Sreenivasan Narayanan SC

Practice Areas

Appellate Litigation

Commercial Disputes

Insolvency

White Collar Defense and Investigations

Financial Institutions and Services Litigation

International Arbitration

Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption

Professional Liability

Anti-Money Laundering (AML)

Securities Enforcement / Financial Regulatory Enforcement

Career

One of Singapore’s leading Senior Counsel, Sreeni has over 38 years of experience in practically every area of dispute resolution. This experience, along with a strong appreciation for the practical and a quick understanding of any technical or subject matter knowledge, has enabled Sreeni to understand and give effect to desired and realistic client outcomes, and to formulate strategies to achieve those outcomes.

Sreeni started his working life in 1985 as a Legal Service Officer in the Singapore Legal Service, having been given the opportunity to obtain his LLB (Hons) degree from the National University of Singapore on a Public Service Commission scholarship. Entering private practice in 1990, he has practiced extensively across various fields that include commercial litigation, civil litigation, international arbitration, restructuring and reorganization, criminal and regulatory matters.


Sreeni was a founder and Managing Director of Straits Law Practice LLC, before its merger with K&L Gates LLP in 2019, where he was Managing Director. Sreeni was appointed as Senior Counsel by the Chief Justice in 2013. He is a fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of the UK and the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators.


Through his roles on the board of listed companies, including as Chairman of a mid-cap mainboard listed health group, and with his in-depth experience as a disputes lawyer, Sreeni has acquired significant knowledge and experience in corporate governance, SGX and SIC compliance issues, acquisitions and divestments, recruitment and remuneration of senior management and dealing with the inevitable problems that listed companies face from time to time.


Sreeni has extensively on charitable boards. In these organisations, he contributed extensively not only in terms of programmes and hands on work but also in terms of compliance, audit supervision and human resource issues. Sreeni has been awarded the Outstanding Service Award by the Singapore Red Cross and the Public Service Medal (PBM).


Sreeni is active as a pro bono volunteer lawyer since 1990 and as an advocacy trainer for lawyers at all levels since 1993, both in Singapore and elsewhere in the Commonwealth. Training and mentoring have been pillars of Sreeni’s professional life.


Work Highlights

Acted for the judicial managers in DGJ v OTPL [2024] SGCA 57, a land mark case before the Court of Appeal in which the Court reaffirmed the sanctity of the pari passu principle in insolvency proceedings, and clarified the application of public policy against maintenance and champerty in the context of insolvency.

Acted in a landmark claim arising from the wrongful fertilisation of an egg with the sperm of a stranger during IVF. The case involved conflicting judicial precedents from England, Ireland, Australia, and the United States and has sparked off extensive academic writings on ‘wrongful birth’ and ‘wrongful conception’. The Singapore Court of Appeal developed the entirely new concept of the right of genetic affinity. The case is reported as Thomson Medical Pte Ltd & Ors v ACB [2017] SGCA 20.

Acted in The Oriental Insurance Co Ltd v Reliance National Re Pte Ltd [2008] 3 SLR (R) 121 which was an appeal where conflicting House of Lords and Australian High Court decisions were considered in relation to a scheme of arrangement and the powers of the court.

Acted for the deputy pastor of a mega church in a case involving criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts. The matter ran for 140 days at trial and subsequently went before a specially constituted three-judge High Court bench and a specially constituted five-judge Court of Appeal bench, as it involved novel points of law.

Acting in a case of alleged market manipulation case involving three main board listed counters which had, at peak, market capitalization in excess of SG$8 billion. The hearing spanned over 200 hearing days – the longest criminal trial in Singapore.

Acted in Mustafa Ahunbay v PP [2015] 2 SLR 903 which was a criminal reference to the Court of Appeal relating to a point of law of public interest. The subject matter was procedure for the continued seizure of assets. The case involved a sum in excess of SG$30 million.

Professional Memberships

Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators

Publications

Modern Advocacy

More Perspectives from Singapore, authored chapter "Selected Aspects of Criminal Advocacy"

The Asia-Pacific Arbitration Review 2023 and 2024

Co-authored "The rise of Hospitality Disputes"

Chapter on Presentation of Factual Evidence at Trial

Law and Practice of Commercial Litigation in Singapore (Sweet & Maxwell) 2015

Business Crime Q&A’s, Singapore

Financial & Business Crime Global Guide 2018/2019

Languages Spoken

English, Bahasa Indonesia and Tamil.