Description

In trade finance, a set of practices and instruments have evolved, under which banks traditionally assume they have security in the event of default or fraud. However, as recent events and emerging case law shows, this may not be the case. This seminar explores the lacunae, and implications for the players in the trade finance ecosystem. Topics covered include bills of lading (and similar documents), letters of indemnity (sale contract and delivery), assignments of proceeds of sale, floating charges, trust receipts and equitable interest in the goods.

3.00PM     Registration
3.30PM     Presentation by Michael Collett K.C.
4.00PM     Presentation by Andrew Fulton K.C. (via Zoom)
4.30PM     Presentation by Arvin Lee
4.45PM     Q&A moderated by Mark Cheng
5.00PM     End of event

SPEAKER BIO

Michael Collett KC specialises in commercial law.

His areas of practice include general commercial disputes, international trade, shipping (including charterparty, contract of affreightment, bill of lading, shipbuilding, and ship sale and purchase disputes), commodities, conflicts of laws, insurance (including marine insurance and protection and indemnity cover), reinsurance, banking, and shareholder disputes.
Michael appears both in court and before a variety of arbitration tribunals. He is registered to appear before the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC).

He accepts appointments as an arbitrator. Michael has been involved in a number of references under various regimes, including the LCIA and LMAA terms, UNCITRAL rules, and ad hoc. He is a member of the panel of arbitrators of ARIAS (UK), MOOGAS, SCMA and SIAC.

Andrew Fulton KC was admitted to the English Bar in 1999 and took Silk in 2021. He was admitted as a Barrister & Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 2003 and to the Bar of the East Caribbean Supreme Court, British Virgin Islands in 2015.
Andrew has a broad and busy practice. He advises and appears in a range of high-value financial and commercial disputes, often with an international dimension.

A large proportion of his other work in recent years has involved major fraud litigation and asset recovery exercises. He also has particular experience in capital markets and investment banking disputes, derivatives and structured products.
Andrew has experience of contractual disputes across a wide range of industry sectors. These include construction and offshore drilling arbitrations, telecommunications, mining, and motor racing. He appeared as sole counsel in a leading Court of Appeal decision on Norwich Pharmacal relief.

He acted for the “Guaidó Board” of the Central Bank of Venezuela in its high-profile battle with the Maduro regime for control of billions of dollars’ worth of assets in London, appeared in expedited hearings in the Commercial Court, the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

Before joining Twenty Essex, Andrew worked as an in-house advocate in several major law firms, most recently in the London office of US litigation specialists Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.

Arvin Lee is a Partner of Wee Swee Teow LLP, a 111-year-old Singapore law firm. He is an Arbitrator of the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, the Beijing Arbitration Commission, the Chinese Arbitration Association (International), and an Adjudicator of the Financial Institutions Dispute Resolution Centre (Singapore). He is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow with the EW Barker Centre of Law and Business, NUS Law. He focuses on energy-related disputes (conventional and renewables).

On the renewable energy front, he has a focus on wind and solar, and his experience includes being lead counsel for a Southeast Asian wind power developer in its project finance claims against private equity investor in an SIAC arbitration, with total amount in dispute in excess of US$20 million.

Arising from the downstream oil and gas work, he has built up a commodities trading and trade finance disputes practice, which recently includes acting as co-lead counsel on Singapore law-governed letter of credit issues (alongside Mr Michael Collett K.C. on English law-governed letter of indemnity issues) for a Pertamina subsidiary against the paying bank in relation to an LC dispute in excess of US$23m before the Singapore International Commercial Court.

Arvin is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) and the International Dispute Resolution Academy (HK). He holds law degrees from Harvard (LL.M.) and the LSE (LL.B., Hons. 1st).

MODERATOR BIO

Mark Cheng is a Senior Associate at Wee Swee Teow LLP, a 111-year-old Singapore law firm, where he focuses on energy-related disputes.

Mark hails from a specialist insurance law background, having represented and advised some of the market’s largest insurance companies on issues of coverage, property and casualty losses, industrial accident claims, business interruption claims, volume defence, and subrogated recoveries. He has litigated high-value claims in the Singapore courts as insurers’ counsel.

On the corporate and commercial front, Mark has had a focus on foreign investment into Indonesia, via joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions or franchising and licensing, serving clients in the energy, mining, oil and gas, aviation, shipping, and agriculture sectors, amongst others. He has worked on IPOs on the Main Board and the GEM of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Mark has also served as in-house counsel at the Asia Regional Head Office of the Rakuten Group, during which he managed and advised C-suite on the group’s cross-border corporate, compliance and regulatory affairs, in English and in Japanese and in conjunction with global in-house counsel.

Mark is a Member of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators, and an Assigned Solicitor of the Singapore Legal Aid Bureau. He holds a Certificate in General Insurance from the Singapore College of Insurance, and a law degree from the National University of Singapore (LL.B. Hons.) with a minor in Forensic Science.