Representing a Singapore-listed conglomerate in a billion-dollar SIAC dispute
| People in Who’s Who Legal | 1 |
|---|---|
| People in Future Leaders | 1 |
| Pending cases as counsel | 8 |
| Value of pending counsel work | US$8 billion |
| Treaty cases as counsel | 0 |
| Third-party funded cases | 0 |
During almost four decades at Singaporean firm Drew & Napier, Davinder Singh SC built a reputation as one of the leading disputes lawyers in the region. In the late 1990s, he became one of the first batch of Senior Counsel to be appointed in Singapore.
In 2019, Singh left Drew & Napier to start his own arbitration and litigation boutique, Davinder Singh Chambers. He took two partners with him: Jaikanth Shankar and Pardeep Khosa. Shankar joined as the new firm’s CEO, and Khosa was director (before he left the firm in 2022).
Singh has been chair of the board of directors at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) since 2016 and is also a director at the Singapore International Mediation Centre and a vice chair of the ICC commission on corporate responsibility and anti-corruption.
Who uses it?
Publishable clients include Malaysian steelmaker Southern Steel, Indian conglomerate Future Group and Singapore Press Holdings. The firm advises multinational corporations as well as state-owned entities across a wide range of industries, including retail, construction, mining and insurance.
Track record
In 2020, the firm helped a subsidiary of Perth-based RTG Mining secure a US$24 million SIAC award against GALEO Equipment and Mining, its partner in a US$460 million copper and gold project in the Philippines. It then successfully defended the award in the Singapore courts.
While at Drew & Napier, Singh and Shankar acted for the Indian former owners of pharmaceuticals business Ranbaxy Laboratories in a high-profile ICC arbitration with Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo worth more than US$500 million.
Shankar also won a US$20 million award against a state-owned entity, and Singh has appeared in several high-profile litigations, including on behalf of two Singaporean prime ministers.
Lawyers from the firm also acted in the first case at the Singapore International Commercial Court, which related to a US$800 million cross-border joint venture.
Recent events
Singh is defending Future Coupons – part of Indian billionaire Kishore Biyani’s Future Group – in a New Delhi-seated SIAC arbitration launched by Amazon. The US online retailer is seeking to halt Future’s sale of its own retail business to Reliance Industries for US$3.4 billion.
Singapore Press Holdings (now Cuscaden Peak Investments) meanwhile retained the firm to defend it against a SIAC claim brought by Keppel Corporation over its attempt to call off a proposed US$2.8 billion takeover.
Stanley Tan and Bryan Wong were promoted to associate director in January 2022. Former CEO Pardeep Khosa left the firm in September 2022 to join Morgan Lewis & Bockius as a partner in Singapore.
Client comment
Singaporean commodities trader Knowledge International Strategy Systems used the firm for an arbitration against a big Indonesian company and says partner Shankar was “committed” and gave “full attention to detail”.
Chew Yan Lim of HL Management in Malaysia describes Singh as being “a top quality lawyer, with a very sharp, strategic mind” as well as “professional and courteous in his approach to client”.
Ginney Lim of Cuscaden Peak Investments also credits Singh and Shankar for “their strategic and visionary insight and approach to the defence”.