Allen & Gledhill

Defended a US$300 million award in the Singapore courts

Founded in 1902 and now one of Singapore’s largest firms, Allen & Gledhill started growing its international arbitration practice in the late 1980s under the leadership of former partner Michael Hwang SC.

The practice now has 30 lawyers and is co-led by partners Chong Yee Leong, a member of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre’s board of directors, and Dinesh Dhillon, the president of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators. Andrew Yeo heads the wider litigation and dispute resolution department and is the vice chair of the ICC’s Singapore arbitration group.

The practice expanded significantly in 2013 with the hire of five partners from Rajah & Tann – including Yee Leong, who had headed that firm’s international arbitration team. It also recruited former heads of SIAC’s India and China desks.

Members of the firm have been involved in Singapore’s various dispute resolution initiatives. Former senior partner Lucien Wong was chair of the SIAC board of directors before becoming Singapore’s attorney general in 2017, and Yee Leong and retired partner Ang Cheng Hock SC were part of a committee that drew up the plans for the Singapore International Commercial Court. The firm also has members on the SIAC Users Council.

Chua Kee Loon and Ramesh Selvaraj – co-deputy heads of the firm’s international arbitration group – are also names to note.

Network

Outside of Singapore, Allen & Gledhill works with associate firms in Myanmar, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The Myanmar firm is headed by Minn Naing Oo, a former chief executive officer of SIAC who is qualified to practise in Singapore and New York and helped draft Myanmar’s arbitration law. In Malaysia, Allen & Gledhill is associated with Rahmat Lim & Partners. The Indonesian tie-up with Soemadipradja & Taher was agreed in 2019.

Who uses it?

The firm acts for corporations across South East Asia, multinationals, government agencies and government-linked entities.

Public clients include Global Gaming Asset Management, India’s Reliance Power, Korea’s Daesung Industrial Gases, and Singapore’s TYN Investment Group and DBS Bank. Sony used the firm for an ICC case over media rights for Indian cricket, and it acted for the Philippine National Bank in a US$350 million SIAC case.

More recently, the firm has entered the investment treaty arena, advising clients on claims against South East Asian states.

Track record

The firm has done great work for Las Vegas casino operator Global Gaming Asset Management, fending off various court challenges to a US$296 million award against a Manila gaming resort owner.

In 2018, it helped Reliance Power Netherlands win a US$68 million SIAC award against affiliates of Indonesia’s Sugico Group concerning three coal mining concessions. The Indonesian courts upheld the award.

Most of the firm’s cases aren’t public but it says that it secured a significant win for a US Fortune 500 company against a government-linked natural gas supplier. It also won a case for one of the world’s largest media and entertainment companies over media rights worth US$1 billion.

In the Singapore courts, it successfully defended a US$1.4 billion ICC award relating to an airport terminal project.

Further back, as co-counsel with White & Case, it helped the Philippines defeat a US$565 million ICC claim by a German-led consortium over a concession for an airport terminal in Manila.

Recent events

Allen & Gledhill defended Global Gaming Asset Management’s aforementioned award against a set-aside bid in the Singapore Court of Appeal. The client is now trying to enforce the award in the US.

It has recently been advising a Malaysian client in a suite of arbitrations against an Italian supplier worth US$240 million and is helping a multinational enforce an ICC award worth more than US$2 billion.

Daryl Xu, who focuses on commercial and corporate disputes, made partner in 2021.

Client comment

Michael John Brindle QC of Fountain Court Chambers in London has witnessed Yee Long lead advocacy while sitting as an arbitrator. He says Yee Long demonstrates “complete control of all aspects of the case” with “succinct submissions”.

Clients of the firm highlight its commercial-mindedness, competitive prices, and understanding of the technology and manufacturing sectors.

Margaret Joan Ling and Vivekananda Neelakantan are praised for their knowledge of cases and law, Dhillon for his damages expertise and Dao Kai Lim for his construction law experience.