SINGAPORE : Between the five of them, there is a hefty
amount of legal experience. Now, these top legal eagles, most of
whom head departments in a range of areas, are walking out on their
law firm, Harry Elias Partnership.
MediaCorp has learnt that managing partner Latiff Ibrahim,
head of intellectual property practice; Shanti Jaganathan, head of
the criminal litigation practice group; Shashi Nathan, head of
insurance Lynette Chew; and senior partner in construction and
infrastructure practice Kelvin Aw - have tendered their
resignations.
A source told this newspaper that the group are exiting the company
because "there has been unhappiness brewing among the partners for
some time now".
It remains unclear what led to the fallout, though.
It is understood that they will serve their notice with the company
and will exit in the next few months.
Attempts to contact the law firm proved to be unsuccessful, as
managing partner Philip Fong did not respond to MediaCorp's queries
at press time.
The five lawyers also could not be contacted for a comment.
Mr Latiff, the brother of Environment and Water Resources Minister
Yaacob Ibrahim, is the second managing partner to leave the company
in the past three years following the departure of Senior Counsel
Tan Chee Meng in 2006.
Mr Latiff has been a litigator in many construction and engineering
disputes, such as the Nicoll Highway collapse, and other disputes
between big developers, owners, contractors and management
corporations here and in the region.
Mr Shashi, a founding member and past vice-president of the
Association of Criminal Lawyers in Singapore, has appeared in
numerous high-profile criminal cases, ranging from murder to
kidnapping and drug trafficking.
Meanwhile, Ms Chew has handled contracts for the Marina Bay Sands
Integrated Resort project, among other matters for the private and
public sector.
Their law firm was established in 1988 by Senior Counsel Harry
Elias and currently has more than 60 lawyers in various legal
disciplines.
- TODAY/il