seek our counsel on various aspects of their businesses."

Their secret to success is surprisingly simple: serving customers with plain, practical advice.

"It's not just our motto — and we're more than just award-winning lawyers who represent clients in court, arbitration or mediation. We believe that knowing the letter of the law is one thing, but being able to apply the law in a way that gets you results is another, more valuable skill entirely," says Jonathan.

"[That] is why we live and work to provide fit-for-purpose commercially viable counsel based on years of understanding the intricacies of our specialised fields of practice and of English, Singapore, and Hong Kong law. It's advice that works hard — day in, day out — and problem solves for better outcomes. Plus, our informal, responsive style means we're there for clients when they need us, no matter what time zone they're in."

Add the fact that the firm and its lawyers are regularly ranked and recognised by leading ranking publications as market-leading practitioners, and it's no surprise that they have acquired a long list of accolades in recent years.

In November 2023, Helmsman LLC was recognised as one of Singapore's Best Law Firms 2024 by The Straits Times in collaboration with Statista in the legal fields of Arbitration & Dispute Resolution, Banking & Finance Law, Employment, and Maritime & Shipping.

In February 2024, Asian Legal Business (ALB) nominated Helmsman LLC as one of the ALB Firms to Watch 2024.

Based in Singapore and Hong Kong, Helmsman LLC's acts for an international clientele and provides specialism in shipping and commodities trading disputes. Image by Helmsman LLC

An open-minded approach towards legal technology

Serving global markets from its offices in Singapore and Hong Kong, Helmsman LLC values any competitive edge it can gain. For example, the firm adopted baseline legal tech solutions to handle cloud storage, document management, and accounting.

"This did away with the physical storage of files and documents (so there are no costs wasted on storage space) and streamlined the financial management of practice as effective and efficient," Jonathan explains.

Next in the pipeline is adopting AI (artificial intelligence) productivity tools to assist with legal work. Currently, the team at Helmsman are in the midst of exploring other AI tools.

"We hope that the AI agents perform time-consuming but rudimentary document-centric tasks so our lawyers can focus on high-value work and complete the lower-value work efficiently," he shares.

To tackle the challenges and concerns when using AI agent platforms, Helmsman LLC and its IT consultants work closely with the vendors to identify and iron out any potential issues in advance of and during the process of adoption.

"The other challenge of legal tech is keeping up with the pace and up-to-date with the latest developments," says Jonathan.

"We have a dedicated team who are constantly on the lookout for the latest legal tech, studying and testing whether it is a good fit and feasible for our firm."

“Our lawyers were familiar with the platform are confident in investing in a company that has cemented themselves as a pioneer in the legal technology space,” Jonathan shares when asked how the firm narrow down which platform the firm wanted to invest in to aid with legal research.

'LexisNexis's solutions were the first to come to mind'

With the advent of legal technology in Singapore, it can be challenging for firms to narrow down the right platform to invest in. For Helmsman LLC, however, the name LexisNexis instantly came to mind for several reasons.

"In choosing a legal research platform to support the firm's work, the solutions deployed by LexisNexis were the first to come to mind as our lawyers were familiar with the platform and are confident in investing in a company that has cemented themselves as a pioneer in the legal technology space," Jonathan shares.

One solution the Director noted was Practical Guidance, one of the solutions within Lexis+® Singapore.

Take Practical Guidance, for example.

A leap beyond traditional legal research, this results-oriented solution is well-equipped with step-by-step guidance, legislation, cases, checklists, tools, forms and precedents to help legal professionals work more efficiently — providing lawyers at Helmsman LLC a "solid starting point to areas of law that they may be less acquainted with."

Jonathan adds: "The practical primer that Practical Guidance offers and the effective and efficient multi-jurisdictional case law searches enables us to deliver plain, practical advice to our clients time and time again."  

He also shared that the legal research tool, another solution within Lexis+® Singapore, allowed lawyers like him and his peers to dive deep into a matter as needed anywhere, anytime on one reliable platform.

Beyond this, both tools have a rare focus on local laws tailored towards dispute resolution and transactional matters. To date, Jonathan describes Practical Guidance as an "excellent, fairly up-to-date, repository and database of precedents for Singapore law-governed commercial agreements."

Covid-19 undoubtedly helped to increase the uptake of legal technology in many areas of the legal industry in Singapore. Image by Vincent St Thomas, Getty Images Pro.

A quantum leap and acceleration in legal tech adoption and advancement in Singapore

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly been a disruptive forced and catalyst for the uptake of digital technologies in many areas of the legal industry.

Jonathan shares a similar sentiment.

"There's been a quantum leap and acceleration in legal tech adoption and advancement. First, for one, the tech has gotten smarter — you have AI, AI agents, automation of workflows like document review and management, and even, to some extent, legal research," he explains.

"Technology has also become more widely available [and] more widely adopted. Clearly, this has streamlined workflows, unified communications, and enhanced collaborations between various team members."

His biggest takeaway? Lawyers are now able to access all of their materials anytime, anywhere, in a fast, efficient, and practical manner to deliver plain, practical advice to clients.

Most recently, the Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices (TAFEP) has issued the mandatory Tripartite Guidelines on

Flexible Work Arrangement Requests (TG-FWAR), which came into effect on Dec. 1, 2024, as announced by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on April 16, 2024.

"With the recent guidelines by MOM, legal tech adoption has also become an imperative for law firms. It is vital for work flexibility and to build up business resilience as a firm," says Jonathan.

Asked what he hopes future legal tech providers can take note of when crafting a new product or solution, Jonathan shared that there are two key points to bear in mind.

"First is the data and cybersecurity. Legal tech will often be used to process or host a law practice's data, including confidential client data. An e-discovery AI agent, for example, can sometimes be used to respond to document requests with reasoned analysis, retrieve relevant documents, answer questions about documents, or tag documents for various issues. It's crucial for us as a firm and for our clients' purposes to understand if or how the data is accessed, processed, stored, and retained," he says.

"Secondly, it is vital for legal tech solutions to integrate with existing workflows and processes so that we can work seamlessly across different platforms."

One issue Jonathan has or sees is that most legal tech products are generally "walled gardens" that do not have access to external context or systems, resulting in a very fragmented user experience.

He concludes: "Ultimately, I think the idea is that we want a comprehensive but safe and seamless tech solution with a synergy that allows us to efficiently and effectively deliver plain, practical advice to our clients."

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Lexis+® Singapore is a premium all-in-one ecosystem of integrated legal solutions, complete with superior research, practical guidance and gold standard drafting tools. For more information about Lexis+ and its suite of solutions, click here to learn more and request for a free demo.