November 30, 2020
September 11, 2021

Q&A with Samantha Khoo

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When did you start at Sierra Legal? I started at Sierra Legal in February 2014.

What were you doing before Sierra Legal? I was living and working in London as a Senior Associate in the Corporate team at SJ Berwin LLP (now King & Wood Mallesons) in London. 

What is the most exciting thing you are working on right now? I am working on some commercial agreements for a business that, amongst other things, provides some very cool drone equipment and services for cinematographic use (including for movies like Thor Ragnarok and Aquaman).

What do you do with your time when you aren’t advising on M&A deals and reviewing contracts? I have 2 daughters who keep me very busy outside of work.  I’m currently also in the middle of a home renovation project and I provide some company secretarial assistance to a not-for-profit accelerator for early stage start-ups in the Agricultural and Food sectors in Australia. I also like swimming, bike riding, yoga, gardening and doing Just Dance with my girls.

What was your first job? Waitressing for a couple of Malaysian restaurants in Brisbane.

What was the first thing you bought with your own money? I don’t remember but I’m sure it would have been some sort of fashion item – maybe a purse or a pair of shoes!

What was the last book you read? The Secret Commonwealth by Phillip Pullman. Before that, I also started reading Homo Deus (A Brief History of Tomorrow) by Yuval Noah Harari, but I haven’t finished this one yet – it’s interesting but a bit dry.

Favourite place? My favourite city that I’ve visited is Istanbul.  Otherwise, I love any place with a good beach.

Favourite food? Too difficult to choose just 1 – my top 3 would probably be Malaysian Fried Kueh Teow (a fried, flat noodle dish); Malaysian egg and onion roti canai with lamb curry; roast chicken or roast pork (with yorkshire pudding, veg and gravy).  The first 2 are from growing up in Malaysia and the last choice had to go on the list because when I was pregnant with my first daughter in London, I went off all Asian food and kept craving roast (particularly roast chicken) and 3 veg!

Least favourite food? Japanese natto (fermented soy beans).  I lived in Japan for a year after I graduated from Uni and I could never bring myself to have more than a taste – I don’t like the texture.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what 3 things would you want with you? An oasis, veggie seeds and some music.  It might be nice to be stranded there for awhile if I had these things! 

Best advice you have received? Not really advice but a quote I once read, which seems to have a number of variations but is essentially as follows – a person really only needs 3 things in life to be happy: something to do, someone to love, something to look forward to!

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