Firm Profile > Skrine > Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Skrine Offices
Level 8, Wisma UOA Damansara
50 JALAN DUNGUN, DAMANSARA HEIGHTS
50490 KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysia
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Skrine > The Legal 500 Rankings
Corporate and M&A Tier 1
High-value, cross-border transactions for blue chip corporates constitute a significant portion of the work for Skrine's corporate and M&A team. Particularly known for its insurance sector advice, it also has a significant track record in high-value oil and gas transactions. In addition, the team is retained by both major domestic and international companies who draw on the firm's lateral expertise in competition and tax matters. Following the retirement of Theresa Chong, the team leads are To’ Puan Janet Looi and Fariz Abdul Aziz, respective specialists in foreign direct investment and energy. They are supported by Sheba Gumis, recommended for her work in joint ventures. Chew Soon Quay departed in November 2019 to join the judiciary.
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Testimonials
‘Excellent track record advising on significant oil & gas transactions in Malaysia with relationships at PETRONAS, Carigali, and other relevant third parties such as service companies‘.
‘Fariz was always available for a call/meeting throughout the process and provided good counsel‘.
Key clients
Murphy Oil Corporation
Hope Education Group
LafargeHolcim Ltd
Panasonic Corporation
Halliburton
Carlyle International Energy Partners
Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor Berhad
Reckitt Benckiser Group
Iskandar Innovations Sdn. Bhd.
J-Oil Mills, Inc. (“J-Oil”)
Ekuiti Nasional Berhad
Sapura Resources Berhad
Dispute resolution Tier 1
Led by Leong Wai Hong, the 'accomplished' disputes resolution team at Skrine handles contentious work in areas such as intellectual property, construction, banking and insolvency. The firm is also adept at dealing with cross-border matters and recently acted for The Customs and Tax Administration of The Kingdom of Denmark on a MYR 1 billion recoveries matter. In addition, clients benefit from its developing specialities in commercial fraud, aviation, (the 'extremely responsive' aviation lawyer Sharon Chong Tze Ying is the name to note here), oil, gas and anti-dumping. To complement the team, it also includes international arbitration expert Vijay Raj and asset recovery practitioner Preetha Pillai.
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Testimonials
‘When we first encountered our first Alternate Dispute Resolution on a construction matter and Skrine was recommended to us, we naturally felt comforted that we were in good hands as it was a large firm, with a team with solid credentials. We found the accomplished team at Skrine to be very sharp, precise, and sprightly‘.
‘Strong presence and capability in Malaysia, especially for local dispute issues‘.
‘Very responsive, they give practical advice about how to deal with a very difficult legal system‘.
‘Our relationship with Skrine goes back to 2008-09 when they provided us with legal support on two major litigation cases. My personal experience was for a case that ended up at the ICC Arbitration in London. Skrine’s team was outstanding in building up our case and identifying adequate partners in England, a key to our ultimate success in that case‘.
‘Sharon Chong Tze Ying has always impressed me with both her round-the-clock availability and her ability to get up to speed with sometimes complex matters. Her advice has helped me building a favourable background in several commercial matters, to not only build a stronger position in the relevant matters, but also to know that we were leaving a trail of strong and favourable documents in case we would end up in litigation‘.
‘Sharon Chong of their aviation litigation team is responsive and gives practical and clear advice‘.
‘Sharon Chong is extremely responsive and savvy‘.
Key clients
The Customs and Tax Administration of The Kingdom of Denmark
(1) Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS); (2) Land Administrator for the District of Kota Tinggi
Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad and Malaysia Airports (Sepang) Sdn Bhd (“Malaysia Airports”)
Pentadbir Tanah Daerah Johor Bahru (Land Administrator of Johor Bahru)
KPMG, liquidator for MBf Northern Securities Sdn Bhd
(1) State of Kelantan; (2) the Director of Land and Mines, Kelantan; and (3) the Director of the Forestry Department, Kelantan
Islamic Renaissance Front Berhad
Prestariang Group
Golden Plus Holdings Berhad
Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad
Kenanga Investment Bank Berhad
IBM Malaysia Sdn Bhd & IBM Capital Malaysia Sdn Bhd
The Bank of Nova Scotia Berhad & Bank of China (Malaysia) Berhad
Malayan Banking Berhad
Pernod Ricard Malaysia Sdn Bhd
DA Land Sdn Bhd (in liquidation), Chew Ruenn Hing, Chew Ruenn How
Intellectual property Tier 1
The intellectual property offering at Skrine is characterised by the breadth of its sector expertise - including healthcare, telecoms, financial services, international airlines and manufacturing. Team leads Charmayne Ong and Khoo Guan Huat support this work with respective expertise in TMT law and disputes. More broadly, the firm covers all IP subject matters with an emphasis on design, copyright and franchising disputes. Key clients are attracted from the fashion, beverages and hospitality sectors with San Miguel Corporation featuring in a recent win in a patent infringement case. Grace Teoh (recently made partner) advises on IP strategy, Teh Hong Koon covers multi-jurisdictional trade mark protection and Kuek Pei Yee is regularly sought out as lead counsel at both trial and appellate levels.
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Key clients
Dart Industries Inc
Tupperware Brands Malaysia Sdn Bhd
Huasin Food Industries Sdn Bhd
Passion Trading Sdn Bhd
Nuctech Company Limited
Tsinghua University
F Hoffmann La-Roche AG
Roche (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd
San Miguel Corporation
San Miguel Yamamura Woven Products Sdn Bhd
Radical Galaxy Sdn Bhd
MForce Bike Holdings Sdn Bhd
Labour and employment Tier 1
Siva Kumar Kanagasabai, 'one of the best HR lawyers in the business' and compliance expert Selvamalar Alagaratnam orchestrate the labour and employment team at Skrine. Acting for major clients such as Unilever, Samsung and DHL, it handles legislative compliance, common law rights, managerial prerogatives and collective agreements. The offering also covers the complexities of staff termination (including the removal of senior employees) and successfully acted in this capacity for the U.S. embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Clients can also benefit from the firm's 'concise and high-quality advice' in relation to the transition and migration of workers as well as its strong track record in trade union disputes.
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Testimonials
‘Concise and high-quality advice. Excellent response time‘.
‘The Labour & Employment team headed by Siva Kumar Kanagasabai, gives sound practical and commercially-driven advice‘.
‘The stand-out partner is Mr. Kumar Kanagasabai. We have been working with him mostly on IR-related matters and very happy with his performance‘.
‘Good client engagement. Can expect them to be proactive and responsive with an ability to empathise with client’s concerns’.
‘Sivakumar is one of the best HR lawyers in the business- he is very commercial in his approach and his advice is always spot on. He is very accessible, a good communicator and understands the industry and the structure in which his clients operate‘.
Key clients
Employees Provident Fund Board
Great Eastern Life Assurance (Malaysia) Berhad
AIA Bhd
Top Glove Corporation Berhad
Hess Exploration and Production Malaysia B.V
Petroleum Geo-Services Exploration (M) Sdn Bhd
DNV GL
Aker Solutions Malaysia Sdn Bhd
Pathology Asia Holdings Pte Ltd (Gribbles)
Malaysian Airports Berhad
HCL Technologies Ltd/HCL Axon Malaysia Sdn Bhd
TMT Tier 1
Skrine's advisory and compliance expert Charmayne Ong coordinates the firm's TMT offering. Including Jillian Chia Yan Ping (covering privacy and data protection) and Natalie Lim Yen Kuan (regulatory advice), it handles a wide variety of matters. Specifically, it has recently addressed telecoms issues relating to the deployment of fibre optic cables, use of satellites, establishment of earth stations, over-the-top service offerings, 5G, and remote working. Clients can also benefit from its track record in securing regulatory approvals for spectrum assignments as well as general licences. In addition, a core part of the team's work involves drafting and negotiating contracts as well as dispute resolution services when required.
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Testimonials
‘Incredibly responsive, quickly and effortlessly understand what is required and deliver the right product, on time and within budget’.
‘Charmayne Ong Poh Yin – Charmayne is very responsive and always delivers high quality work. Natalie Lim – Natalie consistently provides high quality advice in a succinct and appropriate way, delivering advice on technical issues in a way which is always comprehensive but easy to understand‘.
Antitrust and competition Tier 2
Skrine's antitrust team has successfully represented a range of parties at the MyCC in connection with cartel matters (abuse of dominance investigations) and other issues. It is therefore well placed to advise on domestic competition law and audits to ensure compliance. Additionally, it also operates an established disputes practice where it regularly acts as counsel for MyCC itself as well as various players in the pharmaceutical, shipping and insurance sectors. The offering is led by M&A expert To’ Puan Janet Looi .
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Key clients
Malaysia Competition Commission
Pelangi Prestasi Sdn Bhd
Shipping Association of Malaysia
AIG Malaysia Insurance Berhad
AIA Bhd.
AXA Affin General Insurance Berhad
Zurich General Insurance Malaysia Berhad
Malaysia Shipowners’ Association
Banking and finance Tier 2
Theresa Chong, Koon Huan Lim and Claudia Cheah Pek Yee direct the banking and finance offering at Skrine. Acting for clients in substantive Islamic finance and conventional transactions, it regularly assists with the structuring and drafting of the relevant documentation. Counting the Bank of Nova Scotia as a recent portfolio win, it also represents major players such as the Bank of China and HSBC Group. Notably, a key highlight is the firm's role as counsel for SapuraOMV Upstream on a syndicated revolving credit facility (aggregate amount of USD200 million). The 'very responsive' Lee Ai Hsian is recommended for syndicated loan facilities and foreign exchange control regulations.
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Testimonials
‘Skrine (in particular Claudia Cheah Pek Yee) is able to manoeuvre and set precedent in the grey area of fintech where precedents are scarce in Malaysian law. The precedent set allows all other P2P crowdfunding players to enforce the payment obligations on the issuers and objections or defence raised with an improper reference to moneylending act or improper electronic signing have been successfully struck out by Skrine‘.
‘We very much appreciate that Skrine is very responsive and almost always available despite the significant time zone difference. Their advise is straight to the point and very client-oriented. Their hands on approach makes life for an in-house lawyer much easier‘.
‘We work closely with Claudia Cheah Pek Yee. She is always attentive and hands-on on all the files delivering professional service on a timely manner which is important in the debt recovery and banking practice. She also thinks outside the box which is important for start-ups and fintech players like Funding Societies as our operation model differs from that of a traditional bank. The solutions provided by Claudia serves commercial purpose and yet resolves legal complications and obstacles which we treasure very much‘.
‘Claudia Cheah Pek Yee also does not charge unreasonable fees or excessively. Her deliverables and work remain professional and of standard‘.
‘Lee Ai Hsian is very responsive and provides practical advice‘.
Key clients
SapuraOMV Upstream Sdn. Bhd
The Bank of Nova Scotia Berhad
Bank of China (Malaysia) Berhad
Malayan Banking Berhad
Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Berhad
HSBC Group (HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad and HSBC Amanah Berhad)
Modalku Ventures Sdn Bhd
Hong Leong Bank Berhad
Union De Banques Arabes Et Francaises (Singapore)
Maybank Islamic Berhad
Projects and energy Tier 2
Skrine advises on infrastructure, power and industrial facilities, acting on the full life cycle of work including financing, land acquisition and development, structuring and regulatory matters. Fariz Abdul Aziz co-leads the team and specialises on oil and gas matters, including transactional matters and corporate-related energy work. Richard Khoo Boo Hin is leading the infrastructure and projects group and focuses on the non-contentious side. He has represented developers, contractors and consultants on power production projects.
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Key clients
Halliburton
PTT Exploration and Production Company Limited
Murphy Oil Corporation
BP
OMV
Repsol
Panasonic Corporation
General Electric
Hess
International Petroleum Company
HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad
ERS Energy Sdn Bhd
Real estate and construction Tier 2
Skrine's real estate and construction practice provides 'concise and focused advice.' Theresa Chong leads the real estate team and is active on real estate project developments as well as infrastructure and transport projects. Ivan Loo and Ashok Kumar Mahadev Ranai are the firm's key dispute resolution practitioners. They have acted for multinational companies on disputes involving civil building construction and undertake litigation, arbitration and adjudication proceedings in relation to construction and engineering disputes. The non-contentious construction work is handled by Richard Khoo Boo Hin, who has experience working for developers, contractors and consultants on commercial developments.
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Testimonials
‘Excellent value for money. Concise and focused advice which demonstrates a real appreciation for business needs.’
Key clients
Iskandar Investment Berhad
Mudajaya Corporation Berhad
MCC Overseas (M) Sdn Bhd
Hunza Properties (Gurney) Sdn Bhd
Hunza Properties (Penang) Sdn Bhd
Beachfront Services Sdn Bhd
Shipping Tier 2
Skrine's practice offers contentious and non-contentious shipping expertise. The group is headed up by Siva Kumar Kanagasabai and Fariz Abdul Aziz. On the contentious side Kanagasabai advises clients in the local and international sphere, on ship arrests, charterparty disputes and oil pollution claims. On the non-contentious side Aziz handles ship registrations, ship sales and other advisory aspects dealing with shipping and maritime law.
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Key clients
Cosco Shipping Lines (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd
Credit Suisse AG. Instructing solicitors: Watson Farley & Williams (London)
Icon Ship Management Sdn Bhd
Penguin International Limited
Tax Tier 3
Skrine advises on tax audits and investigations and represent clients in court and before the relevant tribunals on matters relating to corporate and sales and service taxes. The department is led by Preetha Pillai, a commercial litigator with decades of experience, who handles contentious tax matters, representing clients in disputes with the tax authorities. Vijay Raj is a litigator with a broad practice, and appears at all levels of the Malaysian courts. He has represented oil and gas companies in challenging the imposition of rates by the local governments upon pipelines and refineries.
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Skrine > Firm Profile
Skrine is one of the oldest, largest and most awarded legal firms in the country, with a sterling global reputation, and a wide range of highly-regarded practice groups. The firm is currently led by 50 partners with over 110 lawyers.
Skrine is the exclusive Malaysian member of Lex Mundi, a network of leading independent law firms in over 160 jurisdictions around the world and the Pacific Rim Advisory Council, a network of 30 top tier independent member law firms.
The Firm has been named as the Malaysia Law Firm of the Year 2017 by Asian Legal Business; Malaysia Law Firm of the Year in 2015 by Chambers Asia Pacific; Malaysian Firm of the Year 2013 – 2018 by Who’s Who Legal; ranked as a Leading Firm by Chambers Asia Pacific and Global from 2011 – 2018; ranked as a Top Tier Firm by Legal 500 Asia Pacific from 2014 – 2018; recognised as leading international arbitration firm since 2012 by Global Arbitration Review (GAR) 100 and has been named as Malaysian Firm of the Year for 2014 – 2016 by Managing Intellectual Property (Managing IP).
Main Contacts
Department | Name | Telephone | |
---|---|---|---|
Head of Litigation and Arbitration | Leong Wai Hong | lwh@skrine.com | |
Head of Corporate | To' Puan Janet Looi | llh@skrine.com | |
Head of Intellectual Property and TMT | Charmayne Ong Poh Yin | co@skrine.com | |
Co-head of Construction and Engineering | Ivan Loo | il@skrine.com | |
Co-head of Construction and Engineering | Ashok Kumar Mahadev Ranai | amr@skrine.com | |
Head of Shipping, Co-head of Employment | Siva Kumar Kanagasabai | skk@skrine.com | |
Co-head of Employment | Selvamalar Alagaratnam | sa@skrine.com | |
Head of Tax and Revenue | Preetha Pillai | psp@skrine.com |
Lawyer Profiles
Photo | Name | Position | Profile |
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Mr Fariz Abdul Aziz | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Lee Ai Hsian | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Selvamalar Alagaratnam | Partner. | View Profile |
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Ms Claudia Cheah Pek Yee | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Kah Leng Chen | Consultant | View Profile |
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Mr Kee Check Cheng | Partner. | View Profile |
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Ms Jillian Chia Yan Ping | Partner | View Profile |
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Mr Yoong Chong Chin | Partner. | View Profile |
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Ms Theresa Chong | Consultant | View Profile |
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Ms Sharon Chong Tze Ying | Partner | View Profile |
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Mr Nimalan Devaraja | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Leela Devi Baskaran | Partner. | View Profile |
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Ms Ratha Govindasamy | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Sheba Gumis | Partner | View Profile |
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Hafidah Aman Hashim | Parnmter | View Profile |
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Mr Trevor Jason Mark Padasian | Partner. | View Profile |
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Mr Siva Kumar Kanagasabai | Partner. | View Profile |
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Mr Guan Huat Khoo | Partner. | View Profile |
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Mr Richard Khoo Boo Hin | Partner | View Profile |
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Mr Chee Kheong Kok | Partner. | View Profile |
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Ms Pei Yee Kuek | Partner. | View Profile |
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Jeremy Lee | Partner | View Profile |
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Mr Tatt Boon Lee | Consultant | View Profile |
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Mr Wai Hong Leong | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Koon Huan Lim | Partner. | View Profile |
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Ms Natalie Lim Yen Kuan | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Peh Fern Loo | Partner. | View Profile |
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Mr Ivan Loo | Partner. | View Profile |
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Ms Janet Looi Lai Heng | Senior Partner | View Profile |
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Mr Ashok Kumar Mahadev Ranai | Partner. | View Profile |
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Mr Mubashir Mansor | Partner. | View Profile |
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Ms Charmayne Ong Poh Yin | Partner. | View Profile |
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Ms Jesy Ooi | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Hooi Lin Oon | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Hemalatha Parasa Ramulu | Partner | View Profile |
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Mr Pao Yii Phua | Partner. | View Profile |
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Ms Preetha Pillai | Partner. | View Profile |
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Mr Vijay Raj | Partner. | View Profile |
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Mr Shannon Rajan | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Loshini Ramarmuty | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Trishelea Ann Sandosam | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Shaleni Sangaran | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Tan Shi Wen | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Foo Siew Li | Partner | View Profile |
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Ms Hong Koon Teh | Partner. | View Profile |
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Ms Grace, Wei Shan Teoh | Partner | View Profile |
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The Honorable Tan Sri Dato’ V.C. George | Consultant, Arbitrator | View Profile |
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Ms Joceyn Lim Yean Tse | Partner | View Profile |
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Sharifah Shafika binti Syed Abbas Alsagoff | Partner | View Profile |