Sreenivasan Law Chambers

Overview

Advocacy

Sreenivasan Chambers was set up to fulfill a cherished dream of providing focused and thorough representation in dispute resolution and advice. Effective advocacy is not achieved solely by immediate action; it is based on carefully acquired skills backed up by experience and judgment. This is the approach that we are committed to and the basis upon which our lawyers are selected, trained and supervised.


At Sreenivasan Chambers, we offer representation at all levels of the courts, arbitration tribunals, and disciplinary tribunals; in civil and criminal matters, insolvency and restructuring, family matters, competition law, regulatory matters and statutory applications.

Our Representative Experience

Commercial and Civil Litigation

  • Acting for the judicial managers of Ocean Tankers, the chartering arm of oil trading group Hin Leong Pte Ltd in respect to the insolvency of Hin Leong, in particular, the recovery of sums transferred to directors, contested disclaimer applications and various other contentious restructuring and insolvency matters.
  • Advising a financial institution in relation to litigation proceedings in an elaborate fraud involving multiple individuals and entities across various jurisdictions spanning over a decade.
  • Acted in the first case involving recognition in Singapore of Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 proceedings in the United States under the new transnational insolvency regime.
  • 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 in Als Memasa & anor v UBS AG [2012] 4 SLR 992 where it was argued that a claim against a bank could proceed despite various clauses in the bank-customer agreement in relation to causes of action involving misrepresentation.
  • Acted in Dorsey James Michael v World Sport Group Pte Ltd [2014] 2 SLR 208 where the Court of Appeal circumscribed the extent of pre-action discovery and interrogatories in relation to a defamation claim.
  • Acted in a complex shareholder dispute between investors and the founder of a chain of aesthetic medicine clinics, including application for a Mareva injunction.
  • 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.
  • Acting for an ultra high net worth individual against a very large bank in a private banking claim in excess of US$500 million. In addition to issues of breach of trust and fraud, there are complex issues of conflict of laws and forum non conveniens.
  • Represented a company in an appeal against the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore wherein the client was found to have engaged in anti-competitive agreements and/or concerted practices to not compete for one another’s customers and to coordinate the quantum and timing of price movements in relation to the supply of fresh chicken products in Singapore.
  • Represented directors in a claim against them for breach of fiduciary duties and for which loss and damage between $18m to S$39m were being sought. Novel legal arguments were raised as regards issues of burden of proof, causation and remoteness of damage in cases where directors are found to be in breach of their fiduciary duties.
  • Advised court-appointed liquidators in a complex winding-up where various stakeholders had made allegations of wrongdoing against each other and the insolvent company’s assets spanned multiple jurisdictions.

Family and Trust Litigation

  • Acted in family dispute involving interests in family related companies and assets, overlaid with issues of trust law and fiduciary duties.
  • Acted in ancillary matters as instructed counsel in several family law cases involving large value matrimonial assets as well as in tracing and accounting of such assets and successfully negotiating settlements in many of these matters.

White Collar Defense

  • 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.
  • Acted for accused person charged with match-fixing in a case which involved a prosecution witness who retracted his incriminating statements on the stand.
  • Acted for individuals whose assets were seized or frozen by the authorities pending investigations into alleged offences.
  • Acted for accused person who faced charges for alleged evasion of import duties and taxes.
  • Acting for the judicial managers of Ocean Tankers, the chartering arm of oil trading group Hin Leong Pte Ltd in respect to the insolvency of Hin Leong, in particular, the recovery of sums transferred to directors, contested disclaimer applications and various other contentious restructuring and insolvency matters.
  • Advising a financial institution in relation to litigation proceedings in an elaborate fraud involving multiple individuals and entities across various jurisdictions that spanning over a decade.
  • Acted in the first case involving recognition in Singapore of Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 proceedings in the United States under the new transnational insolvency regime.
  • 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 in Als Memasa & anor v UBS AG [2012] 4 SLR 992 where circumstances were argued where a claim against a bank could proceed despite various clauses in the bank-customer agreement in relation to causes of action involving misrepresentation
  • Acted in Dorsey James Michael v World Sport Group Pte Ltd [2014] 2 SLR 208 where the Court of Appeal circumscribed the extent of pre-action discovery and interrogatories in relation to a defamation claim.
  • Acting for an ultra high net worth individual against a very large bank in a private banking claim in excess of US$500 million. In addition to issues of breach of trust and fraud, there are complex issues of conflict of laws and forum non conveniens.
  • Represented a company in an appeal against the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore wherein the client was found to have engaged in anti-competitive agreements and/or concerted practices to not compete for one another’s customers and to coordinate the quantum and timing of price movements in relation to the supply of fresh chicken products in Singapore.
  • Represented directors in a claim against them for breach of fiduciary duties and for which loss and damage between $18m to S$39m were being sought. Novel legal arguments were raised as regards issues of burden of proof, causation and remoteness of damage in cases where directors are found to be in breach of their fiduciary duties.
  • Advised court-appointed liquidators in a complex winding-up where various stakeholders had made allegations of wrongdoing against each other and the insolvent company’s assets spanned multiple jurisdictions.
  • Acted in several applications to the Singapore courts in aid of arbitration, including obtaining pre-arbitral injunctive reliefs.
  • Acted in family dispute involving interests in family related companies and assets, overlaid with issues trust law and
    fiduciary duties.
  • Acted in ancillary matters as instructed counsel in several family law cases involving large value matrimonial assets as well as in tracing and accounting of such assets and successfully negotiating settlements in many of these matters.