Description

Synopsis

Heard from seniors about burn-outs and keen to find out what it takes to thrive in legal practice? Passionate about doing pro-bono work and wondering how busy practitioners can still find time to give back? Come join us for this panel discussion and hear from three experienced disputes lawyers as they share the secrets of their success, how they navigated through various challenges they faced in legal practice and their passion for pro-bono work. They will also share some tips on the Dos and Don’ts during internships, training contract applications and steps that you can take towards building a fulfilling and long-term career in private practice.

About the Speakers

Shobna Chandran
Partner, Tan Rajah & Cheah

Shobna is lead counsel of choice in high-value cross border litigation, international arbitration, insolvency and appellate matters.

Shobna graduated from the National University of Law with First Class Honours in 2006 and was placed on the Dean’s List in all four years of her studies. She then served as a Justice Law Clerk in the Supreme Court of Singapore and in the last 14 years, has worked alongside Senior Counsel in various local and international firms. She is now a Partner at Tan Rajah and Cheah.

Shobna has an active counsel practice and appears before the Singapore High Court and Court of Appeal on complex commercial matters. She is often instructed by local and international law firms to argue cutting edge and novel points of law in relation to arbitration, banking and finance, evidence and procedure, equity and trust, restitution and unjust enrichment, conflict of laws, insolvency and restructuring, and professional negligence including in the context of disciplinary proceedings.

Shobna has led a number of complex cross-border matters, in particular, joint venture disputes, with a South East Asian and South Asian focus. In this regard, Shobna’s clients include global financial institutions, major private equity funds and multinational corporations across a range of industries and sectors.

Debby Lim
Director, BlackOak LLC

Debby focuses on all areas of contentious insolvency and asset recovery work (including major commercial disputes) and investigations. These often involve complex and multifaceted litigation in the aftermath of cross-border corporate collapses. Debby has recently appeared before the Singapore Court of Appeal
(with a full bench of five Judges) in SK Engineering & Construction Co Ltd v Conchubar Aromatics Ltd and another appeal [2017] SGCA 51, Diablo Fortune Inc v Duncan, Cameron Lindsay and another [2018] SGCA 26 and AnAn Group (Singapore) Pte Ltd v VTB Bank (Public Joint Stock Company) [2020] SGCA 33, a trifecta of jurisprudentially significant insolvency-related appeals to confront the Singapore courts.

Debby has been noted as a leading lawyer in many publications including Chambers Asia, Legal 500 and Who’s Who in Legal Restructuring & Insolvency. Debby is the Immediate Past Chairperson of the International Women’s Insolvency & Restructuring Confederation (Singapore Network) and is also a founding member of the Law Society of Singapore’s Women in Practice Task Force. She is a fellow of INSOL International and is one of the first three Singapore-qualified lawyers to have earned this recognition.

About the Moderator

Felicia Tan
Partner, TSMP Law Corporation

Felicia is an experienced advocate who specialises in dispute resolution, with a
particular focus in commercial, employment and insolvency disputes. Prior to
joining TSMP, she spent several years in the dispute resolution department of one of the big four law firms, before moving on to head up the China practice at
another firm where she represented clients across industry sectors on a full range of legal issues and high-level cases. Felicia was named Recommended Lawyer (Restructuring and Insolvency) in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2020. She regularly advises and represents a spectrum of stakeholders in insolvency matters, ranging from institutional creditors, liquidators, judicial managers, auditors, to directors and shareholders.

From Felicia’s dispute resolution background, her clients have come to expect nothing but direct, comprehensive and commercially-savvy advice and is often instructed to assist with negotiations and formulate risk mitigation strategies. She also spent years as a senior in-house counsel at a statutory board where she had a diverse portfolio advising senior management on project risks such as insolvency and other events of default, multi-billion divestment projects, construction and infrastructure disputes, regulatory compliance and collaborations with other government agencies.

A firm believer in making the law work for everyone, she has been volunteering at legal clinics and the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme since 2010, and is an SMC Accredited Mediator. Felicia is also a serving member of the Executive Committee of the Council of the Law Society of Singapore, Co-Chairperson of the Civil Practice Committee and Co-Chairwoman of the Women in Practice Committee. The former champion mooter and government scholar read law at the London School of Economics, writes and speaks fluent English and Mandarin (including the Hokkien and Cantonese dialects) and enjoys the occasional Japanese conversation.