This year marks the ninth edition of the Herbert Smith Freehills – SMU Asian Arbitration Lecture Series. We are delighted that The Honourable Justice Judith Prakash will deliver the lecture on Wednesday 2 October, on the topic “The Court’s role in arbitral proceedings: regulator or promoter?” The Herbert Smith Freehills-SMU Asian Arbitration Lecture Series was … Read more

In Calibre M&E Sdn Bhd v PT Cooline HVAC Engineering (Originating Summons Nos. WA-24C(ARB)-47-09/2017 and WA-24C(ARB)-49-10/2017), the Malaysian High Court  considered an application to set aside an arbitral award on the basis that the recognition by the tribunal of the allegedly illegal underlying contract was in conflict with the public policy of Malaysia.  Section 37 … Read more

The Central Bank of Malaysia Act 2009 (“Act“) designated Malaysia’s Shariah Advisory Committee on Islamic finance (“SAC“) as the authority for ascertaining Islamic law for the purposes of Islamic financial business. According to Section 2 of the Act, “Islamic financial business” encompasses “any financial business in ringgit or other currency which is subject to the … Read more

In the first half of 2019, Malaysia’s Court of Appeal considered no less than four appeals relating to applications to restrain the calling of performance bonds in the construction sector. These applications were made in support of arbitration under Section 11(1)(f) and (h) of the Malaysian Arbitration Act 2005 (“Act”) (prior to its amendments in … Read more

Earlier this year, it was reported that the Malaysian Federal Court on 29 January 2018 decided an application to stay statutory foreclosure proceedings pursuant to a registered security granted over a parcel of land on the basis that the underlying dispute is subject to arbitration in Singapore.  The Federal Court made a ruling with potentially … Read more

In BVU v BVX [2019] SGHC 69 the High Court of Singapore refused to set-aside an arbitral award on the basis that BVX, the successful party in the arbitration, did not call certain witnesses to give evidence and disclose certain internal documents.  BVU’s attempt to secure these documents by way of subpoena in the context … Read more

In the recent landmark decision of Marty Ltd v Hualon Corp (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd [2018] SGCA 63, the Singapore Court of Appeal held that the commencement of court proceedings notwithstanding the existence of a binding arbitration agreement and without any explanation or qualification is in and of itself sufficient to constitute a prima facie repudiation … Read more

At the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Malaysia Branch) International Arbitration Conference 2018, Peter Godwin, the Managing Partner of Herbert Smith Freehills’ Kuala Lumpur office gave a keynote address. The topic of the address was “Evolving Asia, New Frontiers in Dispute Resolution”. The text of Peter’s keynote is set out below. Read more