Magoon ’07 Advises High-Growth Startups at Singapore Firm

In February 2016, Tania Magoon ’07 joined Collyer Law in Singapore as Senior Associate, a boutique law firm focused on advising high-growth startups and entrepreneurs in Singapore and the South Asian markets.

Magoon focuses on advising clients on various corporate and commercial matters, including complex contractual arrangements, corporate governance, intellectual property law, technology transactions, and various commercial law matters.

“Primarily our work involves helping startups and early stage companies with legal support for doing business in Singapore and representation on venture capital financing,” Magoon says. This can range from fintech to healthcare, publishing to e-commerce.

Before joining Collyer Law, she had been a litigation attorney with DLA Piper in the greater Seattle area, and prior to that, a litigation associate with Morrison & Foerster LLP in New York City.

Magoon’s background is in chemistry and the classics. She received her A.M. in organic chemistry from Harvard in 2004 and her B.S. and B.A. in classics and chemistry from Union College in 2001. She was salutatorian of both her Union and Albany Law School classes, graduating summa cum laude and receiving many academic honors from both institutions.

Before joining Collyer Law, she had been a litigation attorney with DLA Piper in the greater Seattle area, and prior to that, a litigation associate with Morrison & Foerster LLP in New York City.

“I first considered law school when I was in graduate school at Harvard for chemistry. While I enjoyed science, I found that doing a Ph.D. was a bit confining. I enjoyed learning different things at the same time, and became intrigued by law when the chemistry department’s alumni-turned-lawyers commented that they learned more about science being lawyers than being scientists. I then connected with a Union classmate who was at Harvard Law School, sat in on a class with her, and found the discussion very refreshing. So I decided to give law a try,” she says.

A native of Pittsfield, Mass., she selected Albany Law School because she had done her undergraduate work at Union College and her sister attended Albany Medical College. “I liked that the school had a low student to faculty ratio and that you could get personal attention from the professors. Some faculty were also quite well known in their field. David Siegel literally wrote the book on New York practice. They also offered a very good scholarship, for which I will always be grateful.”

At Albany Law School, she was senior editor of the Albany Law Review and received many academic honors including the Frank M. Patterson Prize for highest standing in Contracts and Dean’s List for every semester. She credits Albany Law for preparing her well for her entire legal career. “The school and its professors gave me a solid foundation for practicing law. Though I know it’s outdated, and my edition is more than well-worn, I still hang on to Professor Siegel’s New York Practice book. Attorneys at my two prior firms would borrow it as a starting point on some issues. It’s on my bookshelf, here in Singapore.”

Magoon says she actually happened across Collyer Law by luck. “It’s a bit difficult to break into the Asian legal market if you don’t practice corporate law and don’t have experience in Southeast Asia. So I networked hard and was eventually introduced to Azmul Haque, who had just launched the firm. It was a change for me since now I’m primarily doing corporate work instead of litigation. But the team’s energy and the clients’ businesses make for an interesting and fulfilling practice.”

Magoon lives in Singapore with her husband Sanjiv Venkatram, who works for Microsoft, and their 2 ½-year-old son Rohan.

“Singapore’s fantastic. It is extremely expensive, but the quality of life is amazing, especially for families. Singapore has lots of activities for children, including museums, zoos, a fantastic aquarium, beautiful and accessible libraries, and cultural activities and schools, so each weekend we try to do something different. And the variety of food is incredible. The expat community is also quite strong, and I’ve made many friendships here. We hope to live here for many years.”