On December 8, 1941, Japanese forces landed in Thailand. The Japanese took effective control of Bangkok and the Thai government remained in power in little more than name. Luckily, Reginald Atkinson, Victor Jaques, and their families had previously departed from Thailand. Samuel Brighouse was less fortunate; he, his wife, and all but their youngest daughter Jane (who was at school in Malaya and managed to escape to Australia) were caught in Bangkok and interned. For the first time since its establishment, Tilleke & Gibbins ceased operations.

Tilleke & Gibbins was back in business, its usual caseload augmented by war claims against the Thai government on behalf of individuals and European companies. Victor Jaques, the sole remaining partner after the war, brought into the firm a young trial lawyer named Roland (later Rojvit) Periera.

In the 1950s and 1960s, much of Albert Lyman’s attention was taken up with legislation and activities concerning trademarks and their infringement. This was a business he had to build up from scratch, as all such intellectual property work previously handled by the firm was transferred to Jorgensen after World War II. Borrowing the idea from a similar procedure used by Western colonial powers in China, Albert developed consular registration for patents, which went some way to providing protection for patent holders. The groundwork laid by Lyman in these areas bore abundant fruit in later years when Tilleke & Gibbins became one of the foremost legal experts on intellectual property.

In July 1951, Albert Lyman bought Tilleke & Gibbins from Victor Jaques for the price of USD 2,500, which he had borrowed from his wife, Freda Lyman. Under the leadership of the Lymans, the firm added more recently arrived and mainly (though not exclusively) American companies, including Caltex, Getz Bros & Co., Pepsi-Cola, Chase Manhattan, and Bank of America to its roster of clients, which continued to include established British trading concerns such as The Borneo Company Ltd. and foreign banks like the Hongkong & Shanghai and the Mercantile Bank.

Through her work with the American Women’s Club, Freda Lyman became actively involved with charitable activities aimed at aiding crippled children. She played a large part in the creation of the Foundation for Crippled Children, which in turn led to other welfare projects such as the Cheshire Homes. In recognition of this work, Freda was awarded the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand 5th Class in 1961, making her the first foreign woman to be decorated by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

In 1967, David Lyman, the son of Albert and Freda, joined Tilleke & Gibbins and began developing new clients and new systems for the firm. By the mid-1970s, business was expanding noticeably, especially in the fields of intellectual property and commercial and corporate business. Increasingly, large international contracts were secured and, for example, Tilleke & Gibbins handled the formation of Diners Club and American Express in Thailand, marking the first major entry of credit card companies into the country.

In his long career with the firm, Roland (later Rojvit) Periera appeared in more than 1,000 cases, many of them ranking among Bangkok’s most notable post-World War II trials. One of these cases was, at the time, the largest in Thai history in 1971, involving suit worth THB 400 million between Siam Kraft Paper and Parsons & Whitmore, a construction company, concerning the Siam Kraft factory in Kanchanaburi. Periera succeeded in securing a satisfactory outcome to the litigation for Parsons & Whitmore. Periera was also the lead attorney for Air India in a successful case involving the Customs Department (1976) and secured a victory for the Bank of America in a case involving deferred taxes (1970). Periera would later be joined at the firm by his sons Thanes and Santhapat Periera.

On April 10, 1984, Albert Lyman succumbed to diabetes. He was followed by his wife, Freda Lyman, who passed away on July 18, 1986. Anecdotes abound attesting to the high regard in which Albert Lyman was held by all who knew him. As part of the after-dinner entertainment at a party hosted by the British Ambassador, eight British and two American guests were posed the hypothetical question of whom they would contact if they suddenly found themselves in a dangerous or threatening situation in Thailand and could make only one telephone call. Not one of the guests gave the obvious answer (of getting in touch with their embassy), but six of them did agree—they would call Albert Lyman.

In 1989, Lex Mundi contacted David Lyman, which resulted in Tilleke & Gibbins joining what is the world’s premier international grouping of independent law firms. This membership grew to give the firm access to the expertise and experience of more than 21,000 attorneys in over 160 jurisdictions, thus vastly enhancing its services in handling cross-border transactions. In becoming a member of Lex Mundi (and subsequently several other international legal networks), Tilleke & Gibbins anticipated the trend towards globalization that continued through the last decade of the twentieth century and into the new millennium.

In July 1992, Tilleke & Gibbins became the first foreign law firm to be granted a license to establish a representative office in Vietnam. The new office, located in Ho Chi Minh City, the commercial heart of the reunified Vietnam, was followed by the establishment in January 1994 of a branch office in Hanoi, the nation’s capital. Both offices were awarded full branch office licenses in 1996.

In 1993, Tilleke & Gibbins launched the Second Hundred Years Forest Project, a community project in recognition of the firm’s second century of client service. Working with the Rajapruek Foundation, the Royal Thai Army, the Royal Forestry Department, and friends of the firm, including long-time client, the Thoresen Group, the firm planted over 100,000 trees in five phases between 1993 and 2010. The Second Hundred Years Forest Project is currently in its sixth phase.

On August 4, 2006, Tilleke & Gibbins appointed Darani Vachanavuttivong and Tiziana Sucharitkul as Co-Managing Partners of the firm. Darani Vachanavuttivong heads the firm’s intellectual property group and is a formidable enforcer of intellectual property rights, including trademarks, copyrights, and patents. Darani is currently recognized as a top IP practitioner by such publications as Asialaw Leading Lawyers, Legal 500 Asia Pacific, and Chambers Asia-Pacific. Tiziana Sucharitkul leads the firm’s dispute resolution and litigation group and is consistently ranked as one of Thailand’s leading dispute resolution lawyers. She represents international clients in diverse industries including technology, financial services, consumer goods, luxury goods, and transportation.

On August 1, 2008, Tilleke & Gibbins and Pacific Legal Group (Thailand) Ltd. merged their practices. This combination allowed the firm to offer clients Thai Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) registration and regulatory compliance services of the highest quality rendered by the largest and most experienced group of Thai FDA and MOA registration and regulatory compliance specialists.

Tilleke & Gibbins celebrated the 120th anniversary of its founding in 2010 with the release of the book Wise Counsel. Recognition of the firm’s longevity is well illustrated by client loyalty. A total of 307 clients have been with the firm for more than 30 years and 25 of these for more than 70 years. Co-Managing Partner Tiziana Sucharitkul pledges that Tilleke & Gibbins will “remain a very client-oriented firm.”

Building on its longstanding presence in Thailand and Vietnam, Tilleke & Gibbins grew into a truly regional law firm providing service across Southeast Asia. During 2013–2015, the firm opened new offices in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, and Myanmar to serve its multinational clients in these growing markets.