Jean is a Director of LVM Law Chambers LLC. She has an active practice in complex civil litigation. Her clients include foreign state-owned and foreign-linked entities engaged in multi-million competing claims and cross-border disputes. Jean is also one of the few civil litigators who is equally versatile in criminal litigation. She specialises in white-collar crimes and investigations, and regularly represents private clients in complex financial crimes and regulatory matters.
Before joining the firm, Jean served as an Assistant Registrar of the Supreme Court of Singapore while holding a concurrent role as District Judge for more than nine years. She presided over interlocutory applications and matters involving complex commercial and civil disputes. These disputes include building and construction, banking and financial, shareholder and company, professional liability, insurance litigation and medical negligence matters. Having dealt with pre-trial and case management conferences during her career as an Assistant Registrar, Jean brings a wealth of experience about the courts and judicial case management system in Singapore.
Jean has partnered key industry stakeholders and financial regulators to bring about legal reforms for the insurance and legal industries during her time as an Assistant Registrar. She was a member of the Joint Secretariat of the Personal Injury (Claims Assessment) Review Committee, which is the multi-disciplinary committee which developed the first-ever Actuarial Tables (with Explanatory Notes) for Use in Personal Injury and Death Claims (SAL Academy Publishing 2021) based on data and statistics specific to the Singapore context. The reform has brought about greater certainty and precision in the assessment of damages for personal injury and death claims. She also engaged and collaborated with ministries, statutory boards, public agencies and the legal industry on various legislative projects pertaining to civil and criminal procedural laws in her capacity as an Assistant Registrar.
Prior to becoming an Assistant Registrar, Jean was also a former Deputy Public Prosecutor (“DPP”) with the Attorney General’s Chambers. She had prosecuted diverse cases at different levels of courts in Singapore, including the High Court as a lead prosecutor. She spent most of her stint as a DPP specializing in white-collar crimes ranging from corruption, complex corporate fraud to market misconduct and regulatory breaches. In this role, she worked with and advised the Commercial Affairs Division and the Corruption Practices Investigation Bureau on the investigation and prosecution of complex commercial crimes.
Given her deep and wide-ranging experience in the Courts and public sector, Jean is well-positioned to provide clients with a unique perspective and valuable insight on effective dispute resolution practices for civil, criminal and regulatory matters. Jean has been described as being “a safe pair of hands who helps you navigate the intricacies and nuances of complex criminal investigations and proceedings” and “very quick on the uptake in a completely new discipline and areas that are not familiar to her, while being able to competently deal with specialists, business and industry stakeholders, and public agencies across different sectors.”
Jean is a contributing editor of the Singapore Civil Procedure (“White Book”), which is the leading civil procedure law text in Singapore. She is a Trainer for the Advocacy Course jointly conducted by the Singapore Institute of Legal Education and the Law Society of Singapore for Part B of the Singapore Bar Examinations. She was also a Facilitator for the Civil Litigation Practice Session. During her stint in the Judiciary, she served as a Member of the Inquiry Panel, Law Society of Singapore. She also represented the Supreme Court of Singapore as a speaker for the Southeast Asia Judicial Workshop on Cybercrime, jointly organised by the US Department of Justice and the Supreme Court of Thailand.
Jean graduated from the National University of Singapore and was called to the Singapore Bar in 2004.
Case Highlights
- Representing a foreign state-owned entity against major financial institutions in competing claims arising out of the fall-out from the collapse of Hin Leong (Pte) Ltd and Ocean Tankers (Pte) Ltd.
- Representing a Singapore entity linked to an established American jewellery retailer against one of India’s largest manufacturer and supplier of diamonds and jewellery in a multi-million cross claim.
- Acting for a Big Four firm against a prominent wealthy family suing for an alleged breach of client confidentiality.
- Acting for members of Board of Directors of mainboard-listed company in Singapore against investigation for potential offence under the Securities and Futures Act.
- Advising a C-suite executive of entity linked to main-board listed company for potential offences under Part 12 of the Securities and Futures Act.
- Advising former C-suite executive of Singapore entity linked to Chinese multi-million dollar company for potential cybercrime offences.
- Advising established public institution in Singapore on CPF and employment related matters.
- Advising senior executive of an American multinational search engine company on issues relating to workplace bullying, discrimination and retaliatory actions.
- Representing professional engineers in a high-profile matter arising out of environmental and conservation regulations.
- Presided over a case which provides a legal framework on how loss of future earnings and future medical expenses can be calculated for a minor (AOD, a minor suing by the litigation representative v AOE [2014] SGHCR 21).
- Presided over a case involving the setting aside of a multi-million-dollar default judgment arising from an aircraft trading and leasing contract (Singapore Airlines Ltd v CDSD Aircraft Sales & Leasing Inc [2019] SGHCR 8).
- Presided over a case involving summary judgment and striking out applications arising out of multi-million-dollar convertible bonds subscription agreements (CIFG Special Assets Capital I Ltd (formerly known as Diamond Kendall Limited) v Polimet Pte Ltd and others [2014] SGHCR 8).
- Prosecuted a case of two former Singapore Land Authority officers found guilty of $12 million public sector fraud (PP v Koh Seah Wee and another [2012] 1 SLR 292).
- Prosecuted a case of falsification of accounts and misappropriation of funds involving the founder of the charity, Ren Ci Hospital, and his associate (PP v Goh Kah Heng alias Shi Min Yi and another [2009] SGDC 500).
Appointments
- Member, Singapore Institute of Directors
- Mentor, NUSS – NUS Mentorship Programme
- Trainer, Advocacy Course, Part B of the Singapore Bar Examinations (2014 – Present)
- Facilitator, Civil Litigation Practice Session, Part B of the Singapore Bar Examinations (2014 – 2021)
- Member, Inquiry Panel, Law Society of Singapore (2015 – 2021)
- Member, Law Society of Singapore
- Member, Singapore Academy of Law
Publications
Contributing editor, Singapore Civil Procedure (2019 – Present)