Employment Law Conference 2021

Justice Dato’ S. Nantha Balan

Judge of Court of Appeal Malaysia

Justice Dato’ S. Nantha Balan holds the degree of Bachelor of Laws with Honours from the University of Buckingham, England (1986). In 1987 he completed the Certificate in Legal Practice with Honours. He was called to the Malaysian Bar in August 1988. In 1999 he obtained the degree of Master of Laws from the University of Malaya. He is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London. 

He was in litigation practice for 25 years before joining the Judiciary in 2013. He was appointed as Judicial Commissioner of the High Court on 8 July 2013. He became as a Judge of the High Court on 21 March 2016. On 5 December 2019, he was appointed as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. 

His practice was mainly trial work, and the main areas were commercial and banking litigation, industrial relations, insurance/professional negligence, probate disputes and judicial review. He was a regular speaker at legal seminars on a variety of subjects including trial and appellate advocacy, employment law, ethics and advocacy and medical negligence. He is a trainer in the Malaysian Bar’s Advocacy Training Course.

Justice Dato’ S. Nantha Balan

Judge of Court of Appeal Malaysia

Justice Dato’ S. Nantha Balan holds the degree of Bachelor of Laws with Honours from the University of Buckingham, England (1986). In 1987 he completed the Certificate in Legal Practice with Honours. He was called to the Malaysian Bar in August 1988. In 1999 he obtained the degree of Master of Laws from the University of Malaya. He is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London. 

He was in litigation practice for 25 years before joining the Judiciary in 2013. He was appointed as Judicial Commissioner of the High Court on 8 July 2013. He became as a Judge of the High Court on 21 March 2016. On 5 December 2019, he was appointed as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. 

His practice was mainly trial work, and the main areas were commercial and banking litigation, industrial relations, insurance/professional negligence, probate disputes and judicial review. He was a regular speaker at legal seminars on a variety of subjects including trial and appellate advocacy, employment law, ethics and advocacy and medical negligence. He is a trainer in the Malaysian Bar’s Advocacy Training Course.

Justice Tuan Anand Ponnundurai
Judicial Commissioner of the High Court of Kuala Lumpur

Justice Anand Ponnudurai was called to the Malaysian Bar in 1991. He embarked on his legal career at Shearn Delamore & Co. and was in their well-established industrial law department. He then joined Lobo & Associates in 1994 and subsequently Sri Ram & Co in 1998, before establishing his own partnership in 2001. In his almost 30 years of active practice, he predominantly concentrated in the field of Employment Law/Industrial Relations and Administrative Law whereby he was consistently ranked in Chambers Asia as one of Asia’s leading lawyers in the Employment and Industrial Relations arena. Justice Anand actively participated in the activities of the Bar and was Chairman of the Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee from 2009 to 2011 as well as Chairman of the Malaysian Bar Council’s Industrial and Employment Law Committee for many years until 2019.

Justice Anand has authored the Malaysian Chapter in the Treatise “International Employment Law” published by the Center for Legal Studies Vienna and also authored the Chapter on Employment Law in the publication Bullen & Leake & Jacob’s Malaysia Precedents and Pleadings. Justice Anand was an empanelled arbitrator with the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre of Arbitration (currently known as Asian International Arbitration Centre) and had been appointed as arbitrator to adjudicate labour disputes. His wealth of experience in Employment, Labour Law and Administrative Law is undisputed. Prior to Justice Anand’s appointment as a Judicial Commissioner of the High Court of Kuala Lumpur, he acted for a host of corporate clients and multinationals spanning a variety of industries and handled a full range of employment matters on a collective basis and in relation to individual employees with renowned and notable experience in handling dismissal cases and negotiating collective agreements.

Justice Anand was appointed as Judicial Commissioner of the High Court of Malaya in 2019 and currently sits in the Commercial Division in Kuala Lumpur.

Justice Tuan Anand Ponnundurai
Judicial Commissioner of the High Court of Kuala Lumpur

Justice Anand Ponnudurai was called to the Malaysian Bar in 1991. He embarked on his legal career at Shearn Delamore & Co. and was in their well-established industrial law department. He then joined Lobo & Associates in 1994 and subsequently Sri Ram & Co in 1998, before establishing his own partnership in 2001. In his almost 30 years of active practice, he predominantly concentrated in the field of Employment Law/Industrial Relations and Administrative Law whereby he was consistently ranked in Chambers Asia as one of Asia’s leading lawyers in the Employment and Industrial Relations arena. Justice Anand actively participated in the activities of the Bar and was Chairman of the Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee from 2009 to 2011 as well as Chairman of the Malaysian Bar Council’s Industrial and Employment Law Committee for many years until 2019.

Justice Anand has authored the Malaysian Chapter in the Treatise “International Employment Law” published by the Center for Legal Studies Vienna and also authored the Chapter on Employment Law in the publication Bullen & Leake & Jacob’s Malaysia Precedents and Pleadings. Justice Anand was an empanelled arbitrator with the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre of Arbitration (currently known as Asian International Arbitration Centre) and had been appointed as arbitrator to adjudicate labour disputes. His wealth of experience in Employment, Labour Law and Administrative Law is undisputed. Prior to Justice Anand’s appointment as a Judicial Commissioner of the High Court of Kuala Lumpur, he acted for a host of corporate clients and multinationals spanning a variety of industries and handled a full range of employment matters on a collective basis and in relation to individual employees with renowned and notable experience in handling dismissal cases and negotiating collective agreements.

Justice Anand was appointed as Judicial Commissioner of the High Court of Malaya in 2019 and currently sits in the Commercial Division in Kuala Lumpur.

R. Ravindra Kumar
Partner, Raja, Darryl & Loh
Vice President, Malaysian Society for Labour and Social Security Law

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravindra-kumar-rengasamy-1b27421b/

Ravindra is a recognised practitioner in the area of Employment and Industrial Relations with practice experience since 1987. Ravindra’s clientele comprises multinational and Malaysian companies from various industries such as oil and gas, oleochemical, aerospace, pharmaceutical, healthcare/medical, education, information technology, financial services, hospitality, automotive, fast-moving consumer goods and manufacturing.

Vijaya Kumar Raj A/L K. Durairaj
Managing Partner, A. Rajadurai P. Kuppusamy & Co.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/v-k-raj-b1608056/

Vijaya Kumar Raj all K. Durairaj (a.k.a V.K. Raj) was admitted to the Bar on 3.12.1999. He started legal practice with Messrs Wan Balbir & Associates. Thereafter he joined as a partner in the Kuala Lumpur branch office of Messrs A. Rajadurai & Associates, practicing civil litigation, as well as employment law.

From October 2003, he joined Messrs P. Kuppusamy & Co. and worked with the late and legendary Mr. P. Kuppusamy. He was made a partner of the firm in May 2004. After the demise of Mr. Kuppusamy, he carried on practice in the same firm as a sole proprietor. The firm was later turned into a partnership in 2012, and was later renamed as Messrs A. Rajadurai P. Kuppusamy & Co., where he remains as the Managing Partner. The current areas of practice of the firm include Employment Law, Insurance Law, Conveyancing, as well as Civil Liltigation. He counts his past experience as a Journalist as invaluable in his current practice as an Advocate & Solicitor, especially as a trial lawyer. He has argued cases up to the Federal Court, with some landmark decisions in employment law.

Stephen Hughes
Principal Lawyer, Franklin Athanasellis Cullen

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-hughes-6b67602b/ 

Stephen is a senior and very experienced workplace relations, industrial relations, safety, governance and risk lawyer. 

Stephen has previously been listed as a “recommended” employment/ workplace relations lawyer in the Legal 500 guide for Australia.

Stephen has over 30 years’ experience acting for a wide variety of organisations in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors across Australia and internationally, particularly in the mining services, professional services and aviation industries. He has a wealth of experience in strategic advisory work, enterprise bargaining, labour hire, termination of employment (including large scale redundancies), workplace bullying and harassment, discrimination, judicial reviews, workers’ compensation and litigation regarding restraints, privacy and confidentiality.

Stephen is a regularly invited speaker and chairperson at state, national and international conferences. He is Membership Officer for the international employment law committee of LAWASIA, a regional association of lawyers, judges, jurists and legal organisations, which advocates for the interests and concerns of the Asia Pacific legal profession.

Stephen is a Queensland Law Society Accredited Personal Injuries Specialist, with a focus on challenging adverse workers’ compensation findings.

Stephen is an ex-officio Board member of the Australian Society of Rehabilitation Counsellors, the peak body for that allied health profession, and a director of an Australian subsidiary of a multinational software company.

Dato' Varghese George
Retired Judge of Court of Appeal Malaysia

Dato' Varghese George retired as Judge of the Court of Appeal, Malaysia on 27 January 2017. He was in private legal practice for 35 years before being elevated as a Judicial Commissioner in October 2009. He was appointed as a Judge of the High Court in August 2011 and to the Court of Appeal in October 2013. He graduated with a degree in Law (LLB) from the University of Singapore in 1974. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators.

Before Dato' Varghese's elevation he was a Senior Partner at Messrs. Zain & Co and was also a litigator mainly involved in commercial, land and administrative law cases and also in construction related arbitrations.

He is currently engaged as Adjudicator and/or Arbitrator in various ADR proceedings under the practise name of 'vargharbCHAMBERS'.

Yong Hon Cheong
Partner, Zaid Ibrahim & Co

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hon-cheong-yong-60576734/ 

Hon Cheong was called to the Bar in 1995 and currently heads the Human Capital Services practice in Zaid Ibrahim & Co. 

From the advisory and transactional perspective, he has advised on employment issues in some of the largest merger and acquisition projects in the country. He also works closely on a regular basis with international law firms and multinational organisations, dealing with employment issues for Malaysia in global or regional corporate exercises.

His experience in reorganisation and headcount reduction exercises includes advising various multinationals in industries such as automotive, transportation, consulting and financial services. Hon Cheong also represents a wide variety of corporate clients in industrial relations and employment disputes at the Industrial Court and appellate courts. 

Wong Keat Ching
Partner, Zul Rafique & Partners

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keat-ching-wong-397166184/

Wong Keat Ching is a Partner of the Industrial Relations & Dispute Resolution practice groups at Zul Rafique & Partners. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Law (Hons) from the University of Nottingham and the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP). 

She is an active litigator in the Malaysian Courts and has appeared in the Federal Court to argue issues such as the High Court’s supervisory powers over Industrial Court decisions, dismissal of trade union officials and gender discrimination in retirement age. She also provides regular advice on corporate restructuring involving employees and labour due diligence.

In her spare time, the mother of two is active in the Malaysian Bar netball team but during the pandemic she has diverted to yoga. In 2008, she received the Sports Personality award from the Bar Council.

R. Ravindra Kumar
Partner, Raja, Darryl & Loh
Vice President, Malaysian Society for Labour and Social Security Law

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravindra-kumar-rengasamy-1b27421b/

Ravindra is a recognised practitioner in the area of Employment and Industrial Relations with practice experience since 1987. Ravindra’s clientele comprises multinational and Malaysian companies from various industries such as oil and gas, oleochemical, aerospace, pharmaceutical, healthcare/medical, education, information technology, financial services, hospitality, automotive, fast-moving consumer goods and manufacturing.

Vijaya Kumar Raj A/L K. Durairaj
Managing Partner, A. Rajadurai P. Kuppusamy & Co.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/v-k-raj-b1608056/

Vijaya Kumar Raj all K. Durairaj (a.k.a V.K. Raj) was admitted to the Bar on 3.12.1999. He started legal practice with Messrs Wan Balbir & Associates. Thereafter he joined as a partner in the Kuala Lumpur branch office of Messrs A. Rajadurai & Associates, practicing civil litigation, as well as employment law.

From October 2003, he joined Messrs P. Kuppusamy & Co. and worked with the late and legendary Mr. P. Kuppusamy. He was made a partner of the firm in May 2004. After the demise of Mr. Kuppusamy, he carried on practice in the same firm as a sole proprietor. The firm was later turned into a partnership in 2012, and was later renamed as Messrs A. Rajadurai P. Kuppusamy & Co., where he remains as the Managing Partner. The current areas of practice of the firm include Employment Law, Insurance Law, Conveyancing, as well as Civil Liltigation. He counts his past experience as a Journalist as invaluable in his current practice as an Advocate & Solicitor, especially as a trial lawyer. He has argued cases up to the Federal Court, with some landmark decisions in employment law.

Stephen Hughes
Principal Lawyer, Franklin Athanasellis Cullen

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-hughes-6b67602b/ 

Stephen is a senior and very experienced workplace relations, industrial relations, safety, governance and risk lawyer. 

Stephen has previously been listed as a “recommended” employment/ workplace relations lawyer in the Legal 500 guide for Australia.

Stephen has over 30 years’ experience acting for a wide variety of organisations in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors across Australia and internationally, particularly in the mining services, professional services and aviation industries. He has a wealth of experience in strategic advisory work, enterprise bargaining, labour hire, termination of employment (including large scale redundancies), workplace bullying and harassment, discrimination, judicial reviews, workers’ compensation and litigation regarding restraints, privacy and confidentiality.

Stephen is a regularly invited speaker and chairperson at state, national and international conferences. He is Membership Officer for the international employment law committee of LAWASIA, a regional association of lawyers, judges, jurists and legal organisations, which advocates for the interests and concerns of the Asia Pacific legal profession.

Stephen is a Queensland Law Society Accredited Personal Injuries Specialist, with a focus on challenging adverse workers’ compensation findings.

Stephen is an ex-officio Board member of the Australian Society of Rehabilitation Counsellors, the peak body for that allied health profession, and a director of an Australian subsidiary of a multinational software company.

Dato' Varghese George
Retired Judge of Court of Appeal Malaysia

Dato' Varghese George retired as Judge of the Court of Appeal, Malaysia on 27 January 2017. He was in private legal practice for 35 years before being elevated as a Judicial Commissioner in October 2009. He was appointed as a Judge of the High Court in August 2011 and to the Court of Appeal in October 2013. He graduated with a degree in Law (LLB) from the University of Singapore in 1974. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators.

Before Dato' Varghese's elevation he was a Senior Partner at Messrs. Zain & Co and was also a litigator mainly involved in commercial, land and administrative law cases and also in construction related arbitrations.

He is currently engaged as Adjudicator and/or Arbitrator in various ADR proceedings under the practise name of 'vargharbCHAMBERS'.

Yong Hon Cheong
Partner, Zaid Ibrahim & Co

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hon-cheong-yong-60576734/ 

Hon Cheong was called to the Bar in 1995 and currently heads the Human Capital Services practice in Zaid Ibrahim & Co. 

From the advisory and transactional perspective, he has advised on employment issues in some of the largest merger and acquisition projects in the country. He also works closely on a regular basis with international law firms and multinational organisations, dealing with employment issues for Malaysia in global or regional corporate exercises.

His experience in reorganisation and headcount reduction exercises includes advising various multinationals in industries such as automotive, transportation, consulting and financial services. Hon Cheong also represents a wide variety of corporate clients in industrial relations and employment disputes at the Industrial Court and appellate courts. 

Wong Keat Ching
Partner, Zul Rafique & Partners

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keat-ching-wong-397166184/

Wong Keat Ching is a Partner of the Industrial Relations & Dispute Resolution practice groups at Zul Rafique & Partners. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Law (Hons) from the University of Nottingham and the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP). 

She is an active litigator in the Malaysian Courts and has appeared in the Federal Court to argue issues such as the High Court’s supervisory powers over Industrial Court decisions, dismissal of trade union officials and gender discrimination in retirement age. She also provides regular advice on corporate restructuring involving employees and labour due diligence.

In her spare time, the mother of two is active in the Malaysian Bar netball team but during the pandemic she has diverted to yoga. In 2008, she received the Sports Personality award from the Bar Council.

Sivabalah Nadarajah
Partner, Shearn Delamore & Co.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivabalah-nadarajah-20612997/

Sivabalah has rich experience with trade disputes, collective bargaining, contracts of service, employment issues, industrial actions, judicial reviews, law on dismissals, mergers and acquisitions, minimum wage, occupational health and safety, reorganisations and retrenchment, statutory benefits, and union recognition. He has appeared extensively in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Federal Court and the then Supreme Court, principally for judicial review applications and appeals. Sivabalah has represented employers in many landmark decisions in the fields of Employment, Administrative & Constitutional Law.

Lily Cheah
Senior Manager, Consulting HR Business Partner at PwC Malaysia

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lilycheah/

Lily is HR Business Partner for PwC South-East Asia Consulting, overseeing end-to-end people matters of this dynamic business. She is passionate about building inclusive and agile teams, and growing high trust work cultures. Lily is also part of South-East Asia Consulting’s Alternative Delivery Model project team, tasked to promote and integrate non-traditional, non-permanent workforce options. Prior to joining PwC, she worked in leadership development and education, including as editor of a weekly career development pullout in national publication The Star. Lily holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor of Arts (French) and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) (French linguistics) from the University of Auckland. She was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 2011. 

When not working, Lily enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, watching Netflix and nurturing her newfound appreciation for gardening.

Janice Anne Leo
Partner, Steven Thiru & Sudhar Partnership

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janice-anne-leo-8992911a1/

Janice Anne Leo graduated in 1997 from the University of London (LL.B. (Hons)). She completed the Certificate in Legal Practice at University Malaya in 1999 and was admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 2000. She subsequently obtained her Masters degree in Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management from the University of Sydney in August 2002.

In October 2002, Janice joined Messrs Shook Lin & Bok as a Legal Associate, specializing in employment law, and was made a Partner with effect from 1st January 2011. In May 2018, Janice joined Messrs Steven Thiru & Sudhar Partnership, a boutique dispute resolution firm, as a Partner.

She has handled numerous employment related disputes at the Industrial Court and judicial review applications at the High Court, and argued appeals at the Court of Appeal and Federal Court. Janice also handles various aspects of employment
related advisory work for both local and foreign clients. In addition to this, Janice’s other area of practice include administrative law, planning law and general litigation.

Janice also speaks on employment related matters at conferences/seminars both locally and internationally.

Janice is a member of the Malaysian Bar Council Industrial and Employment Law Committee (IELC) and has been actively involved continuing legal education seminars organized by the IELC.

Alex De Silva
Senior Partner, Bodipalar Ponnudurai De Silva

In a legal career spanning more than 25 years, Alex is known to be a tenacious advocate who never quits. His practice is varied as it is extensive. In industrial relations matters, he regularly advises and handles  employment disputes for and on behalf of the employees, employers and Trade Unions relating to dismissal, constructive dismissal, redundancy, retrenchment, collective agreements, trade disputes and union busting. He appears regularly as counsel in the higher Courts and has been involved in several landmark decisions developing Malaysian law including in the field of Industrial Law.

Gerald Louis Ambrose
Founder, Louis Ambrose & Partners

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-ambrose-17713774/

Louis Ambrose is the founder of Louis Ambrose & Partners with more than 27 years’ experience as an Advocate & Solicitor. Louis’ practice focuses mainly on civil litigation and employment law (advisory, litigious and non-litigious). Louis is also involved in corporate and commercial advisory matters, including due diligence, negotiations and drafting. He has been involved in corporate exercises including mergers, acquisitions and takeovers.

In the area of civil litigation, Louis acts as counsel in a wide variety of matters involving various areas of law and various industries in all tiers of the civil courts in Malaysia.

In employment law, Louis has vast experience in providing advisory services on a wide array of matters, including recruitment, termination, reorganisation, downsizing and cross border mergers & acquisition exercises. He also acts as counsel in employment disputes in the Industrial Court and all tiers of the Malaysian Courts.

Louis has been certified as a “Tutor Trainer Trial Advocacy” by the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn in 2011. He regularly provides training to young advocates through the Advocacy Training Committee programmes conducted by the Malaysian Bar and is a committee member of the Bar Council’s Advocacy Training Committee.

Louis also trains young advocates overseas, including Singapore, Hong Kong and South Africa. Louis is also the Designated Legal Counsel of the Austrian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

YA Tuan Anderson Ong Wai Leong
Chairman of Industrial Court of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur

YA Tuan Andersen Ong obtained his Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of London and Master of Laws Degree from the University of Malaya.

YA Tuan Andersen Ong was appointed as Chairman of the Industrial Court of Malaysia in 2016 and has been serving the Industrial Court for approximately five (5) years. He is currently the Chairman of Court 11 in Kuala Lumpur.

Prior to YA Tuan Andersen Ong’s appointment as Chairman of the Industrial Court, he was actively practicing law as an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, mainly in the area of civil litigations. He was attached to Messrs Skrine as a legal assistant before he founded his own legal firm, Messrs. Andersen & Partners in 2002.

YA Tuan Andersen Ong was also the Chairman of the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Committees for many years when he was an advocate and solicitor.

In 2015, YA Tuan Andersen Ong was appointed as President of the Strata Management Tribunal. He had presided over many cases on housing and strata management disputes before his appointment to the Industrial Court.

YA Tuan Andersen Ong has conducted many seminars and talks on industrial relations matters at various forums both locally and abroad including presenting a paper entitled “Legal Reception of the Gig Economy” at The 4th International Cooperative Symposium On The Development of Labour Law in ASEAN, held in Thailand.

Professor Low Chee Keong
Associate Professor in Corporate Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School

Professor Chee Keong Low (CK) is an Associate Professor in Corporate Law at The Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School with research interests in issues pertaining to corporate governance and the regulatory framework of capital markets. His research, which has published in journals in Australasia, Europe and the United States of America, is supported by private sector grants from the Sino Group in Hong Kong. 

Admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, CK is currently a member of the Standing Committee on Company Law Reform in Hong Kong and the Disciplinary Panel ‘A’ of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He was previously a member of the Listing Committee of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong from May 2006 to July 2010; the Financial Reporting Review Panel from July 2007 to July 2013; the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal from April 2011 to March 2017; the Process Review Panel of the Financial Reporting Council for six years through 31 December 2020; and served as a Director of the Asian Institute of Finance in Malaysia for three years through April 2012.

CK is a Council member of the Hong Kong Corporate Governance Institute and a selection of his papers is available at http://www.ssrn.com/author=332882. 

Kenneth Goh
Head, Risk & Compliance, Dentons Rodyk & Davidson LLP

Kenneth Goh, an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, was admitted to the Bar in 1992. He has many years of experience as a practising lawyer and in regulatory compliance. He practised in Kuala Lumpur in the area of civil and criminal litigation. Subsequently, he worked with the Bar Council of Malaysia, before moving to Singapore in 2008. In Singapore, he joined the Law Society of Singapore as Director of Compliance. In 2018, he joined Dentons Rodyk & Davidson LLP, one of the largest law firms in Singapore, where he is now the Head of Risk & Compliance.

Bernard Banks
Consultant, Gibson Sheat Lawyers
Chair of LAWASIA’s Employment Law Committee

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernard-banks-2262a026/

Bernard is a part time Consultant at Gibson Sheat Lawyers, in Wellington, New Zealand and a former Partner at Kiely Thompson Caisley in Wellington. Earlier he was Office Solicitor for the Department of Labour Head Office and a Crown Counsel at the Crown Law Office. Employment law, public law and immigration law are his particular areas of interest. 

Bernard has consulted on issues of employment law and labour market regulation in the region, including project roles for international organisations in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Myanmar. 

He has travelled regularly to Malaysia and looks forward keenly to the opportunity to resume these activities when that again becomes possible. He greatly enjoys his professional relationships with employment law colleagues in Malaysia. 

Bernard is Chair of LAWASIA’s Employment Law Committee and a Vice Chair of LAWASIA’s Constitutional and Rule of Law Committee. 

Bernard is a former Executive Committee member of the ASEAN New Zealand Business Council and serves as the Council’s Laos Chapter Chair. 

He is a co-author of Mazengarb’s Employment Law text book and a joint editor of the Employment Law Bulletin. He has spoken at numerous international conferences.

Saurabh Prakash
Chamber Number 29, Lawyers’ Chambers

Saurabh is a fourth-generation lawyer who specializes in labour and service (employment) laws, but his practice encompasses a wide array of litigation, arbitration, and advisory matters (including software development, maintenance, escrow, services contracts). In his career of over 3 decades, he has done considerable trial court work but now focuses on appellate side work and appears mainly before the Supreme Court and High Courts as well several Tribunals. He was appointed by the Delhi High Court as amicus to assist in advising the government in the development of procedures for the implementation of judgments of Labour and Industrial courts. His understanding of engineering helps him in understanding and communicating complex technical matters. Thus, he has been engaged both as a lawyer, and as an arbitrator, in complex disputes involving engineering contracts. 

He has a B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering from I.I.T. Kanpur (which is one of the premier engineering institutes of India). He then worked for 2 years as a software engineer with Tata Burroughs Ltd. (which later merged with Tata Consultancy Services) and during that period he was sent on projects to the World Bank in Washington D.C. (1982-83) and to Yale Corporation, NJ (1984). Thereafter he completed his LL.B. from Delhi University (1984-87) and then joined the bar. 

John Dong

Senior Partner, Baohua Law Firm
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/%E8%91%A3%E6%B6%A6%E9%9D%92-john-dong-8b613597/ 

John Dong, senior partner of Baohua Law Firm, China and NY (USA) admitted lawyer, has for long engaged in labor law, employment law, arbitrations/litigations and relevant consultation services.

[Experienced Lawyer]

John Dong has provided customized advises for large-sized multinational enterprises, foreign enterprises, state-owned enterprises and private enterprises on employment law issues for years, and also performed well in conciliations, arbitrations and litigations of labor disputes on behalf of the client, wining the appreciation from clients and peers.

[International Lawyer]

John Dong is familiar with labor-related laws and regulations as well as government policies for non-Chinese employment, helping clients in dealing with emergencies and crisis. John Dong is also an expert in international commercial arbitrations concerning Chinese labor law, has acted as the consultant of Chinese labor law in multiple important international commercial arbitrations.

[Forward Thinker]

John Dong is sensitive to the legislation and developing tendency of labor law as well as capable of helping clients to take effective measures. In recent years, John Dong has provided outstanding legal service to clients when facing new problems involving flexible employment, electronic signature, human resource outsourcing, labor dispatching, transformation of corporate nature, etc.

Tuan Eddie Yeo
Former President of Industrial Court of Malaysia

YA Tuan Eddie Yeo Soon Chye was appointed as the President of the Industrial Court effective September 2017 until August 2020. He was also appointed as the Chairman of the Social Security Appellate Board for the year 2021/2022. Earlier, he was appointed as Chairman of the Industrial Court from April 2009 until October 2015.

He graduated from University of Malaya with LLB (Bachelor of Laws) (Honours). He was admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 1993.

He commenced his legal career in the Judicial and Legal Service as Federal Counsel with the Civil Division, Attorney-General’s Chambers. Thereafter he held the post of State Deputy Public Prosecutor in Penang, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Perlis. Eddie has also served in the Appeals Unit, Prosecution Division handling criminal appeals at the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court.

Eddie has also served in the Judicial and Legal Training Institute (ILKAP), Prime Minister’s Department as Director of Prosecution, Consumer Claims Tribunal as Deputy Chairman and was appointed as the Chairman of the Customs Appeal Tribunal in the Ministry of Finance.

Eddie has served in the Judiciary as a Sessions Court Judge, Johor Bahru, Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court and Deputy Registrar High Court, Kuala Lumpur.

Dato’ Thavalingam C. Thavarajah
Managing Partner, T. Thavalingam & Co.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thavalingam-thavarajah-6518675a/

Dato’ Thavalingam C. Thavarajah was called to the Malaysian Bar in 1990, prior to which, he was admitted as a Barrister-at-law at Gray’s Inn. He practiced in three of the largest legal firms in Malaysia, namely Shearn Delamore & Co., Zaid Ibrahim & Co. and Messrs. Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill. 

Dato’ Thavalingam has authored, co-authored and contributed to numerous publications, inter alia, ‘Employment Termination Law & Practice Malaysia’, ‘A Practical Guide’, ‘Employment & Industrial Relations Law Malaysia’, ‘Retrenchment Law and Procedure in Malaysia’, ‘Constructive Dismissal — Commentaries and Cases’, ‘Employment Law Asia (Malaysian Chapter)’ as well as the volume on the Employment Act 1955, Industrial Relations Act 1967 and the Trade Unions Act 1959 in the Annotated Statutes of Malaysia series. 

He has been consistently recognised and ranked as a leading practitioner by Benchmark Litigation, Euromoney, The Legal 500, Chambers and Asialaw. In 2010 and 2011, Dato’ Thavalingam was honoured by ILO through the ILO Client Choice Awards in London, and by the In-House Community in 2017 during its awards ceremony in Hong Kong. 

Dato’ Thavalingam has also been involved in the restructuring of government-linked companies and acted as senior counsel in a number of high-profile employment disputes which have been reported in the media. He was also appointed by the Malaysian Government as a member of the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) during his tenure as MEF Honorary Secretary.

Datuk Hj Shamsuddin Bardan
Executive Director, Malaysian Employers Federation

Datuk Hj Shamsuddin Bardan heads the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) Secretariat with a team consisting of 30 professional staff and 20 support staff. As the Executive Director of MEF, Datuk Hj Shamsuddin is entrusted with the full responsibilities of administrating the organization. Members of MEF employ more than 2.9 million employees. 

As MEF is the apex private sector employers’ organization in Malaysia with more than 6,200 ordinary members and 28 association members, Datuk Hj Shamsuddin in his capacity as the MEF Executive Director recommends policies to be pursued by MEF to the Government in ensuring that the private sector in Malaysia operates in a more business friendly environment so as to ensure the private sector employers remain competitive. 

The efficient and effective work of Datuk Hj. Shamsuddin in managing MEF is internationally and regionally recognized. He was appointed as the Secretary-General of Confederation of Asia Pacific Employers (CAPE) and Secretary-General of ASEAN Confederation of Employers (ACE) (2013 – 2015).

Selvamalar Alagaratnam
Partner, Skrine

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/selvamalar-alagaratnam-36890a1a/

Selvamalar is co-head of the firm's Employment practice. She provides integrated support to a wide range of clients in various industries on all employment/human resource related matters including compliance with all laws applicable to employment relationships; managing the exit o employees whether by way of collective reduction in force exercises or individual terminations for misconduct or poor performance; protection of confidential and proprietary information; investigations and disciplinary actions; trade unions, both recognition and collective bargaining; dispute resolution at all levels and business immigration.

She also provides strategic advice in internal fraud management advising clients in high profile and highly sensitive matters involving fraud perpetrated by employees; and the options available to the organisations to obtain redress against the wrongdoers. Her practice extends to focused compliance on bribery and corruption as well as acting for medical practitioners in negligence and malpractice suits.

Gregory Das
Partner, Steven Thiru & Sudhar Partnership

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregory-das-313955189/

Gregory Das is a Partner at Messrs Steven Thiru & Sudhar Partnership. His practice has a particular emphasis on public and administrative law, employment law and general litigation.

Gregory is the author of “The Law and Practice of Judicial Review in Malaysia”, which is the first practitioner’s text exclusively on the law of judicial review in this jurisdiction. Gregory is also a former Vice – President of the Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators.

Gregory read law at the University of Bristol and graduated with an LL.B. (Hons) degree in 2010. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Inner Temple in 2011. He was thereafter called to the Malaysian Bar in 2012.

YA Puan Sumathi A/P Murugian
Chairman of Industrial Court of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur

YA Puan Sumathi Murugiah was appointed as Chairman of the Industrial Court since March 2017. She served at the Industrial Court, Johor Bahru branch for four years. She is now serving at the Industrial Court, Kuala Lumpur branch since February 2021. Prior to her appointment, YA Puan Sumathi Murugiah was a Partner at Messrs Zarina G.T. Vanan & Associates. She was called to the Bar as an Advocate and Solicitor in the year 1999 and had subsequently completed her Masters in Law at University Malaya in the year 2010.

YA Puan Sumathi Murugiah received her accreditation as a Mediator since 2006 and was trained as a trainer under the Malaysian Mediation Centre, Bar Council since 2008 by the Accord Group, Australia. She was one of the first 24 trainers trained by the Accord Group, Australia to conduct Mediation Skills Training in Malaysia. She was also a member of the Panel of Mediators at the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration, Malaysia (KLRCA) (currently known as Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC)).

Apart from her practice, YA Puan Sumathi Murugiah had also lectured the subject of Legal Skills at Kolej Damansara Utama (KDU) Kuala Lumpur. Whilst in practice, she had also served as a President at the Tribunal for Home Buyers under the Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government from 2013 till 2017.

During her years of practice, YA Puan Sumathi Murugiah had served the Bar Council and the Selangor Bar Committee in several sub-committees holding various positions including the position of the Honorary Secretary of the Selangor Bar Committee for 4 years. Through her services with the Bar, she had given many talks relating to Conveyancing Practice and Loan Documentation.

In the year 2018, YA Puan Sumathi Murugiah had represented Malaysia in her capacity as a Chairman of the Industrial Court at the 5th International Cooperative Symposium on the Development of Labour Law in ASEAN at Hua Hin, Petchuburi, Thailand which was organised by the Central Labour Court of Thailand and had delivered a paper in relation to Malaysia on the topic, “ASEAN + 1 & The Ageing Society: Incorporation & Protection of Older Employees”.

Lindy Richardson
Partner, Maddocks

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindyrichardson/

Lindy has over 20 years' experience in advising on employment law. Lindy has significant experience in all employment-related litigation. She advises clients from the not-for-profit sector, private sector and from all levels of government. She has been at the forefront of Maddocks employment advice on COVID-19, organising sector specific forums involving a range of stakeholders.

Lindy also currently holds a number of management roles at Maddocks including National Practice Group Head of the Employment and Dispute teams, the Firm’s Innovation Partner and she is one of the Maddocks’ Graduate Recruitment Partners.

Roger James
Partner, Ogletree Deakins International LLP

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rbjames/

Roger James is a London based partner of niche employment law firm Ogletree Deakins’ Cross-Border Practice Group. He has particular expertise in international issues and alongside his UK workload he oversees the challenges of employing people in multiple jurisdictions for multinational clients.

Roger’s clients are across all sectors and range from global multinationals to SMEs. His work covers all aspects of employment law across multiple jurisdictions including in particular:

• • investigations and litigation
• • advising on compliance with legislative changes globally
• • acquisition, due diligence and harmonisation
• • union and industrial action issues
• • executive hiring and firing
• • restructuring and redundancies

Roger qualified in 1996 and joined Ogletree Deakins in May 2017 from an international firm where he had headed the Employment Team and split his time between the firm’s UK and Singapore offices. As such Roger has particular expertise dealing with labour and employment law issues in Europe and Asia.

Lia Alizia
Managing Partner, Makarim & Taira S.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lia-alizia-b0b23731/

Lia is a talented lawyer, litigator, a leading advisor to many top businesses worldwide, and also one of the country’s foremost legal practitioners, having been involved in some of the most high-profile matters over the years.

She is the Managing Partner and leads the Corporate, Commercial and Litigation and Dispute Resolutions departments of M&T. She provides expert advice and oversight in large, complex corporate negotiations, and brings over 20 years of experience in managing legal aspects of commercial, transactional and corporate governance matters.

Lia adheres to strict ethical principles when representing clients before Indonesian courts and arbitration panels. Her practice does not only focus on litigation but also aims to provide advice to clients on how to minimize potential risks related to employment (including employment litigation and occupational health and safety), anti-bribery, anti-corruption, and litigation issues. She is a sworn translator, author of a number of significant publications, and often speaks at local and overseas seminars and training programs on employment, litigation and corporate matters. She is also an Instructor Faculty at TRACE Anti-Bribery Specialist Accreditation, an Intellectual Property Rights Consultant, and the Chairman of the Inter-Agency Cooperation Board of the Indonesian Labor Law Consultants Association.

Vikram Shroff
Head, HR Laws (Employment & Labor) at Nishith Desai Associates

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikram-shroff-b46a5452/?originalSubdomain=in

Vikram is the leader of the HR Law (employment & labour) team at the research & strategy driven international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates with offices in Mumbai, Silicon Valley, Bangalore, Singapore, New Delhi, Munich and New York. 

He has been employed with the firm since over 22 years.

Vikram has been consistently ranked as India’s leading labour and employment lawyer by most of the leading international publications. 

He advises leading technology, media and financial services sector companies in drafting and negotiating employment contracts; nondisclosure agreements and assignment of intellectual property; competition and solicitation restrictions; structuring of expatriate and secondment arrangements; HR policies and employee handbooks; compensation structuring; employee stock option and share purchase plans; employee transfer and post-merger integration; employment termination, lay off & redundancy; employment litigation; and employment related immigration laws. 

His expertise is often sought after for urgent and sensitive HR matters. He also helps clients in employee fraud and anti-bribery policies and investigations. He regularly conducts training for employees, managers and committee members. 

Vikram advises Nasscom on employment law policy matters. 

Who’s Who Legal has recognized Vikram as a Though Leader for Labour & Employment for 2015-2020. Chambers & Partners has rated him as a Band 1 Employment Lawyer from 2014-2020. Asia Law has ranked him as the only Elite Practitioner for labour and employment in India for 2020. He has been the exclusively recommended lawyer in India by Employment Law Experts. Vikram is considered a ‘Subject Matter Expert’ for Industrial Relations by Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) India.

Sivabalah Nadarajah
Partner, Shearn Delamore & Co.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivabalah-nadarajah-20612997/

Sivabalah has rich experience with trade disputes, collective bargaining, contracts of service, employment issues, industrial actions, judicial reviews, law on dismissals, mergers and acquisitions, minimum wage, occupational health and safety, reorganisations and retrenchment, statutory benefits, and union recognition. He has appeared extensively in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Federal Court and the then Supreme Court, principally for judicial review applications and appeals. Sivabalah has represented employers in many landmark decisions in the fields of Employment, Administrative & Constitutional Law.

Lily Cheah
Senior Manager, Consulting HR Business Partner at PwC Malaysia

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lilycheah/

Lily is HR Business Partner for PwC South-East Asia Consulting, overseeing end-to-end people matters of this dynamic business. She is passionate about building inclusive and agile teams, and growing high trust work cultures. Lily is also part of South-East Asia Consulting’s Alternative Delivery Model project team, tasked to promote and integrate non-traditional, non-permanent workforce options. Prior to joining PwC, she worked in leadership development and education, including as editor of a weekly career development pullout in national publication The Star. Lily holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor of Arts (French) and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) (French linguistics) from the University of Auckland. She was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 2011. 

When not working, Lily enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, watching Netflix and nurturing her newfound appreciation for gardening.

Janice Anne Leo
Partner, Steven Thiru & Sudhar Partnership

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janice-anne-leo-8992911a1/

Janice Anne Leo graduated in 1997 from the University of London (LL.B. (Hons)). She completed the Certificate in Legal Practice at University Malaya in 1999 and was admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 2000. She subsequently obtained her Masters degree in Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management from the University of Sydney in August 2002.

In October 2002, Janice joined Messrs Shook Lin & Bok as a Legal Associate, specializing in employment law, and was made a Partner with effect from 1st January 2011. In May 2018, Janice joined Messrs Steven Thiru & Sudhar Partnership, a boutique dispute resolution firm, as a Partner.

She has handled numerous employment related disputes at the Industrial Court and judicial review applications at the High Court, and argued appeals at the Court of Appeal and Federal Court. Janice also handles various aspects of employment
related advisory work for both local and foreign clients. In addition to this, Janice’s other area of practice include administrative law, planning law and general litigation.

Janice also speaks on employment related matters at conferences/seminars both locally and internationally.

Janice is a member of the Malaysian Bar Council Industrial and Employment Law Committee (IELC) and has been actively involved continuing legal education seminars organized by the IELC.

Alex De Silva
Senior Partner, Bodipalar Ponnudurai De Silva

In a legal career spanning more than 25 years, Alex is known to be a tenacious advocate who never quits. His practice is varied as it is extensive. In industrial relations matters, he regularly advises and handles  employment disputes for and on behalf of the employees, employers and Trade Unions relating to dismissal, constructive dismissal, redundancy, retrenchment, collective agreements, trade disputes and union busting. He appears regularly as counsel in the higher Courts and has been involved in several landmark decisions developing Malaysian law including in the field of Industrial Law.

Gerald Louis Ambrose
Founder, Louis Ambrose & Partners

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-ambrose-17713774/

Louis Ambrose is the founder of Louis Ambrose & Partners with more than 27 years’ experience as an Advocate & Solicitor. Louis’ practice focuses mainly on civil litigation and employment law (advisory, litigious and non-litigious). Louis is also involved in corporate and commercial advisory matters, including due diligence, negotiations and drafting. He has been involved in corporate exercises including mergers, acquisitions and takeovers.

In the area of civil litigation, Louis acts as counsel in a wide variety of matters involving various areas of law and various industries in all tiers of the civil courts in Malaysia.

In employment law, Louis has vast experience in providing advisory services on a wide array of matters, including recruitment, termination, reorganisation, downsizing and cross border mergers & acquisition exercises. He also acts as counsel in employment disputes in the Industrial Court and all tiers of the Malaysian Courts.

Louis has been certified as a “Tutor Trainer Trial Advocacy” by the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn in 2011. He regularly provides training to young advocates through the Advocacy Training Committee programmes conducted by the Malaysian Bar and is a committee member of the Bar Council’s Advocacy Training Committee.

Louis also trains young advocates overseas, including Singapore, Hong Kong and South Africa. Louis is also the Designated Legal Counsel of the Austrian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

YA Tuan Anderson Ong Wai Leong
Chairman of Industrial Court of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur

YA Tuan Andersen Ong obtained his Bachelor of Law Degree from the University of London and Master of Laws Degree from the University of Malaya.

YA Tuan Andersen Ong was appointed as Chairman of the Industrial Court of Malaysia in 2016 and has been serving the Industrial Court for approximately five (5) years. He is currently the Chairman of Court 11 in Kuala Lumpur.

Prior to YA Tuan Andersen Ong’s appointment as Chairman of the Industrial Court, he was actively practicing law as an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, mainly in the area of civil litigations. He was attached to Messrs Skrine as a legal assistant before he founded his own legal firm, Messrs. Andersen & Partners in 2002.

YA Tuan Andersen Ong was also the Chairman of the Advocates and Solicitors Disciplinary Committees for many years when he was an advocate and solicitor.

In 2015, YA Tuan Andersen Ong was appointed as President of the Strata Management Tribunal. He had presided over many cases on housing and strata management disputes before his appointment to the Industrial Court.

YA Tuan Andersen Ong has conducted many seminars and talks on industrial relations matters at various forums both locally and abroad including presenting a paper entitled “Legal Reception of the Gig Economy” at The 4th International Cooperative Symposium On The Development of Labour Law in ASEAN, held in Thailand.

Professor Low Chee Keong
Associate Professor in Corporate Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School

Professor Chee Keong Low (CK) is an Associate Professor in Corporate Law at The Chinese University of Hong Kong Business School with research interests in issues pertaining to corporate governance and the regulatory framework of capital markets. His research, which has published in journals in Australasia, Europe and the United States of America, is supported by private sector grants from the Sino Group in Hong Kong. 

Admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, CK is currently a member of the Standing Committee on Company Law Reform in Hong Kong and the Disciplinary Panel ‘A’ of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He was previously a member of the Listing Committee of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong from May 2006 to July 2010; the Financial Reporting Review Panel from July 2007 to July 2013; the Securities and Futures Appeals Tribunal from April 2011 to March 2017; the Process Review Panel of the Financial Reporting Council for six years through 31 December 2020; and served as a Director of the Asian Institute of Finance in Malaysia for three years through April 2012.

CK is a Council member of the Hong Kong Corporate Governance Institute and a selection of his papers is available at http://www.ssrn.com/author=332882. 

Kenneth Goh
Head, Risk & Compliance, Dentons Rodyk & Davidson LLP

Kenneth Goh, an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, was admitted to the Bar in 1992. He has many years of experience as a practising lawyer and in regulatory compliance. He practised in Kuala Lumpur in the area of civil and criminal litigation. Subsequently, he worked with the Bar Council of Malaysia, before moving to Singapore in 2008. In Singapore, he joined the Law Society of Singapore as Director of Compliance. In 2018, he joined Dentons Rodyk & Davidson LLP, one of the largest law firms in Singapore, where he is now the Head of Risk & Compliance.

Bernard Banks
Consultant, Gibson Sheat Lawyers
Chair of LAWASIA’s Employment Law Committee

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernard-banks-2262a026/

Bernard is a part time Consultant at Gibson Sheat Lawyers, in Wellington, New Zealand and a former Partner at Kiely Thompson Caisley in Wellington. Earlier he was Office Solicitor for the Department of Labour Head Office and a Crown Counsel at the Crown Law Office. Employment law, public law and immigration law are his particular areas of interest. 

Bernard has consulted on issues of employment law and labour market regulation in the region, including project roles for international organisations in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Myanmar. 

He has travelled regularly to Malaysia and looks forward keenly to the opportunity to resume these activities when that again becomes possible. He greatly enjoys his professional relationships with employment law colleagues in Malaysia. 

Bernard is Chair of LAWASIA’s Employment Law Committee and a Vice Chair of LAWASIA’s Constitutional and Rule of Law Committee. 

Bernard is a former Executive Committee member of the ASEAN New Zealand Business Council and serves as the Council’s Laos Chapter Chair. 

He is a co-author of Mazengarb’s Employment Law text book and a joint editor of the Employment Law Bulletin. He has spoken at numerous international conferences.

Saurabh Prakash
Chamber Number 29, Lawyers’ Chambers

Saurabh is a fourth-generation lawyer who specializes in labour and service (employment) laws, but his practice encompasses a wide array of litigation, arbitration, and advisory matters (including software development, maintenance, escrow, services contracts). In his career of over 3 decades, he has done considerable trial court work but now focuses on appellate side work and appears mainly before the Supreme Court and High Courts as well several Tribunals. He was appointed by the Delhi High Court as amicus to assist in advising the government in the development of procedures for the implementation of judgments of Labour and Industrial courts. His understanding of engineering helps him in understanding and communicating complex technical matters. Thus, he has been engaged both as a lawyer, and as an arbitrator, in complex disputes involving engineering contracts. 

He has a B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering from I.I.T. Kanpur (which is one of the premier engineering institutes of India). He then worked for 2 years as a software engineer with Tata Burroughs Ltd. (which later merged with Tata Consultancy Services) and during that period he was sent on projects to the World Bank in Washington D.C. (1982-83) and to Yale Corporation, NJ (1984). Thereafter he completed his LL.B. from Delhi University (1984-87) and then joined the bar. 

John Dong

Senior Partner, Baohua Law Firm
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/%E8%91%A3%E6%B6%A6%E9%9D%92-john-dong-8b613597/ 

John Dong, senior partner of Baohua Law Firm, China and NY (USA) admitted lawyer, has for long engaged in labor law, employment law, arbitrations/litigations and relevant consultation services.

[Experienced Lawyer]

John Dong has provided customized advises for large-sized multinational enterprises, foreign enterprises, state-owned enterprises and private enterprises on employment law issues for years, and also performed well in conciliations, arbitrations and litigations of labor disputes on behalf of the client, wining the appreciation from clients and peers.

[International Lawyer]

John Dong is familiar with labor-related laws and regulations as well as government policies for non-Chinese employment, helping clients in dealing with emergencies and crisis. John Dong is also an expert in international commercial arbitrations concerning Chinese labor law, has acted as the consultant of Chinese labor law in multiple important international commercial arbitrations.

[Forward Thinker]

John Dong is sensitive to the legislation and developing tendency of labor law as well as capable of helping clients to take effective measures. In recent years, John Dong has provided outstanding legal service to clients when facing new problems involving flexible employment, electronic signature, human resource outsourcing, labor dispatching, transformation of corporate nature, etc.

Tuan Eddie Yeo
Former President of Industrial Court of Malaysia

YA Tuan Eddie Yeo Soon Chye was appointed as the President of the Industrial Court effective September 2017 until August 2020. He was also appointed as the Chairman of the Social Security Appellate Board for the year 2021/2022. Earlier, he was appointed as Chairman of the Industrial Court from April 2009 until October 2015.

He graduated from University of Malaya with LLB (Bachelor of Laws) (Honours). He was admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 1993.

He commenced his legal career in the Judicial and Legal Service as Federal Counsel with the Civil Division, Attorney-General’s Chambers. Thereafter he held the post of State Deputy Public Prosecutor in Penang, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Perlis. Eddie has also served in the Appeals Unit, Prosecution Division handling criminal appeals at the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court.

Eddie has also served in the Judicial and Legal Training Institute (ILKAP), Prime Minister’s Department as Director of Prosecution, Consumer Claims Tribunal as Deputy Chairman and was appointed as the Chairman of the Customs Appeal Tribunal in the Ministry of Finance.

Eddie has served in the Judiciary as a Sessions Court Judge, Johor Bahru, Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court and Deputy Registrar High Court, Kuala Lumpur.

Dato’ Thavalingam C. Thavarajah
Managing Partner, T. Thavalingam & Co.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thavalingam-thavarajah-6518675a/

Dato’ Thavalingam C. Thavarajah was called to the Malaysian Bar in 1990, prior to which, he was admitted as a Barrister-at-law at Gray’s Inn. He practiced in three of the largest legal firms in Malaysia, namely Shearn Delamore & Co., Zaid Ibrahim & Co. and Messrs. Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill. 

Dato’ Thavalingam has authored, co-authored and contributed to numerous publications, inter alia, ‘Employment Termination Law & Practice Malaysia’, ‘A Practical Guide’, ‘Employment & Industrial Relations Law Malaysia’, ‘Retrenchment Law and Procedure in Malaysia’, ‘Constructive Dismissal — Commentaries and Cases’, ‘Employment Law Asia (Malaysian Chapter)’ as well as the volume on the Employment Act 1955, Industrial Relations Act 1967 and the Trade Unions Act 1959 in the Annotated Statutes of Malaysia series. 

He has been consistently recognised and ranked as a leading practitioner by Benchmark Litigation, Euromoney, The Legal 500, Chambers and Asialaw. In 2010 and 2011, Dato’ Thavalingam was honoured by ILO through the ILO Client Choice Awards in London, and by the In-House Community in 2017 during its awards ceremony in Hong Kong. 

Dato’ Thavalingam has also been involved in the restructuring of government-linked companies and acted as senior counsel in a number of high-profile employment disputes which have been reported in the media. He was also appointed by the Malaysian Government as a member of the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) during his tenure as MEF Honorary Secretary.

Datuk Hj Shamsuddin Bardan
Executive Director, Malaysian Employers Federation

Datuk Hj Shamsuddin Bardan heads the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) Secretariat with a team consisting of 30 professional staff and 20 support staff. As the Executive Director of MEF, Datuk Hj Shamsuddin is entrusted with the full responsibilities of administrating the organization. Members of MEF employ more than 2.9 million employees. 

As MEF is the apex private sector employers’ organization in Malaysia with more than 6,200 ordinary members and 28 association members, Datuk Hj Shamsuddin in his capacity as the MEF Executive Director recommends policies to be pursued by MEF to the Government in ensuring that the private sector in Malaysia operates in a more business friendly environment so as to ensure the private sector employers remain competitive. 

The efficient and effective work of Datuk Hj. Shamsuddin in managing MEF is internationally and regionally recognized. He was appointed as the Secretary-General of Confederation of Asia Pacific Employers (CAPE) and Secretary-General of ASEAN Confederation of Employers (ACE) (2013 – 2015).

Selvamalar Alagaratnam
Partner, Skrine

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/selvamalar-alagaratnam-36890a1a/

Selvamalar is co-head of the firm's Employment practice. She provides integrated support to a wide range of clients in various industries on all employment/human resource related matters including compliance with all laws applicable to employment relationships; managing the exit o employees whether by way of collective reduction in force exercises or individual terminations for misconduct or poor performance; protection of confidential and proprietary information; investigations and disciplinary actions; trade unions, both recognition and collective bargaining; dispute resolution at all levels and business immigration.

She also provides strategic advice in internal fraud management advising clients in high profile and highly sensitive matters involving fraud perpetrated by employees; and the options available to the organisations to obtain redress against the wrongdoers. Her practice extends to focused compliance on bribery and corruption as well as acting for medical practitioners in negligence and malpractice suits.

Gregory Das
Partner, Steven Thiru & Sudhar Partnership

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregory-das-313955189/

Gregory Das is a Partner at Messrs Steven Thiru & Sudhar Partnership. His practice has a particular emphasis on public and administrative law, employment law and general litigation.

Gregory is the author of “The Law and Practice of Judicial Review in Malaysia”, which is the first practitioner’s text exclusively on the law of judicial review in this jurisdiction. Gregory is also a former Vice – President of the Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators.

Gregory read law at the University of Bristol and graduated with an LL.B. (Hons) degree in 2010. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Inner Temple in 2011. He was thereafter called to the Malaysian Bar in 2012.

YA Puan Sumathi A/P Murugian
Chairman of Industrial Court of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur

YA Puan Sumathi Murugiah was appointed as Chairman of the Industrial Court since March 2017. She served at the Industrial Court, Johor Bahru branch for four years. She is now serving at the Industrial Court, Kuala Lumpur branch since February 2021. Prior to her appointment, YA Puan Sumathi Murugiah was a Partner at Messrs Zarina G.T. Vanan & Associates. She was called to the Bar as an Advocate and Solicitor in the year 1999 and had subsequently completed her Masters in Law at University Malaya in the year 2010.

YA Puan Sumathi Murugiah received her accreditation as a Mediator since 2006 and was trained as a trainer under the Malaysian Mediation Centre, Bar Council since 2008 by the Accord Group, Australia. She was one of the first 24 trainers trained by the Accord Group, Australia to conduct Mediation Skills Training in Malaysia. She was also a member of the Panel of Mediators at the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration, Malaysia (KLRCA) (currently known as Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC)).

Apart from her practice, YA Puan Sumathi Murugiah had also lectured the subject of Legal Skills at Kolej Damansara Utama (KDU) Kuala Lumpur. Whilst in practice, she had also served as a President at the Tribunal for Home Buyers under the Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government from 2013 till 2017.

During her years of practice, YA Puan Sumathi Murugiah had served the Bar Council and the Selangor Bar Committee in several sub-committees holding various positions including the position of the Honorary Secretary of the Selangor Bar Committee for 4 years. Through her services with the Bar, she had given many talks relating to Conveyancing Practice and Loan Documentation.

In the year 2018, YA Puan Sumathi Murugiah had represented Malaysia in her capacity as a Chairman of the Industrial Court at the 5th International Cooperative Symposium on the Development of Labour Law in ASEAN at Hua Hin, Petchuburi, Thailand which was organised by the Central Labour Court of Thailand and had delivered a paper in relation to Malaysia on the topic, “ASEAN + 1 & The Ageing Society: Incorporation & Protection of Older Employees”.

Lindy Richardson
Partner, Maddocks

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindyrichardson/

Lindy has over 20 years' experience in advising on employment law. Lindy has significant experience in all employment-related litigation. She advises clients from the not-for-profit sector, private sector and from all levels of government. She has been at the forefront of Maddocks employment advice on COVID-19, organising sector specific forums involving a range of stakeholders.

Lindy also currently holds a number of management roles at Maddocks including National Practice Group Head of the Employment and Dispute teams, the Firm’s Innovation Partner and she is one of the Maddocks’ Graduate Recruitment Partners.

Roger James
Partner, Ogletree Deakins International LLP

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rbjames/

Roger James is a London based partner of niche employment law firm Ogletree Deakins’ Cross-Border Practice Group. He has particular expertise in international issues and alongside his UK workload he oversees the challenges of employing people in multiple jurisdictions for multinational clients.

Roger’s clients are across all sectors and range from global multinationals to SMEs. His work covers all aspects of employment law across multiple jurisdictions including in particular:

• • investigations and litigation
• • advising on compliance with legislative changes globally
• • acquisition, due diligence and harmonisation
• • union and industrial action issues
• • executive hiring and firing
• • restructuring and redundancies

Roger qualified in 1996 and joined Ogletree Deakins in May 2017 from an international firm where he had headed the Employment Team and split his time between the firm’s UK and Singapore offices. As such Roger has particular expertise dealing with labour and employment law issues in Europe and Asia.

Lia Alizia
Managing Partner, Makarim & Taira S.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lia-alizia-b0b23731/

Lia is a talented lawyer, litigator, a leading advisor to many top businesses worldwide, and also one of the country’s foremost legal practitioners, having been involved in some of the most high-profile matters over the years.

She is the Managing Partner and leads the Corporate, Commercial and Litigation and Dispute Resolutions departments of M&T. She provides expert advice and oversight in large, complex corporate negotiations, and brings over 20 years of experience in managing legal aspects of commercial, transactional and corporate governance matters.

Lia adheres to strict ethical principles when representing clients before Indonesian courts and arbitration panels. Her practice does not only focus on litigation but also aims to provide advice to clients on how to minimize potential risks related to employment (including employment litigation and occupational health and safety), anti-bribery, anti-corruption, and litigation issues. She is a sworn translator, author of a number of significant publications, and often speaks at local and overseas seminars and training programs on employment, litigation and corporate matters. She is also an Instructor Faculty at TRACE Anti-Bribery Specialist Accreditation, an Intellectual Property Rights Consultant, and the Chairman of the Inter-Agency Cooperation Board of the Indonesian Labor Law Consultants Association.

Vikram Shroff
Head, HR Laws (Employment & Labor) at Nishith Desai Associates

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikram-shroff-b46a5452/?originalSubdomain=in

Vikram is the leader of the HR Law (employment & labour) team at the research & strategy driven international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates with offices in Mumbai, Silicon Valley, Bangalore, Singapore, New Delhi, Munich and New York. 

He has been employed with the firm since over 22 years.

Vikram has been consistently ranked as India’s leading labour and employment lawyer by most of the leading international publications. 

He advises leading technology, media and financial services sector companies in drafting and negotiating employment contracts; nondisclosure agreements and assignment of intellectual property; competition and solicitation restrictions; structuring of expatriate and secondment arrangements; HR policies and employee handbooks; compensation structuring; employee stock option and share purchase plans; employee transfer and post-merger integration; employment termination, lay off & redundancy; employment litigation; and employment related immigration laws. 

His expertise is often sought after for urgent and sensitive HR matters. He also helps clients in employee fraud and anti-bribery policies and investigations. He regularly conducts training for employees, managers and committee members. 

Vikram advises Nasscom on employment law policy matters. 

Who’s Who Legal has recognized Vikram as a Though Leader for Labour & Employment for 2015-2020. Chambers & Partners has rated him as a Band 1 Employment Lawyer from 2014-2020. Asia Law has ranked him as the only Elite Practitioner for labour and employment in India for 2020. He has been the exclusively recommended lawyer in India by Employment Law Experts. Vikram is considered a ‘Subject Matter Expert’ for Industrial Relations by Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) India.