For more information on the Civil and Commercial Litigation Practice Group, please contact Philip Fong at philfong@harryelias.com.sg.

Harry Elias Partnership’s reputation as one of the few truly leading litigation practice in Singapore is unquestioned. With 2 Senior Counsel and a number of litigation Partners supported by a team of experienced and dynamic lawyers and paralegals, we have a formidable litigation practice, whose clients include prominent individuals, banks, financial institutions and corporations, both local and international.

Litigation was the main practice of the Firm when it was founded and today remains a key practice even though the Firm has grown into a multi-disciplinary practice. Our expertise and experience include advising on the following:

• contractual disputes
• construction disputes
• land disputes
• banking and financial disputes
• tortious disputes including medical and professional negligence
• defamation
• corporate litigation
• minority oppression
• Companies Act applications
• judicial review

Some of the major cases that we have been involved in are as follows:

Cases

1. Acted for minority subsidiary proprietors who objected to the SGD$500 million collective sale of the development, Horizon Towers. This is one of the landmark decisions made by the Strata Titles Board and the Singapore High Court in recent times.
   
   
2. Acted for the Republic of Philippines and the Philippine National Bank in an interpleader action instituted in the High Court of Singapore. The subject matter of the interpleader was the sum of approximately USD$25 million allegedly embezzled by the former President of the Republic of Philippines, Ferdinand E. Marcos, during his reign. One of the issues here was whether the Republic of Philippines could assert state immunity in respect of the funds.
   
   
3. Advising Schroeder Venture Asia Pacific Fund in respect of a dispute relating to their investments in Aman Resorts.
   
   
4. Acted for one of the defendants, in the first of a series of litigation concerning the Raffles Town Club, which had a membership base of approximately 19,000 members. The primary issue in this case was the existence and enforceability of an alleged oral agreement for the issuance of shares in the Raffles Town Club. The Firm subsequently acted for two defendants in another suit relating to the Raffles Town Club which was instituted by a former shareholder.
   
   
5. Acted for the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) in prosecuting Professor Shorvon for, amongst other charges, not acting in the best interest of patients, failure to obtain ethic approvals for various tests carried out on patients suffering from Parkinson’s Disease and breach of patients’ rights to medical confidentiality. The Firm also acted subsequently for the SMC in Judicial Review proceedings in the United Kingdom against the UK General Medical Council with regard to Professor Shorvon’s case.
   
   
6. Acted for Gaelic Inns Pte Ltd in a suit against their external auditors in relation to professional negligence, one of the few of its kind in Singapore which set the benchmark for auditors’ responsibilities in Singapore.
   
   
7. Acted for Komoco Motors Pte Ltd in its application for judicial review (one of the rare judicial review decisions in Singapore) of a decision by the Land Transport Authority to levy a further additional registration fee on imported vehicles.
   
   
8. Acted for Digilandmall.com Pte Ltd in its defence against claims by several purchasers of printers which were mistakenly under-priced on an e-commerce website. The case set the law of unilateral mistake in contract in Singapore.