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Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Overview

The Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department is headed by Senior Partner Quek Mong Hua.

Mong Hua leads our large team of lawyers with many years of varied and extensive experiences and expertise in a wide range of litigation work. Several of our lawyers are also accredited arbitrators and mediators and they act frequently as counsel or arbitrators in ICC, SIAC and UNCITRAL arbitrations.

Collectively, we practise in every major field of commercial, criminal and civil litigation. The strong camaraderie and support enjoyed by our lawyers within the department and also with lawyers from other departments within the firm inspires varied and alternative views and solutions to legal problems and disputes. It also enhances our abilities to handle complex cases and equip our lawyers with cross-disciplinary skills and information to give relevant and accurate advice.

Our proficiency and prowess is evident not only in the court-room and other dispute resolution tribunals when matters are litigated. We provide sound advice and creative solutions in the best interests of clients, taking into account practical and commercial considerations in negotiations directed towards pre-empting potential or actual disputes, thus saving our clients substantial expenses and stresses whenever litigation could and should be avoided.

Our loyal and satisfied clients include a wide spectrum of clients ranging from major banks, MNCs, local companies of all sizes to high net worth individuals and the ordinary man in the street who have cause to use our services. Our experiences range from cases involving complex disputes of facts and law to relatively simple dispute resolutions and even routine debt collection, all of which are handled professionally by us with all due regard to the importance and priorities naturally accorded them by our clients.

Our work

Our vast and varied experiences and expertise cover the full range of dispute resolution and include the following areas of law: -

  • Administrative and Public Law
  • Arbitration
  • Admiralty and Shipping
  • Banking and Finance
  • Building, Construction and Engineering Disputes
  • Commercial law
  • Corporate disputes
  • Criminal Law
  • Defamation
  • Employment, Immigration and Labour Law
  • Family and Matrimonial Law
  • Insolvency Law
  • Insurance and Reinsurance
  • International Commercial Arbitration
  • Management Corporation and Strata Titles Disputes
  • Motor Accident and Injury Claims
  • Professional Liability
  • Real Estate, Property and Leases
  • Wills, Probate and Trusts

    Case highlights

    1. Acting for majority owners of more than 30 developments in their successful applications to the Strata Titles Board for orders approving their collective sales of total value of about S$8 billion.
    2. Acting for a high net worth individual claiming about S$1 billion from an international bank in respect of trading losses. The case was amicably settled before discovery.
    3. Acting in an international arbitration concerning a foreign airport terminal in which the claim is about US$500 million.
    4. Acting for the majority owners of the development known as Gillman Heights in a landmark appeal to the High Court concerning the collective sale of the development for S$548 million, which was decided in their favour, and which decided the appropriate level of consent required for collective sales of privatised HUDC estates.
    5. Acting for a former CFO in actions relating to alleged forex transaction losses amounting to S$500 million.
    6. Acting for the majority owners of the development known as Waterfront View in a landmark appeal to the High Court concerning the collective sale of the development for S$385 million which was decided in their favour, and which decided that CPF funds should not be taken into account when determining financial loss.
    7. Acting for the majority owners of the development known as Futura in appeals to the High Court and Court of Appeal concering the collective sale of the development for S$297.3 million, whose outcomes were in their favour.
    8. Acting for a foreign bank claiming more than US$100 million in a case involving complex financial transactions and various schemes of repayment that went awry.
    9. Acting for the beneficiaries of an estate worth about S$40 million in successfully setting aside the alleged last will of the deceased.
    10. Acting for a CEO of a stock broking firm in successfully resisting a claim of about RM98 million for alleged negligence and breach of fiduciary duties.
    11. Acting in an international arbitration concerning a foreign power plant in which the claim is about US$20 million;
    12. Acting for the liquidators of a foreign company in a complex case of fraud committed against 7 multi-national banks, and successfully tracing and recovering goods in a Singapore warehouse worth about US$18 million.
    13. Acting for the liquidators of an unregistered foreign company in a novel case where an alleged Singapore creditor sought to resist an application for the transmission of funds from the Singapore liquidation estate to the principal foreign liquidation estate.
    14. Acting for a group of policy holders against a large insurance company concerning investment gains of S$18 million. The case was amicably settled.
    15. Acting in a scheme of arrangement for creditors of a subsidiary of a listed company where a moratorium was obtained successfully to cover, in a case without precedent, the creditors of the holding company pending the execution of the scheme for its subsidiary.
    16. Acting for a young accountant in claiming S$2 million in a personal injury case (and in securing one of the highest awards made by the Singapore Court for damages for personal injury).
    17. Acting for a doctor found liable for alleged negligence in successfully appealing a High Court judgment to the Court of Appeal on the ground that his negligence did not cause the injury.
    18. Successfully securing the acquittal in two separate and unusual cases where the employers were alleged to have assaulted their domestic maids. One was acquitted at trial whilst the other was a successful appeal, a rare legal phenomenon. In both cases, forensic evidence was introduced to advance arguments that the injuries were not caused by the alleged assaults.
    19. Securing the acquittal of an accused charged with abetting a SATS officer in corruptly assisting Pakistanis to travel to the United States, by tracing the complicated modus operandi of the scam to show the lack of mental intention of the accused.
    20. Successfully defending a claim against a businessman for cheques issued by his authorised signatory. The case raised several novel issues of banking law and practice which were decided in his favour by the High Court. The decision was affirmed by the Court of Appeal.
    21. Successfully appealing against the decision of the Public Accountants Board in disciplinary proceedings against two accountants for alleged mal-practice.

     

    For further information, please contact:
    Quek Mong Hua
    Lee Han Tiong