Davinder Singh Chambers LLC

Executive Chairman: Davinder Singh SC

Chief Executive Officer: Jaikanth Shankar

Number of Directors and Associate Directors: 8 

Number of Lawyers: 25 

Size of firm: 40+

Languages: Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa Indonesia, English, Hindi, Mandarin and various Chinese dialects, Punjabi, Tamil

Firm Overview:  

Led by Davinder Singh SC, Jaikanth Shankar and Cheryl Tan, Davinder Singh Chambers LLC specialises in dispute resolution and international arbitration.

With a team comprising more than 40 lawyers who focus exclusively on the full spectrum of dispute resolution, including litigation, arbitration and arbitration-litigation matters, Davinder Singh Chambers LLC has been the firm of choice for local and foreign governments, state-owned and private entities, prominent individuals and multinational companies. The firm regularly handles significant, high-profile and complex matters in the Courts and before international arbitral tribunals.

Davinder Singh Chambers LLC represents clients in many areas including administrative law, arbitration, bankruptcy and insolvency law, civil and commercial litigation, investigations and white-collar crime, corporate and commercial law, criminal law, employment law, family law, media, internet and information technology law, mediation and trust law.

Main Areas of Practice: 

Dispute Resolution

International Arbitration

Dispute Resolution: 

The firm is regularly involved in a number of highprofile cases in Singapore courts which are widely reported in the press and are of public interest. Notable cases include:

■ A dispute involving claims and allegations of fraud, valued at more than S$1 billion

■ A US$153 million cross border dispute arising from a coal mining joint venture

■ A shareholder and estate dispute involving Mustafa, a well-known company in Singapore.

■ Advising stakeholders in a high-profile family of companies in the oil and gas and shipping industries

■ Acting for the Prime Minister of Singapore in various defamation claims including a high-profile defamation claim against a blogger n Multi-jurisdictional RMB30 million dispute involving allegations of misapplication of funds

■ A S$37 million dispute involving alleged mismanagement of a town council’s public funds

■ A S$40.65 million dispute with a Singapore public-listed company arising from a development project described as a ‘mini Silicon Valley for logistics’

■ A US$57.5 million dispute arising from a series of complex restructuring arrangements

■ A multi-million dispute involving a high net worth individual’s shares in SGX-listed company

■ A long-running and “hard fought” S$25 million construction dispute arising from a fallen stone panel at Centennial Tower

■ A US$16 million dispute involving the former CEO of a precision parts manufacturer

■ A multi-million dollar dispute involving one of the world’s leading private banks

■ A buy-out claim involving a leading luxury group in Asia

■ A high-profile dispute over a building between two Teochew associations

■ A dispute involving leading oil producers

Contacts: Davinder Singh SC, Jaikanth Shankar

International Arbitration: 

The firm acts in complex cross-border international arbitrations, in matters often valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The firm acts for a wide range of clients, including individuals, financial institutions, multinational corporations and others from a variety of sectors and industries. The firm handles all stages of the arbitral process from pre-arbitral negotiations and arbitration advocacy to the international enforcement of arbitral awards. The firm’s lawyers are often instructed by international and other local firms to act as lead counsel at arbitration hearings in Singapore and the region.

The firm recently obtained favourable awards in a US$200 million joint venture dispute involving a gold mining company, two related US$450 million ICC arbitrations involving one of the largest manufacturers of steel products in South-east Asia and a US$35 million SIAC arbitration involving a dispute over a settlement deed. Other significant and high-profile cases in the firm has been involved include an emergency arbitration in Singapore between the world’s largest online retailer and one of India’s largest retailers to restrain a sale of retail assets in India worth around US$3.4 billion and a US$1 billion ICC arbitration involving a Family Trust Fund.

Its lawyers have experience acting as counsel and arbitrators on international commercial arbitrations and investor-state disputes and have been involved in a broad and diverse range of arbitration disputes in various industry sectors including oil and gas, real estate, metals and mining, food and beverage and pharmaceuticals.

Contacts: Davinder Singh SC, Jaikanth Shankar

International Work: 

The firm regularly handles cross-border work and acts for multinational corporations, foreign governments and high net worth individuals. By way of example, Davinder Singh SC has been instructed by the Attorney-General’s Chambers of Brunei Darussalam as prosecu¬tion counsel in criminal appeals relating to two former judicial officers who were involved in misappropriating BND15.75 million from the Brunei Official Receiver’s Department. He successfully applied before the Brunei High Court for a restraining order under the Brunei Criminal Asset Recovery Order 2012 over suspected criminal proceeds. The value of the assets restrained was BND 4.9 million making it the largest restraining order to be granted by the Brunei Courts. Davinder Singh SC and Jaikanth Shankar have also been instructed as counsel in the first case heard before the Singapore International Commercial Court, involving a cross-border dispute in the coal mining sector.