Singapore

Advocatus Law has a strong pedigree in dispute resolution, known for tackling complex, high-profile cases across commercial, insolvency, and white-collar domains. Established just over a decade ago, the firm has grown beyond its boutique beginnings to offer a full range of contentious services, while preserving a nimble approach and hands-on partner involvement in every matter. Key practice areas include corporate and commercial litigation, international arbitration, restructuring and insolvency, employment disputes, and defence in regulatory and white-collar crime matters. The firm’s client base spans multinational corporations, financial institutions and prominent individuals, both local and foreign, attesting to the firm’s capability to handle cross-border disputes.  

Dispute resolution is at the heart of Advocatus’s practice. The litigation team is led by managing partner Christopher Anand Daniel, a seasoned advocate of over 30 years’ standing, and includes experienced partners such as commercial and white-collar disputes specialist Harjean Kaur and contentious commercial and labour cases expert Eileen Yeo. Under their guidance, the firm had an exceptionally active past year, with 11 separate High Court and Court of Appeal judgments issued, a testament to the breadth of its docket. These reported decisions spanned subjects from major corporate fraud and directors’ duties to insolvency, employment law breaches, professional misconduct, and criminal offences.  

In particular, the firm has been at the forefront of headline insolvency cases, including the collapses of Hin Leong Trading and Three Arrows Capital. The team has acted for key figures caught up in these crises, for example representing, the founder of Hin Leong in novel litigation to restrain a competing law firm from representing the company’s liquidators due to potential conflicts of interest. This matter raised unprecedented legal questions about law firm duties in the insolvency context. The firm also advised the co-founders of Three Arrows Capital in contesting court orders related to the fund’s massive insolvency. In September 2025, a Singapore appellate court issued a landmark decision clarifying liquidators’ examination powers under the new Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act, a legal question the firm helped to bring forward on behalf of its clients.  

The firm’s recent caseload also reflects a diverse mix of commercial and financial disputes. The lawyers represented directors of a Singapore real-estate investment trust (REIT) in defending complex investor litigation related to disclosures and corporate governance. This matter involved parallel applications on novel issues of joint privilege and confidentiality, and ultimately concluded after a favorable resolution. In the realm of international arbitration, the firm is advising a technology investor from China in an ongoing multi-million-dollar SIAC arbitration against Southeast Asian partners, arising out of a failed cryptocurrency venture. This high-value dispute saw the firm achieve a significant interim victory where the Singapore High Court stayed the local proceedings and lifted a previously granted injunction, steering the conflict to the contractually agreed forum.  

Within regulatory defence and white-collar crime, Advocatus has similarly been entrusted with weighty matters. The firm is currently defending a former director of Hin Leong in a unique prosecution for alleged obstruction of justice. This case, now before the courts, raises novel issues as it involves a stand-alone charge of perverting the course of justice without any underlying offence, an uncommon scenario in Singapore’s legal annals. The firm’s representation of the director grew out of the firm’s extensive involvement in the broader Hin Leong saga. More broadly, the firm’s lawyers frequently advise clients facing regulatory investigations or accusations of corporate misconduct. They are well-versed in guiding companies through internal investigations and regulatory self-disclosures, and have handled cases involving securities law breaches, employee fraud, and corporate bribery.