Member Spotlight | P&A Law Office

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P&A Asia Law Office is one of EuroCham’s newest member. 

P&A Asia Law Office comes from an international and local background and is admitted to the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) and the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia (BAKC) and have international experience gained from leading international law firms. P & A is dedicated to providing our clients with value-added legal services across all our practice areas, with a special focus on corporate, banking & finance and real estate.

EuroCham met with Allen Prak, the Managing Partner,  to better understand the company. Read the interview below:

What are some upcoming projects you would like to tell other EuroCham members about?

We’re assisting a developer to make a mobile home park using containers.  Cambodia has a lack of low-income housing for the lower/mid income social class.  As a supporter of the project, we hope to provide affordable low-income housing for the families that are in need for good housing and reasonably close to the Capital, Phnom Penh.  In addition, as Container homes can be mobile and are not a permanent structure on the land, foreigners can also purchase container homes. The market is ready and has started to adopt the idea of containers as alternative housing as the market is flooding with offices/showrooms, restaurants, bars and coffee shops made from shipping containers.  We are also assisting our client to discuss with microfinance institutions who may be interested in supporting financing of the homes for potential buyers.

Which past projects are your most proud of and why?

Assisting the De Castle Royal Condo and Casa Meridian Condo project;  being a runner-up for the TrustLaw Connect reward in New York.

The De Castle Royal Condo Project in BKK1 is currently a well established and efficient run condominium building.  However, in the past, the company nearly went bankrupt with construction stalling for over 3 years.  Working with the developer and Canadia Bank, we were able to successfully implement a construction loan program to complete the construction.  Now, the developers have paid off all their debts.

For the TrustLaw Connect reward, we assisted Acid Survivors Trust International in a multi-jurisdictional endeavor to combat acid violence to ensure justice for survivors.  We conducted due diligence, performed research and surveys to assist.  We were runner up for the Legal Team of the Year in 2013 for TrustLaw Connect, which is part of the Thomson Reuters Foundation and in 2016 we were the nominee for the  Impact Award.

How are you involved in the local community? Tell us a bit about your CSR activities? How would you like to make your CSR activities more visible?

As part of our social responsibility, we assist TrustLaw on a pro-bono basis and we do seminars on legal updates and investment projects annually.  The only charge we have for our clients and friends of clients are the cost of food at the venue.

We are also members of working groups to assist with drafting laws.  Currently, we’re assisting in drafting the trust law with SECC in hopes of Cambodia adopting a uniform trust law which will open for more foreign direct investment from overseas.

What types of partnerships and/or links do you look for with other EuroCham members?

Our Managing Partner, Allen Pheap Prak  Esq., is admitted to the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia (“BAKC”) and to the New York State Bar Association (“NYSBA”). The main reason

to come to Cambodia from working at Debevoise is to contribute and help the nation.  When in new York as an associate,  I kept hearing news of Cambodia as a developing country and all the hardship that arise as a developing country matures.

Seeing this as an opportunity, I picked up the phone and called a local law office in Cambodia.  After a brief Skype interview, I relocated from New York, New York to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Since then, P&A has assisted investors from all over the world to bridge the legal, language and cultural gap with investments in Cambodia.  We find that most often, investors, do not understand the Cambodian culture or the mindset of its people.  Only by understanding the background, the culture, and its people will investors be the right step to making positive and lucrative changes.

Now, we are still assisting investors and have even pulled in private investors and institutional investors such as angel investors and private equity investors for their prospective investment in Southeast Asia with a focus on Cambodia.

P&A Asia Law Office:                                                                                                                                              

House No. 41, Street 242 ﬩ Street 141,                                                                                                                  

Makara, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

 

 

 

 

 

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