Experience

Dr. Sok Siphana is a practicing attorney and the Founding Partner at SokSiphana&associates, a law and consulting firm specializing in international trade and corporate law in Phnom Penh. He was appointed by Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen concurrently as Advisor to the Royal Government of Cambodia and Advisor to the Supreme National Economic Council with the rank of Minister in August 2009 and November 2011 respectively. He was reappointed as Senior Advisor to the Royal Government of Cambodia in September 2018 with the rank of Senior Minister. He serves currently as the Chairman of the Board of the Asian Vision Institute (AVI) and previously as Chairman of the Board of the Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI), Cambodia’s oldest and most prominent independent research institute.

During Cambodia Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2012, Dr. SOK was attached to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs where he served, among other advisory functions, as a Member of the ASEAN Task Force on Substantive Issues, ASEAN India Eminent Person Group Co-Chair, Cambodian Sherpa to G20 and High-Level Cambodian Representative to G20 Development Working Group. In the lead to Cambodia hosting the 13th ASEM Summit in 2020, he was entrusted with the responsibility of ASEM SOM. From 2011 to 2018, he was also a Convenor of a weekly 45 minutes “Cambodia’s Global Dialogue” policy talk show on South East Asia TV (SEATV).

Dr. Sok is a holder of a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Widener University School of Law in Delaware, United States (1992) and a Ph.D. from Bond University School of Law in Queensland, Australia (2009). And he has a Ph.D. on Comparative Laws with the Université de Paris II Panthéon-Assas (2022). In terms of international award he is the recipient of the New Zealand ASEAN 40 Years Anniversary Award awarded by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand Honorable Murray McCully 2015 as well as the Australia Alumni of the Year Award 2019.

Career

Dr. Sok Siphana has had an illustrious career in public service. He served as the legal expert for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) attached to the Council for the Development of Cambodia from 1993 to 1998. From 1999 to 2005, he worked extensively on trade policies and development, commercial legal framework, and economic integration as Secretary of State at the Ministry of Commerce. Dr. Sok was the lead negotiator in Cambodia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2003. From October 2005 to July 2009, he served as Director at the International Trade Center (ITC), a joint technical agency of UNCTAD and the WTO in Geneva, Switzerland. Since 2009, Dr. Sok has been working as a Senior Advisor to the Royal Government of Cambodia. On August 7, 2023, he was appointed Senior Minister of the 7th Legislature of the National Assembly to the Royal Government of Cambodia and he suspended his Bar membership and resigned from the firm.

Qualifications

• Member of the Bar Association of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
• Eminent Practitioner: General Business Law, Chambers Global, 2020
• Elite Practitioner: Corporate/M&A, Banking & Finance, Asialaw Profiles, 2021
• Band 1: General Business Law, Chambers Global, 2014-2020
• Tier 1: General Business Law, Legal 500, 2020
• Market Leader: Mergers & Acquisitions, IFLR1000, 2020
• Highly Commended: Legal Expertise, Financial Times, 2018-2019
• Winner of the Financial Times “Asia-Pacific Innovative Lawyers Award 2017”
• Honorary Professor, Tianjin Sino-German University of Applied Sciences, 2017
• Fellow of the International Belt and Road Academy, Hong Kong, 2016
• American Lawyer: Global Legal Awards-Global Citizenship Award Grand Prize 2014
• Recognized as one of the ‘movers and shakers under the 50s’ by Asia Inc in 2004
• Honorary Scholar, Center For International Legal Studies of Salzburg, Austria

Recognition

• Grand Cross / Grand-Croix / or Mohasereivadh awarded H.M. King Norodom Sihamoni
• 2 Royal Medals (Class ‘Asarith’ and ‘Sena’) by H.M. King Norodom Sihanouk
• Royal Medal (Class ‘Moha Sena’) awarded by H.M. King Norodom Sihamoni

• National Medal ‘Class Thipdin’ by Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen
• Member of CIETAC Panel of Arbitrators1 May 2021 to 30 April 2026
• Winner of the Asia-Pacific Innovative Lawyers Awards | Cambodia
  Financial Times, 2017

“He is dedicated to inspiring young Cambodians and empowering female entrepreneurs.” – Editorial Feedback

• Tier 1, General Business Law, Legal 500, 2019
• Band 1, General Business Law, Chambers Asia Pacific, 2014-2019
• Band 1, General Business Law, Chambers Global, 2017-2019
• Distinguished practitioner, Corporate/M&A, Banking & Finance, Asialaw Profiles, 2020
• Market Leader, M&A, IFLR1000, 2020