Disputes Powerhouse RPC strengthens Team with senior hires for JLV in Singapore

Published on 04 May 2020

International law firm RPC has hired three partners, Boey Swee Siang, Navin Joseph Lobo, and Lin Yuankai, to strengthen its disputes, regulatory compliance and investigations practice for its joint legal venture (JLV) RPC Premier Law in Singapore.

Singapore-based Boey Swee Siang, Navin Joseph Lobo, and Lin Yuankai join from Bird & Bird ATMD to lead 8-lawyer team
Enhances RPC's disputes offering in Singapore*
RPC's Disputes Team now includes over 300 lawyers across four offices globally

Swee Siang, Navin, and Yuankai are highly experienced litigators who are adroit at complex corporate and commercial disputes. They regularly represent multi-national companies within Asia, Europe and the UK, across a variety of industry sectors, in high value cross-border litigation and arbitration disputes. They will lead a team of 8 lawyers. The team will be working closely with RPC's wider Commercial Disputes team based in London and Hong Kong.

Swee Siang joined Bird & Bird ATMD in 2009 and has led Bird & Bird ATMD's dispute resolution practice for the last 10 years. As a dispute specialist, he has accumulated 25 years of experience, in advising and representing clients on high value commercial disputes. In addition, Swee Siang has a wealth of experience in representing clients in construction, professional negligence and employment disputes. He has extensive expertise in the field of domestic as well as international arbitration, having regularly represented parties in high value international arbitrations involving various rules, including International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), The London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and Swiss Rules of International Arbitration (SRIA).

Navin is an accomplished trial and appellate commercial litigator with 16 years of experience. He has a particular expertise in complex joint venture, shareholder and licensing disputes. Navin is also a highly regarded regulatory compliance and investigations lawyer. He regularly advises corporate clients on regulatory compliance matters with an emphasis on anti-bribery and corruption compliance as well as corporate investigations. Navin has a dedicated prosecution and enforcement portfolio where he advises and represents various regulators. He has also acted in several large cases involving fraud or white-collar crime.

Yuankai started practice in a leading litigation firm. He is a versatile and proficient commercial disputes practitioner with a breadth of experience in all forms of dispute resolution and has regularly represented clients in court proceedings and international arbitrations (including emergency arbitrations), with a specialty focus on disputes relating to information and technology, aviation, civil fraud, asset recovery, directors' duties and media rights. Apart from his litigation and arbitration credentials, Yuankai is also an accredited mediator with the Singapore Mediation Centre and has experience in successfully mediating disputes out of court.

Swee Siang joins RPC Premier Law on the 4 May 2020, Navin already joined on the 27 April and Yuankai joined on 24 February.

The set of senior hires in Singapore adds to what has been a very active 15 months for RPC's wider Commercial Disputes team, including the arrival of Finella Fogarty and Tatiana Minaeva in London, the internal promotion of Alan Williams as well as the recent hires of Paul Bagon and Sam Tate (London), Charles Allen (Hong Kong), Gerald Yee (Singapore).

Commenting on the new lateral hires in Singapore, RPC Asia Managing Partner Antony Sassi noted: "We have been working on bringing the right high-quality type of people in for some time, and therefore are very excited that this market-leading team led by Swee Siang, Navin and Yuankai are joining us. Our regional and global strategy has been to expand our client-centred commercial referrals offering and increase our cross-border litigation and arbitration work. This high calibre team will no doubt add further firepower to servicing our clients in the local Singapore market, in Asia and globally."

Adding to this, Global Head of Commercial Disputes Tom Hibbert said: "We have seen an increased client demand for multi-jurisdictional, multi-disciplinary dispute litigation work. The new hires will meet that demand and play an important role in further building our commercial referrals offering in Singapore as well as support clients on global litigation and arbitration work. I can see our teams in London and Hong Kong itching to start introducing the team to our growing international client base."

Swee Siang said: "RPC's strong disputes reputation made it a natural home for our team. I was particularly drawn to the firm's genuine commitment to collegiality, collaboration and the highest level of client service; I can't wait to get started."

Navin added: "The team and I are thrilled to join RPC. It is a well-established firm with a stellar reputation and bench strength of excellent lawyers. Its international vision, client-centred approach, and focus on disputes make it an ideal platform to provide clients with the support and solutions they require."

Swee Siang, Navin and Yuankai will be joined by Vani Nair (Senior Associate), Selina Toh (Senior Associate), Shaun Oon (Associate), Cheng Liqi (Associate) and Yap Chun Kai (Associate).

*Local Singapore litigation will be handled by Premier Law, outside of the JLV

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