Legal Sector Must Evolve with Investor Needs
- Andrew Millar
- Jun 13
- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 25
TOP 50 INTERVIEW: Matthew Rendall
March 2025
The legal sector in Cambodia is rapidly evolving, driven by increasing foreign investment and growing demand for international standard legal services. As a seasoned leader in Cambodia's legal industry, Matthew Rendall, Managing Partner at Sok Siphana & Associates, shares insights into his leadership principles, the challenges and opportunities in the sector, and the significance of the firm's transition to Kinstellar.
Leadership Values & Guiding Principles
CLR: Matt, as a seasoned leader in Cambodia's legal sector, what core values and guiding principles have defined your leadership approach? How have these values influenced your role in the firm?
"Being a trained foreign lawyer from a developed market, my focus was always the delivery of international standard legal products.
My legal experience was from working for corporate law firms in Sydney, where there are very high expectations from clients in terms of the standards of professionalism in the product you deliver to them that is everything from the emails and letters you draft to the contracts and advice memos you provide.
Even a typo or grammatically incorrect sentence (or even the layout of the written work) could leave a very bad impression on the client.
There is an assumption that the quality of the written work reflects the standard of the substance of the advice or contract, etc; if your spelling or grammar is subpar, the client will assume that your substantive knowledge is also subpar (even if this is not the case).
That was always one of the main challenges here, where all our client communications, both written and verbal, were in English, yet for our lawyers, this is their second language or sometimes third or fourth language.
Whereas those of us who work here could appreciate this and not assume the substance is wrong or substandard just because the grammar or layout is, our clients would not be so forgiving and, as a result, may well go elsewhere.
So, in terms of leadership values and guiding principles, I focused a lot on professionalism of product delivery. No shortcuts, diligent proofreading, etc. Also, it is very important to try and understand the clients viewpoint or objective of their inquiry so your response adequately addresses their concerns.
There is nothing more frustrating for a client than to think they have not been understood in the first place, which often leads to an enormous amount of unnecessary wasted time.
Again, most of the time the client has no sympathy or appreciation for the fact that the lawyers are operating not in their first language.
Challenges & Opportunities in the Legal Sector
CLR: The legal sector in Cambodia is evolving alongside the country's rapid economic growth and increasing foreign investment. What do you see as the key challenges and opportunities for legal professionals in 2025?
As the standard, size, complexity and diversity of investor projects evolve and increase, so does the need for local law firms to upskill in terms of being able to deliver the type of legal products and advice required to support those projects.
This is a major current issue in Cambodia.
Whole industries are brand new to Cambodia, and as such, there is not much experience or expertise among the Cambodian-based lawyers of the type of legal skills required by those investors.
As such, a lot of legal work continues to be done by lawyers based in other countries such as Singapore, where there are a number of international law firms, or the UK, etc.
Investors are incurring the expense of engaging law firms from those countries, as there are no lawyers in Cambodia with requisite expertise in the subject, industry or sector.
Our firm has been involved in matters where the lawyers for the opposing side have flown over from London, for instance. The required expertise is simply not available here or is limited.
Law schools need to be cognisant of this and adapt courses to focus on areas of investment that are new or likely to come to Cambodia. Like all sectors, the legal profession here needs skills development to accommodate new client needs and the evolving investment landscape.
Rebranding to Kinstellar
CLR: Rebranding to Kinstellar is a significant milestone for the firm. What inspired this transformation, and what new initiatives or strategies are being introduced to better serve your clients in Cambodia and the region?
The great thing about our collaborating with Kinstellar is that they are an already proven, experienced and successful legal services firm in developing markets similar to Cambodia, namely Central Eastern Europe, as well as Vietnam for the past year.
Kinstellar is in fact an initiative and creation of Linklaters, which is one of the world's leading law firms, servicing developed markets such as the UK and the US etc. (21 countries in all).
Kinstellar, which is an anagram of the name Linklaters, was designed to cater to developing countries, whereas Linklaters focuses on developed markets.
As such, Kinstellar has a tremendous amount of resources and expertise to draw from in its various practices around the world, which can benefit all its respective offices - which will now include Cambodia in its collaboration with us.
This factor was a major reason why we chose to collaborate with them in servicing the Cambodian market. Given the rise in the types and complexity of investment projects in Cambodia, both local and foreign, there is now also a corresponding need for a rise in the type and complexity of legal services to cater to these investments.
By collaborating with Kinstellar, but it will help bring international standard legal skills and law firm management to Cambodia, to help better cater to this new situation. This will then stem the need for foreign investors (and, indeed, significant local investors) from having to seek legal services internationally.
Not only will this help attract more foreign investment, it will also help with raising the skills of the local lawyers in Cambodia, as well as provide better legal services for local businesses.
This new law firm collaboration can also assist the government with legal framework development and policy issues, given their vast experience of operating in many different countries and jurisdictions.
Overall, it is very positive for large segments of Cambodian society; the potential positive impact is endless. As such, it is an opportunity that we were very happy to accept the more and more we considered."
About Matthew Rendall
Matt is a highly respected legal professional in Cambodia, serving as Managing Partner at Sok Siphana & Associates since February 2021.
With extensive experience dating back to 1994, he advises on corporate, commercial, real estate, labour and investment law, guiding both foreign and local investors and holding a Band 1 ranking in Chambers Asia‑Pacific’s General Business Law for Cambodia. Matt is also known for his deep understanding of Cambodia’s regulatory environment and for his hands-on approach to solving complex legal and commercial challenges. Over the years, he has earned the trust of major international clients and is widely regarded as one of the most experienced foreign legal advisors operating in the Cambodian market.
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In partnership with Cambodia Investment Review (CIR) and the International Business Chamber of Cambodia (IBC), Cambodia Leadership Review has officially launched 50 International Leaders 2025.
Now in its second edition, the publication highlights 50 of the most influential international business and organisational leaders and innovators contributing to Cambodia’s dynamic economic landscape, including Matthew Rendall.