Krishna Ramachandra

Krishna Ramachandra, (born 11 September 1971), is a Singaporean lawyer and the current Managing Director of Duane Morris & Selvam LLP in Singapore, a joint law venture between Selvam LLC and the USA-based Duane Morris LLP.
After graduating with a Master of Laws from Christ's College, Cambridge on a Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer scholarship, Ramachandra began his legal career as an Associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in 1998. He then moved to Clifford Chance as an Associate in 2003. In 2005, he joined Arfat Selvam Alliance as a partner, where he played a key role in establishing a partnership with Duane Morris LLP. Since 2011, he has held the position of Managing Director of Duane Morris & Selvam LLP.
Ramachandra is an Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore and is also a Solicitor of England and Wales.
Early life
Ramachandra was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In 1972, his family migrated to Singapore. He became a citizen of Singapore in 1984.
Legal career
Early career
In 1998, Ramachandra started work as a trainee and then as an Associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where he practiced as a corporate lawyer with a particular emphasis in telecommunications, media and technology. During his time at Freshfields, he was seconded to the Financial Law Panel in London.
In 2003, Ramachandra relocated back to Singapore and joined multinational law firm Clifford Chance LLP as an Associate. During his 2-year stint, he specialised in corporate and capital markets work covering the South and Southeast Asian region.
In 2005, Ramachandra left Clifford Chance to join Singapore law firm Arfat Selvam Alliance LLC as a Partner, where he headed the funds/private equity and capital markets practice group. During his tenor, he advised investment banks, listed and private companies in Asia, Europe and the USA on a wide range of equity and debt securities issues, financial services regulatory issues, funds advisory and mergers, acquisitions and takeovers. He is known for advising clients on innovative legal structures. In February 2009, Ramachandra was appointed Joint Managing Director of Arfat Selvam Alliance LLC.
Duane Morris & Selvam LLP
In 2010, Philadelphia-based law firm Duane Morris LLP announced the formation of a new Singapore-based joint venture with Selvam LLC, to be known as Duane Morris & Selvam LLP (DMS). Ramachandra played a key role in the creation of this joint venture, with the intent of strengthening his firm's capabilities, access and presence around the globe through the enhanced legal network.
The joint venture was a significant highlight in Ramachandra's career as it is the first USA-Singapore joint venture to be approved by Singapore as part of the enhanced liberalisation of its legal services market in 2008.
Through the joint-venture, Ramachandra has managed to substantially increase DMS's cross-border work, going "from local to global overnight".
With Ramachandra at the helm, DMS is currently embarking on a strategy of "smart expansion" and currently has offices in Shanghai, Yangon, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and an alliance in Sri Lanka. DMS also operates country practice groups for a number of jurisdictions including Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Nepal, Korea, Japan, Philippines and Australia.
Growth of Duane Morris & Selvam LLP
Under Ramachandra's direction, there has been strong growth for DMS in their dispute resolution practice as well as their core corporate practice. In 2016, Ramachandra declared his intention to further develop DMS's media/telecommunications practice and their sports law practice. One of the core highlights in these areas was Ramachandra's involvement in advising a "$2 billion-plus" regional telecommunications deal in addition to working on the much-coveted global sports commercial rights related to the Olympics.
There has also been strong emphasis on DMS's country practice groups, notably in India, China, Korea and Japan, with the Korea practice group seeing DMS represent an enviable list of Korean conglomerates across multi-practice areas.
Affliations
In 2015, Krishna was appointed as Chairman of Singapore football club Tampines Rovers FC. He signed nine top players from the disbanded LionsXII side, secured a deal with Brazilian football legend and World Cup winner Ronaldinho to set up his football academy in Singapore, and signed the first former English Premier League star Jermaine Pennant to play in Singapore for Tampines Rovers FC. Ramachandra intends to use his position as club chairman to support Singapore football and bring back the passion and belief that, in his opinion, have been lost in recent years.
Recognition
Ramachandra is regarded as one of the most highly recommended lawyers in the practice areas of Capital Markets and Corporate Finance by Asialaw Leading Lawyers. Chambers Asia Pacific and the Asia Pacific Legal 500 regularly refer to his creative yet practical and client-focused approach and the IFLR1000 recognises him as an expert in the area of Islamic Finance in Singapore.
Philanthropy
Ramachandra is a keen believer in giving back to the society and is currently a board member of 2 charitable organisations, Beyond Social Services and Social Innovation Park.
Personal life
Krishna Ramachandra is married to Priya Pannirselvam. They have three children together; two boys and a girl. His elder son Rohin attends the Singapore Sports School and is an aspiring footballer.
Ramachandra is a keen supporter of Liverpool FC and enjoys the thrill of driving supercars. He was previously appointed as the President of the Ferrari Owners' Club Singapore.

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