JLP - Starting an Action

Professor Steven Elliott, KC
Barrister, One Essex Court 
Professor (Professional Practice), NUS

Professor Steven Elliott KC practises commercial law as a member of One Essex Court in London and in Singapore. He has an international litigation and arbitration practice that has encompassed proceedings in many of the English law-based jurisdictions as well as proceedings under a variety of institutional rules.

His disputes experience ranges from large-scale and hard-fought fraud claims to appeals raising innovative points of law. He has acted in appeals to the House of Lords and the UK Supreme Court, appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and a reference to a Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice.

Originally qualified in British Columbia, Professor Elliott has been a member of the English Bar since 2001 and a member of the Bar of the Eastern Caribbean (Virgin Islands) since 2007. He is licensed to practise English law in Singapore and is an associate member of the Law Society of Singapore.

Professor Elliott holds a BA (Hons) from Queen’s University in Canada, a JD (Hons) from the University of Toronto, and a DPhil from the University of Oxford (Merton College). His doctorate concerned remedies for breach of trust. He served as a judicial assistant to the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales as well as a clerk to the British Columbia Court of Appeal.

Professor Elliott’s research concentrates on private law topics, especially equity and trusts as well as commercial remedies. He is general editor of Snell’s Equity and an author of The Law of Rescission amongst others works. His writings have been referred to in decisions of apex courts in England as well as in several of the main Commonwealth jurisdictions, including Singapore.

Gregory Vijayendran, SC
Partner, Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP

Gregory’s active disputes practice focusses on litigation, arbitration and mediation of civil, commercial and chancery disputes. He has also been consistently recognized as an expert in corporate insolvency and charities governance. 

Gregory graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1992, was admitted to the Singapore Bar in 1993 and has been practising at Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP since 2007. Gregory was appointed Senior Counsel in 2019.

Gregory was the longest serving President of the Law Society from 2017 to 2021 and serves as a senior member of the Advocacy Committee and coaching advocacy. He is a Fellow of (i) the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Singapore (ii) the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators and (iii) the Singapore Institute of Directors. 

Foo Chee Hock

• The first Dean of the Singapore Judicial College, Supreme Court of Singapore;

• Adjunct Professor in NUS teaching a course entitled, "Reform of Civil Procedure";

• Appointed Senior Counsel in 2019;

• Served almost 40 years in the then Legal Service of Singapore;

• Formerly, Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court of Singapore; and

• Formerly, Registrar of the Supreme Court of Singapore.      

Kevin Kwek

Chief Executive, Singapore Mediation Centre

Kevin Kwek assumed the role of Chief Executive at the Singapore Mediation Centre (“SMC”) in 2024, bringing extensive experience to the region’s leading institution for mediation, adjudication, and other Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) services. Under his leadership, SMC continues to enhance its position as a premier provider of innovative dispute resolution solutions across Asia.

As Chief Executive, Kevin oversees SMC’s registry operations, including the management of its panel of mediators who conduct hearings spanning commercial, contractual, family, and relational disputes. He also manages the registry’s oversight of adjudicators under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2004. As the sole authorised nominating body under the Act, SMC plays a critical role in ensuring adjudications are fair, timely, and compliant with legal provisions.

Kevin further leads SMC’s training and development initiatives, aimed at enhancing ADR standards. He oversees the accreditation of mediators and the creation of specialized conflict de-escalation programmes for newly-called lawyers, advocates, in-house counsel, and legal service officers. These initiatives support the broader goal of strengthening ADR practices in Singapore and the region.

Kevin started his career as an advocate and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore.  Thereafter, he joined the Singapore Judiciary, where he served as a District Judge for about ten years.  As a District Judge, Kevin presided over both civil and criminal matters in the State Courts.  Prior to joining the SMC, Kevin was a District Judge-Mediator in the State Courts Centre for Dispute Resolution.

Apart from his role as Chief Executive of the SMC, Kevin is also an empaneled SMC mediator and frequently mediates matters under the organisation’s auspices. He also trains SMC course participants on mediation advocacy and evaluative mediation.

Leow Jiamin
Deputy Director (Legal Faculty), Singapore Academy of Law

Leow Jiamin is a Deputy Director (Legal Faculty) in the Learning and Professional Development Cluster of the Singapore Academy of Law. 

Prior to joining SAL, Jiamin was a disputes resolution Partner at WongPartnership LLP and handled a wide range of Court and arbitration matters ranging from commercial and corporate disputes, cross border disputes, fraud, asset recovery, to intellectual property disputes. Being fluent in business and legal Mandarin, she also regularly acted for Mandarin-speaking and Chinese clients.

As a junior lawyer, Jiamin spent a number of years at Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP, handling both contentious (from intellectual property to general disputes before both the High Court and Court of Appeal) and non-contentious matters, and was mentioned in Legal 500 (Asia Pacific) in 2019 as well as IAM Patent 1000 (Singapore) in 2020.

She also regularly speaks at conferences, teaches at universities, and contributes to various industry publications in respect of emerging issues in Singapore law, all of which contributes to the development of Singapore law. These include the Asian Business Law Institute’s ABLI-SAL Cryptoasset Series - Cryptoassets and Civil Procedure Law (Singapore edition) and moderated the panel on Resolving A.I. and Technology Disputes at the TechLaw.Fest 2024.

Jiamin joined SAL in April 2025 and gained her qualifications in adult education from the Institute of Adult Learning (IAL) in May 2025.

K Gopalan

Consultant, Ethics & Professional Development, Singapore Academy of Law

• Formerly Director and Head of Department, Regulatory Department, Law Society of Singapore (2013 to 2023)

• Duties included leading a team of 5 lawyers and 2 paralegals, overseeing compliance with Part VII of the Legal Profession Act, Disciplinary Proceedings against Advocates & Solicitors, compliance with Solicitors Accounts Rules, managing Compensation Fund claims, managing the Professional Indemnity Insurance Scheme for legal practitioners, overseeing inadequate professional service complaints against practitioners, generally conduct and discipline of lawyers.

• Also conducted courses, seminars and talks  for practitioners on Professional Responsibility and Compliance with the Solicitors Accounts Rules

• Facilitator, Ethics & Professional Responsibility, SILE (2015 to 2024)

• Private Legal Practice (1980 to 2013) principally in Civil Litigation. Real Estate Law, Family Law & Probate Practice and Insurance Law

• IRAS officer from 1978 to 1980

Praveen Randhawa
Founder & CEO

With over 25 years of communications experience across organisations in the public and private sectors, Praveen is a highly skilled advisor to CEOs and Boards on critical issues spanning crisis communications, litigation and disputes, policy and regulatory communications. She has successfully transformed the communications capabilities of organisations to meet business needs and respond to the evolving external operating environment.

Praveen served in leadership positions across the Singapore government and private sector. She led public affairs at the Singapore Economic Development Board, managing a number of high-profile business critical issues, transforming the communications capability into a high performing strategic function and increased public support levels for the Board’s work. At the Ministry of Law, she served concurrently as Press Secretary to the Minister for Law and Communications Director overseeing corporate, policy and industry communications. At the Health Promotion Board, she led award-winning national campaigns as part of the country’s efforts in preventative health.

Her private sector experience includes leading Meta’s communications across Southeast Asia and stints in consulting with Brunswick Group and Weber Shandwick Worldwide, where she worked on a range of accounts across industry and practice sectors. At Brunswick Group, Praveen also led the development of Litigation Communications as a practice sector in Singapore.

From 2004 to 2010, Praveen served the United Nations, initially as a Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, before undertaking political affairs work for the UNHumanRights Council.

Passionate about developing people and giving back to the community, Praveen has served on the Executive Committee of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA) since 2021 where she chairs the Taskforce on the Advancement of Indian Women as well as Sub Committee on Media and Communications.

Praveen is an Accredited Member of IPRS, the highest industry recognition bestowed on the best in the profession. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and a Master of Arts in International Law and Politics from Hull University. In 2023 she was conferred the degree of Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa for contributions to public service and the advancement of Indian women.