One of the ‘Big Four’ law firms in Singapore, Allen & Gledhill has one of the largest teams with more than 130 lawyers including over 50 active partners and senior counsel. The firm is universally praised by peers and clients as having one of the strongest disputes teams in the market, with noted senior practitioners leading the group. It has a proven track record of representing sophisticated clients in bet-the-company litigation. This year, the firm ascends into the top tiers for construction and private clients, and also climbs up one for its family and matrimonial practice.
Allen & Gledhill’s specialisms include banking and commercial disputes, international arbitration, insolvency, intellectual property and white-collar crime. The firm also runs a comprehensive cross-border disputes service supported by its regional network.
The firm launched four specialist practices in 2021 with the goal of helping organisations navigate the increasingly complex and regulatory environment. These include newly set up practices for cybersecurity & data protection and private wealth, and the expansion of two existing practices to enhance the scope of service in the areas of employment, health & safety and ESG & public policy. As struggling businesses were forced into bankruptcy litigation, the Allen & Gledhill team starred in various disputes linked to the high-profile insolvencies of Hin Leong Trading and Agritrade Resources.
Key names in the team include Andrew Yeo for commercial disputes, Chien Mien Ho for construction, Edward Tiong for insolvency, Yee Leong Chong and Dinesh Dhillon for international arbitration, Yong Seng Tay on the employment side, Stanley Lai for commercial litigation and intellectual property, and Jason Chan for white-collar crime and investigations. William Ong co-heads the disputes department and he specialises in international arbitration and intellectual property.
The disputes team is defending the liquidators of Park Hotel in two separate cases against claims of breach of fiduciary duties, breach of trust, transactions defrauding creditors, clawback claims and breach of director’s duties in relation to the alleged restructuring of the Park Hotel Group. The firm also represented AllRightsReserved, a creative studio and art exhibitions organiser, in a dispute related to the organisation of the Kaws: Holiday Singapore exhibition. This was a complex matter and appears to be the first case where an injunction had been sought to halt a public art exhibition in Singapore and, accordingly, it became a test case as to how damages for such wrongful injunction would be assessed.
In a high-profile commercial litigation, the firm acted for BTHMB Holdings in a dispute involving the issuance of cryptocurrency and use of proceeds by leading cryptocurrency issuers. Singfor Insurance has instructed the firm to defend against EFG Bank in a suit involving pledge assets. The complex dispute involves legal issues over trusteeship, conflict of laws, the doctrine of
ultra vires in company law, and the law on apparent authority and constructive notice.
In a seminal intellectual property matter, the IP litigation team defended several individuals against i-Admin’s claim for copyright infringement and breach of confidence. This was the first case which addressed copyright infringement in software programs and compilations. The novel issue that arose concerned whether a party is entitled to rely on the change in the law in bifurcated proceedings to expand its claims of damages.Following a change in the law, this is the first time that matters of issue estoppel, cause of action estoppel and abuse of process arguments are being considered in bifurcated proceedings, so there are no reported cases addressing such an issue. Ultimately, the parties reached a settlement on the assessment.
The contentious labour team triumphed for the plaintiffs, private equity property funds IP Investment Management and IP Real Estate Investments, in a landmark case relating to personal data litigation. They filed a suit against a former investment director of their group, who left to launch a rival fund. This was Singapore’s first civil court action for personal data breaches under the Personal Data Protection Act.
The white-collar crime team acted for Essilor International in one of the largest transnational fraud cases in Singapore’s legal history. It assisted the eyewear manufacturer in more than a dozen cases against different defendants in the local courts, including civil recovery claims and criminal disposal hearings.
Key clients include DBS Bank, Credit Suisse, Noble Group, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Perennial Group, Sentosa Development Corporation, Singapore Tourism Board and SingHealth.
Client feedback
“Prompt, commercially minded advice.” – Commercial and transactions
“Very responsive. They are also very knowledgeable in their field and provide good commercial advice.” – Commercial and transactions
“The partner handling the matter was thorough, methodical and understood the issues very well. The support from his legal assistants was good. The firm presented our case to the arbitrator very precisely and concisely and the submissions were well prepared.” – Commercial and transactions
“A&G is extremely responsive and provides practical advice to resolve disputes.” – Commercial and transactions
“Allen and Gledhill has tremendous depth and breadth across the entirety of the practice. It has excellent partners and rising star associates who are very well supervised, yielding a very good price-quality ratio for clients. Their teams are very responsive and client-supportive who are always delightful to deal with and very user-friendly with non-lawyer colleagues.” – Construction
“The message is always concise and clear. The firm provides a practical view taking into consideration cost and benefits, and it always has the client’s concerns at heart.” – Insolvency
“They successfully protected our software IP.” – Intellectual property
“Provides excellent support on matters relating to Singapore law and SIAC Rules. They have very accomplished and experienced lawyers who add a lot of value to overall preparations.” – International arbitration
“They provide practical, strategic and commercial advice. They understand our business and its drivers and work towards the best outcome sought by the business. The lawyers are very easy to work with, are responsive and always provide you with options and their recommendations.” – Labour and employment
“The lawyers give excellent strategic advice on how to approach disputes and drive to positive solutions. They clearly communicate advice and expectations, and are very timely. They understand the state of the law and practice to be able to give realistic advice.” – Labour and employment
“Allen & Gledhill has always provided top-level legal advice and has been 100% successful for my companies in litigation.” – Labour and employment
“Attentive and in-depth understanding of the industry.” – Labour and employment
“Excellent review and understanding of the positions.” – Real estate
“It had a strong team led by senior counsel Stanley Lai in the judicial management matter, winning favourable judgments in all our court applications. They helped us achieve full debt recovery within 18 months. The team was competent and efficient, executing a legal strategy that met our requirements.” – Shipping
“Prompt, practical and sound advice due to differences in jurisprudence as our counterparties are Indonesian.” – Shipping
“Well-managed team, extremely responsive lawyers of great calibre at each appropriate level, billing at fair and reasonable value. Each piece of advice is careful yet commercial. We feel safe in their hands!” – Shipping
“Fast in response, detailed work, strategy, reasonable charges.” – Shipping
“The team led by Kenny Yap is very knowledgeable and able to understand the operational and commercial aspects of the issues at hand. The advice provided is pragmatic and comprehensive. They are very attentive and responsive even on short notice, meeting after office hours over the weekends.” – Shipping
Dinesh Dhillon
“He is an excellent, experienced and highly professional lawyer. He has a good grip on his team and manages cases proficiently. His strategic thinking, responsiveness and solution-solving approach is what sets him apart.”
Ankit Goyal
“Very accessible, receptive to feedback and has excellent client management skills.”
Chien Mien Ho
“Chien Mien is an outstanding lawyer and a master legal technician who never loses sight of his client's commercial objectives. He is pragmatic and responsive with a wealth of industry experience. Chien Mien is a seasoned advisor and litigator, and the safest pair of hands to whom a legal department can confidently entrust a wide range of matters.”
“His knowledge of construction laws and problem-solving abilities are excellent.”
Benjamin Koh
“Easy to work with, accessible, strategic, and able to see things from every angle.”
Stanley Lai
“Very sound technically. Well-regarded in the legal community and the judiciary.”
“His IP law knowledge won the case for us.”
Aaron Lee
“Excellent listener and a fast study on subject.”
Vincent Leow
“He provides clear, concise advice.”
“He could connect with staff as well as board members, which shows that he can reach out effectively to people in diverse groups who may have different objectives.”
“He is always pragmatic in his approach. Crystal clear on the objective and lists down all the options for clients to decide, while providing excellent recommendations.”
“Able to provide practical advice in layman's terms that business teams can understand.”
“Vincent Leow was the lead partner for our matter. In cases like these, there are often emotions involved. Vincent helped us to understand our rights as employees, helped separate out what is under the law, and what is not, and managed the negotiations with the other side's lawyer very well. He also had to help handle our board of directors, and I observed based on his interactions that he was very good at managing our board and group CEO and management as well.”
Aik Hin Peh
“His familiarity with the courts and their processes is reassuringly accurate. His keen interest in our internal issues and understanding means his client care and empathy with the client's position allows him to give balanced advice.”
Sanjiv Rajan
“He is an excellent negotiator and outstanding communicator with impeccable written work product. He is highly competent in disputes and employment law, with vast business experience and practical perspective.”
Ramesh Selvaraj
“Ramesh is able to grasp the issues involved. He is prepared to listen to the client and would consider suggestions from the client. He makes it a point to explore with the client the options available and the pros/cons and risks of each option. His knowledge of law is good and his understanding of engineering issues is also good.”
Yong Seng Tay
“He is a superb lawyer. Meticulous and accurate preparation, and an encyclopaedic understanding of the law. He is Oxford-educated and has never lost a litigation which I have sent to him.”
“In-depth knowledge of the industry, always available and prompt to respond.”
Erik Widjaja
“Friendly, proactive, hardworking and gives practical advice and opinions.”
“Excellent strategic planning, understands clients’ needs very well, and able to deliver high-quality work and court documents.”
Yin Soon Yap
“He is very knowledgeable and provides very good advice with a great understanding of commercial considerations. He is also very responsive.”
Kenny Yap
“I’ve known Kenny for more than 20 years through work. He is very articulate and knowledgeable. He understands and is able to analyse what clients want. He has the ability to draw reasonable, logical conclusions or assumptions from limited information provided. The issues arising from our industry are complex and he has the evaluative skills to distil large quantities of information into something manageable and logical in resolving the issues.”
