Legal Profession Symposium

The Honourable Justice Valerie Thean 
High Court Judge 
Supreme Court of Singapore

Justice Valerie Thean was appointed Judicial Commissioner on 30 September 2014 and subsequently as High Court Judge of the Supreme Court on 30 September 2017. She was awarded the President’s Scholarship in 1988 and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) from Downing College, Cambridge University, in 1991. She subsequently obtained her Master of Laws from Harvard Law School, in 1995.

Justice Thean joined the Singapore Legal Service in 1992. After her first posting as a Justices’ Law Clerk, she held various appointments within the public service, including Assistant Registrar at the Supreme Court, Senior State Counsel at the Attorney General’s Chambers, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Law and Senior District Judge of the Family and Juvenile Justice Division of the State Courts. She taught arbitration as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore Law Faculty.

Justice Thean was appointed the first Presiding Judge of the Family Justice Court (FJC) on 1 October 2014, a position she held concurrently while serving as a Judicial Commissioner.

Dr Stanley Lai, SC
Head of Intellectual Property Practice, Co-Head of Cybersecurity & 
Data Protection Practice and, Partner of Litigation and Disputes Department 
Allen & Gledhill LLP

Dr Stanley Lai, SC is the Head of Allen & Gledhill’s Intellectual Property Practice and Co-Head of the Cybersecurity & Data Protection Practice.

Stanley is a Senior Counsel who specialises in all forms of IP litigation/arbitration and information technology disputes and is also a commercial litigator and SIAC Arbitrator. He maintains a strong advisory practice for IP/data management and cybersecurity, serving a broad spectrum of clients. In the sphere of artificial intelligence, Stanley continues to advise clients on issues relating to intellectual property, data protection, content regulation as well as legal tech. As a veteran copyright lawyer, Stanley serves as a member of the Copyright Tribunal, and sits on the panel of Arbitrators in the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, specialising in intellectual property disputes and alternative dispute resolution.  He is an author of many published journal articles and was the first Singapore born lawyer to be conferred a PhD by the University of Cambridge (UK) for his published thesis, The Copyright Protection of Computer Software in the United Kingdom (Hart Publishing, 1999).

Stanley has been recognised as a leading individual in Chambers Asia-Pacific, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific and other leading legal publications. Stanley has been recognised as a Thought Leader in Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders Commercial Litigation 2024, a report that brings together the insight, expertise and wisdom of some of the world’s foremost litigation lawyers. Asian Legal Business named Stanley as one of Asia’s Top 15 Intellectual Property Lawyers in 2022. He was also named Intellectual Property Lawyer of the Year at The Legal 500 Southeast Asia Awards 2023.

Mr Ramesh Tiwary
Sole Proprietor
Ramesh Tiwary

Ramesh Tiwary has been practicing at the criminal bar since 1990 and in the law practice of Ramesh Tiwary since 2006. He has also been an advocacy trainer with the Law Society and a trainer in Part B for many years now and an active volunteer on the Supreme Court’s Legal Assistance Scheme for Capital Offences (LASCO) panel. 

Ms Angelina Hing
Founder & Managing Director
Integro Law Chambers LLC

Angelina Hing has extensive experience in the legal field.  In the early years of her career, Angelina was an established litigator, handling high value corporate disputes.  She is an Attorney and Counsellor at Law, in the courts of the State of New York.

 She was most recently a District Judge of the Family Justice Courts, from 2009 to 2016.  She has a wealth of experience mediating complex issues relating to child custody involving difficult issues of international relocation and allegations of child abduction, as well as all financial issues relating to divorce.

Angelina helped drive the courts’ innovative initiatives to provide mediation and protect the well-being of children involved.  She saw first-hand how mediation couples resolve their issues and minimise the negative impact of divorce on families.  She was deeply inspired to encourage couples thinking of divorce to mediate their marital issues, even before they go to the courts. Angelina hopes to influence a change in mindset and promote mediation as the default first stop for most couples contemplating divorce, wherever possible and beneficial, to avoid unnecessary contestation and litigation.

She is an accredited Principal Mediator with the Singapore Mediation Centre (SMC) and sits on the Family Panel of the SMC.  She is also an appointed adjudicator at Financial Industry Dispute Resolution (CEDR), which is the largest conflict management and resolution consultancy in the world.

Mr Pav Gill 
Founder & CEO 
Confide Platform 

Pav Gill is an influential figure in corporate governance and ethics, renowned for his role in exposing Europe’s €24 billion Wirecard fraud. As a former Magic Circle lawyer and fintech general counsel, Pav has navigated some of the most complex legal and ethical matters worldwide. His experience, coupled with a strong moral compass and compelling journey as a whistleblower, is now fueling the early success of the Confide Platform, a startup he founded in late 2023. The Confide Platform serves as an organization’s comprehensive integrity portal, enabling the confidential receipt, investigation and resolution of risks. 

Pav‘s compelling narrative and authoritative insights into corporate ethics have captured the global stage, earning him features in major documentaries and coverage by top-tier media outlets. His impactful contributions to the discourse on corporate responsibility have garnered prestigious recognitions, including the Blueprint for Free Speech Award and the ACFE Cliff Robertson Sentinel Award, underscoring his significant impact on the field. A highly sought-after keynote speaker, Pav delivers transformative insights on fostering ethical leadership and operationalizing the principles of transparency and integrity within corporate frameworks. His contributions have not only catalyzed regulatory reforms but also inspired a comprehensive reevaluation of corporate governance standards globally.

Mr Kenneth Lim 
Partner
Allen & Gledhill LLP

Kenneth is a partner in the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Department of Allen & Gledhill LLP. His main areas of practice are litigation, arbitration, and restructuring and insolvency. Kenneth is the Chair of the Advisory Committee to the Professional Conduct Council established under the Legal Profession Act.  He is also Co-Chair of the Professional Standards & Ethics Working Group of the SAL Professional Affairs Committee, and is a member of the Law Society’s Admissions Committee and Insolvency Practice Committee.

Mr Jay Prabhu 
Assistant Vice President 
FINPRO, Marsh (Singapore) Pte Ltd 

Jay has been managing the claims of the Law Society Compulsory Professional Indemnity Scheme for the last 2 years. Prior to the insurance industry, he was engaged in corporate law practice for a boutique law firm. Jay also has experience in banking and financial advisory prior to being a lawyer.

Mr K Gopalan 
Consultant (Ethics & Professional Standards)
Singapore Academy of Law

Gopalan was 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. 

Gopalan also conducted courses, seminars and talks  for practitioners on Professional Responsibility and Compliance with the Solicitors Accounts Rules. He is also the facilitator, Ethics & Professional Responsibility, SILE (2015 to 2024). He was in Private Legal Practice (1980 to 2013) principally in Civil Litigation. Real Estate Law, Family Law & Probate Practice and Insurance Law. 

Mr Danny Quah 
Director & Head of Commercial Dispute Resolution  
CHP Law LLC 

Danny is the Co-Head of the Litigation & Dispute Resolution team at CHP Law LLC. He is also one of the founders of the Mindful Business Singapore, a ground-up initiative started in 2021 to promote business and social responsibility amongst the Singapore legal community to prioritise the removal of unnecessary sources of stress and promotion of mental health and well-being in the workplace.

Mr Siraj Omar, SC
Managing Director, Dispute Resolution  
Drew & Napier LLC

Siraj specialises in complex, high-value commercial litigation and international arbitration. He has an active trial and appellate practice at all levels of the Courts in Singapore and in international arbitrations. 

He is a civilian panel member of the Military Court of Appeal and Deputy Commissioner of the Government Procurement Adjudication Tribunal. He also sits as arbitrator in international arbitrations and as a mediator.

Siraj is a member of the Board of Directors of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and a member of its Board Executive Committee. He sits on the Practice Advisory Committee of the Singapore Management University School of Law.

He is recognised in all the leading legal directories and has been described as "a star" and "a formidable litigator". He was appointed Senior Counsel by the Chief Justice of Singapore in 2019, one of a select few to be accorded the honour.

Siraj began his career at Drew & Napier in 1997 before leaving in 2002 to join the corporate practice of an international law firm. In 2008, he co-founded Premier Law and headed its Dispute Resolution practice.  In 2016, Premier Law entered into a joint venture with the UK law firm RPC, and Siraj was concurrently a Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution at the joint venture firm, RPC Premier Law. He re-joined Drew & Napier as a Director in 2019.

He sits on the Working Group of the Professional Conduct Council chaired by the Chief Justice of Singapore and the Accreditation Committee of the Singapore Institute of Legal Education (SILE) and was a member of the Singapore International Commercial Court Rules Sub-Committee. He is a past member of the Council of The Law Society of Singapore and has sat as a member of its Inquiry Panel since 2009.

Mr Hui Choon Kuen 
3 Chief Prosecutor, Crime Division 
Attorney-General’s Chambers 

Choon Kuen joined the Singapore Legal Service in 1998. He is presently the 3 Chief Prosecutor of the Crime Division of the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC). He has previously served as a Justices’ Law Clerk, an Assistant Registrar of the Supreme Court, a District Judge of the State Courts, Director Legal Services of the Ministry of Manpower and MINDEF, Deputy Chief Counsel of the Civil Division and Chief Executive of the AGC.