The Innovative Lawyers Asia‑Pacific 2026 awards named Tom Kollar the standout transaction lawyer among ten nominees. After stints at Freshfields and Clifford Chance, Kollar now leads Mayer Brown’s Hong Kong office, steering cross‑border work following the firm’s 2024 split from Johnson Stokes & Master. Judges praised his blend of imagination and execution in groundbreaking deals.

Kollar’s résumé includes advising Bhutan in 2007 on its first sovereign‑wealth fund as the kingdom shifted to a constitutional monarchy. He later served as trustee counsel for Deutsche Bank on Hong Kong’s inaugural catastrophe bond, and in 2024 guided Mongolian issuer Ulan Bator in placing a $500 mn bond, underscoring his reach across emerging markets.

The shortlist also featured Max Allan, who shapes Australia’s financial‑regulation agenda, and Pang Lee, a private‑equity specialist driving $115 mn crypto‑fund closures in Hong Kong. Together, the cohort reflects a shift toward lawyers who not only close transactions but also redesign firm structures and market frameworks, a trend that can lower transaction costs and open new capital‑raising channels for investors.

By rewarding innovators like Kollar, the awards signal to corporate clients that legal expertise is becoming a strategic asset in complex financing. Firms that cultivate such talent are likely to capture a larger slice of the region’s growing deal flow, where cross‑border capital markets are intensifying.