Melissa Lim
Partner
Cayman Islands
Melissa has extensive experience in investment fund structures.
That includes private equity funds, hedge funds, technology and venture capital funds and cryptocurrency funds. She is part of our Global Investment Funds Group and co-heads the global Fintech Group.
Melissa regularly acts for leading investment managers and private-equity houses. She advises on structuring and forming funds, their downstream transactions and exit mechanisms. An important part of her work involves advising on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, preference-share issues, corporate restructurings and other corporate transactions, and FinTech transactions including blockchain projects and digital assets. She also has significant expertise advising on finance transactions (in particular, capital commitment subscription financing), and security creation and perfection.
Melissa regularly acts for leading investment managers and private-equity houses. She advises on structuring and forming funds, their downstream transactions and exit mechanisms. An important part of her work involves advising on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, preference-share issues, corporate restructurings and other corporate transactions, and FinTech transactions including blockchain projects and digital assets. She also has significant expertise advising on finance transactions (in particular, capital commitment subscription financing), and security creation and perfection.
"She is always very attentive and responsive," [and] "she is an absolute pleasure to work with."
Experience and recent work
Melissa previously worked in the Corporate department of another law firm in the Cayman Islands. Before that she was in the Banking and Finance Department of Mallesons Stephen Jaques (now King & Wood Mallesons) in Melbourne, Australia. She also worked in the Banking and Finance Department of Linklaters in London, where she completed a secondment to Citigroup in the Bridge Loans/Leveraged Finance team in the Securitisation Department.
Qualifications
Admitted in:
- Cayman Islands
- Supreme Court of England and Wales (not practising)
- Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia (not practising)
Education:
- Bachelor of Commerce (Majoring in Accounting), University of Melbourne, Australia
- Bachelor of Laws (Hons), University of Melbourne, Australia
- Masters of Law, University of Melbourne, Australia
Melissa is a member of the Limited Liability Companies Sub-Committee of the Cayman Islands Financial Services Legislative Committee, a member of the Fintech Sub-Committee of the Cayman Islands Financial Services Legislative Committee, a director of Cayman Finance, a director of the Blockchain Association of the Cayman Islands, and a committee member of Women in Fund Finance.
She was formerly a non-executive director of the Utilities Regulation and Competition Office of the Cayman Islands (a multi-sector regulator regulating the information, communications, technology, energy, water and fuels sectors) and formerly a member of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority Digital Assets Working Group.
Melissa is also a member of 100 Women in Finance and the Cayman Islands Legal Practitioners Association.
2024 Chambers Global - Band 4 - Investment Funds
2024 Chambers Global - Band 1 - FinTech Legal
2024 IFLR 1000 - Highly Regarded
2023 IFLR 1000 - Highly Regarded
2023 Chambers Global - Notable Practitioner - Investment Funds - "Not only is Melissa super reliable, she is also an absolute pleasure to work with."
2022 Chambers Global - Notable Practitioner - Investment Funds - "Melissa Lim is brilliant."
2022 Chambers FinTech - "She is incredibly easy to work with, very thorough and detail-oriented and very responsive. She also has very good judgement."
2021 Chambers Global - Notable Practitioner - Investment Funds - "She is always very attentive and responsive," [and] "she is an absolute pleasure to work with."
2021 IFLR 1000 - Rising Star
2020 Chambers Global - Notable Practitioner - Investment Funds - "Sources say she is "great – always helpful on Cayman Islands issues and a pleasure to deal with."
2020 IFLR 1000 - Rising Star
2019 Chambers Global - Notable Practitioner - Investment Funds - "Market observers say Melissa Lim is "experienced and very well respected" for funds work in the Cayman Islands. Sources add that she is "responsive and knowledgeable" and has "always given creative solutions" when faced by challenging problems."
2019 IFLR 1000 - Rising Star
2018 Chambers Global - Notable Practitioner - Investment Funds - "She understands our clients and their businesses. She is very capable of arriving at practical answers and is also incredibly responsive."
2018 Legal 500 - Recommended Lawyer - Corporate & Commercial
2018 Legal 500 - Recommended Lawyer - Investment Funds
2018 IFLR 1000 - Rising Star
2017 Chambers Global - Notable Practitioner - Investment Funds - "Melissa Lim was commended by one source as 'absolutely outstanding', and they added: 'Whatever it is, she is there and she is tremendous'."
2017 Legal 500 - Recommended Lawyer - Investment Funds
2017 IFLR 1000 - Rising Star - Investment Funds and Banking
2016 Legal 500 - Recommended Lawyer - Corporate & Commercial - "Melissa Lim ‘can both advise on complex issues and defuse difficult situations’"
2016 IFLR 1000 - Rising Star - Investment Funds and Banking
2015 Legal 500 - Recommended Lawyer - Corporate & Commercial
2015 Legal 500 - Recommended Lawyer - Investment Funds
Melissa is a co-author of the Cayman Islands chapter of Private Equity in the Cayman Islands: Market and Regulatory Overview. She is also the co-author of How Fund Managers May Deploy the Cayman Islands LLC Structure, published by The Hedge Fund Law Report Vol. 9, No. 48; and also a co-author of the Cayman Islands chapter of the Chambers Fintech Guide.
Team Members
Other team members with related expertise
