OUR PEOPLE . PROF LESLIE CHEW

Our People

Prof Leslie Chew, SC

Consultant
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Graduated from the law school of the University of Singapore
(the predecessor of the present National University of Singapore)
Admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore in 1981
Admitted as a Solicitor of England & Wales

About Prof Leslie Chew

Professor Leslie Chew, SC is a Consultant at Peter Low Chambers. With a prolific career spanning some 45 years of legal experience, Professor Chew has spent seven years in the judiciary as a Senior District Judge and has the distinction of being appointed Senior Counsel by the Supreme Court – Singapore’s equivalent of the Queen’s Counsel in England – in 2000.

Professor Chew’s main practice area is at the Commercial Bar and he has occasionally represented clients in commercial crime or white collar cases. He has also acted as counsel for major banks in Singapore and a number of private banks as well as acting in medical cases on behalf of the restructured hospitals and private hospitals.

Having graduated from the law school of the University of Singapore, Professor Chew was admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore in 1981.

Professor Chew is an accomplished commercial arbitrator and has practised as an arbitrator and arbitration counsel since 1993. He has also been active in the area of Insolvency where he has acted as counsel for both financial institutions and liquidators. He has also actively advised HNWI in estate planning and family business disputes. He is also an esteemed author with several published titles.

 Career Highlights

• • Appointed Senior Counsel by the Supreme Court in 2000
  • In 2007, he was appointed a District Judge and subsequently held office as a Senior District Judge heading the Civil Justice Division of the State Courts (then the Subordinate Courts) where he led 23 Judges and took charge of the civil cases
  • Was also a key member of the Senior Management of the Subordinate Courts (now known as the State Courts) when the organization was awarded the prestigious Singapore Quality Award (Special Commendation), the highest Business Excellence award in Singapore
  • He is also admitted as a Solicitor of England & Wales

 Awards and Accolades

• • Awarded the Public Service Medal by the President of the Republic of Singapore for his contributions to the Military Court of Appeal in 2002.

 Professional Work

• • Founding and current Dean of Singapore’s third law school, the School of Law at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (formerly known as SIM University) and has regularly taught professional arbitration courses organised by the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators and the NUS Faculty of Law (the Graduate Certificate in International Arbitration) as well as lecturing at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
  • Sat as presiding arbitrator and co-arbitrator in SIAC, ICC and UNCITRAL arbitrations in various jurisdictions including India, Nepal and South Korea. He was a former president of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
  • Former Visiting professor at the Ateneo de Manila Law School, Philippines where he taught international arbitration.

Memberships

• • Vice President, Singapore Academy of Law
  • Director, MY World Preschool Ltd
  • Director, Metropolitan YMCA
  • Board Member, Singapore Institute of Legal Education
  • Fellow, Singapore Institute of Arbitrators
  • Fellow, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
  • Member, Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration
  • Chairman, Appeals Panel, Personal Data Protection Commission, MCCY
  • Chairman, Disciplinary Tribunal, Singapore Medical Council
  • Referee, Industrial Arbitration Court
  • President, Asia Pacific Institute of Experts
  • Honorary Legal Adviser, St. John Ambulance

Thought Leadership

An accomplished author with multiple titles to his name such as:

• • Wong, Lok & Coomaraswamy, Gen Ed, Modern Advocacy, Perspectives from Singapore, Academy Publishing (2008)
  • Leslie Chew, Introduction to the Law and Practice of Arbitration in Singapore, Lexis Nexis (2010)
  • Daniel Koh, Gen Ed, Law and Practice of Injunctions, Interim Measures and Search Orders in Singapore, June 2017, Sweet & Maxwell
  • Leong Thin Yin, Ed, Commemorative Book, Sep 2017, Singapore University of Social Sciences (Training future lawyers: The Multi-disciplinary and Applied Skills Approach)
  • Contributor, Singapore Civil Procedure, Sweet & Maxwell (2020)
  • Contributor, Law and Technology in Singapore, Editors Chesterman, Goh and Phang, Academy Publishing (October 2021) (to be revised in 2024)