KC Lye

Practice Areas

KC focuses on international arbitration and has been involved in a wide variety of contested matters in South-East Asia. He handles high-value disputes from a range of industry sectors, including crypto, oil and gas, aviation, and commercial fraud. He has

represented clients in ICSID, SIAC, ICC and LCIA arbitrations and mediation proceedings in London, Hong Kong and Singapore. He has accepted numerous appointments to sit asarbitrator, both as sole arbitrator and as part of a panel, in commercial cases centred inJapan, India, China, the Philippines and Rwanda. KC is on the panel of arbitrators for theSIAC, KCAB, AIAC and SCMA. 

Career

KC practices as counsel and arbitrator with Breakpoint LLC. With more than 20 years of experience as a disputes lawyer, KC began his practice as a commercial litigator at the Singapore Bar and later spent many years as the head of the international arbitration department of a major international firm in Singapore. He is a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators and is on the panel of arbitrators of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), the KCAB International  and the AsianInternational Arbitration Centre (AIAC).

KC has been named in the Hall of Fame for International Arbitration and ranked as a Leading Individual for many years in leading  legal directories and rankings. He has beendescribed as one who is “always focused on getting a commercial result, “a knowledgeable advocate”, being “cool under pressure”, “commercially astute”, “an experienced tactician”, and clients have lauded his “intellectual firepower”.

KC publishes and lectures extensively on international arbitration and alternative dispute resolution. His articles have been cited by the Singapore High Court. He is qualified as a Solicitor in England & Wales and as an Advocate & Solicitor in Singapore.

Work Highlights

KC has acted for a leading Southeast Asian independent power producer against the Bangladesh Government in a high-value ICC arbitration seated in London, as well as a separate ICSID arbitration relating to a powerplant in Haripur, Bangladesh; is advising a major Korean construction company in an SIAC arbitration seated in Singapore against an equipment manufacturer in relation to a

dispute over contracts for the construction of power projects in Iraq; is acting for a global brewery group in multiple Singapore-seated SIAC arbitrations of over USD 1 billion over alleged breaches and a forced buyout under a Singapore law-governed shareholders'

agreement between the parties; defending the State Electricity Board of a sub-continental government in UNCITRAL arbitration against claims by a Japanese independent producer pricing provisions on the offtake agreement, and end of life provisions in the PPA relating to buy out rights for the power plant; representing an international bank in a Singapore-seated SIAC arbitration against a Southeast Asian

bank in respect of claims arising from a sale and purchase agreement of a retail and commercial banking business following exit of the international bank from an ASEAN country; acting for a Middle Eastern national oil company in multiple Singapore-seated SIAC arbitrations, in relation to tax disputes regarding the sale of certain PSC interestsin Indonesia and the Philippines and defending an ASEAN National airline in an ICC arbitration against a USD80 million claim relating to a dispute under a management agreement in the Maldives and involving issues of English and Maldivian law.