Elsa Chen is Principal Economist, and heads the Firm’s Competition Economics Team.

Elsa, who is cited for her expertise in The International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers & Economists 2010, was a pioneer member of the Economics Analysis Division in the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS). She was involved in key CCS’ investigations and decisions, including the Qantas/Orangestar Cooperation Agreement involving a determination of the single economic entity doctrine and net economic benefit exclusion under the Competition Act, Chapter 50B of Singapore.

Elsa was also involved extensively in the drafting of the CCS Guidelines, the CCS merger control regime, and the CCS Block Exemption Order for Liner Shipping Agreements. Prior to joining the CCS, Elsa was an Assistant Director at the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore involved in the drafting of the Competition Act and the setting up of the CCS.

Since 1 July 2007, Elsa was involved in 16 of the 23 merger notifications reviewed by the CCS, including Prudential/AIA, the only three mergers to be reviewed by the CCS under the Phase 2 review, Thomson/Reuters, Greif/GEP Asia Holdings and Mount Kawi/Poly Resources/Samwoh Resources/Zhan Chang, and the only merger to be cleared in a Phase 1 review subject to global divestment commitments, Enodis/Manitowoc.

Significant matters that Elsa has been involved in include:

During her time at the CCS, Elsa received specialist training in competition economics and law from the UK Office of Fair Trading, UK Competition Commission, US Department of Justice and US Federal Trade Commission. She was also attached with The Competition Authority in Ireland.

A recipient of the Prime Minister’s Book Prize, Elsa graduated summa cum laude with a double degree in Economics and International Relations from Tufts University, Massachusetts, and was placed yearly on the Dean’s List. She holds a postgraduate degree from the London School of Economics and is currently pursuing her LLM with a specialisation in Competition Law.