Saturday 30 April 2011

KhattarWong lawyers split to start new firm

Heavyweight law firm KhattarWong is set to lose its high-profile criminal lawyer Subhas Anandan and three of its top partners when they move to a new firm next month.

2 comments:

Guanyu said...

KhattarWong lawyers split to start new firm

Subhas Anandan and 3 top partners among 26 who are leaving

By K.C. Vijayan
30 April 2011

Heavyweight law firm KhattarWong is set to lose its high-profile criminal lawyer Subhas Anandan and three of its top partners when they move to a new firm next month.

Called RHT Law LLP, it was registered on Thursday. It is expected to occupy two floors in 6 Battery Road and will operate from late next month.

The letters RHT represent the initials of the three top guns who are leaving - Mr. Rajan Menon, 63, Mr. Hee Theng Fong, in his late 50s, and Mr. Tan Chong Huat, 47.

The exact number joining the new firm from KhattarWong will not be clear until next month.

Mr. Anandan, 63, said yesterday that the new firm offered him a better deal. He will be made a senior partner and head of the litigation department.

‘I am in the sunset years but unlike some who believe in fading away, I believe in leaving with a blast,’ said the veteran criminal lawyer and president of the Association of Criminal Lawyers. He joined KhattarWong in 2007 as a consultant.

KhattarWong said in a press statement last night that 26 lawyers, including seven equity partners, are leaving.

It made clear the moves are not expected to dilute the core strengths of one of Singapore’s premier law firms, which counts Senior Counsel Deborah Barker, retired Court of Appeal judge Thean Lip Ping and former judicial commissioner Amarjeet Singh among its top guns.

‘After the departures, the firm will comprise more than 100 lawyers and fee earners and will continue to recruit,’ it said.

The departures are understood to have been triggered by differences over the direction the firm should take and which put the litigation wing at variance with the corporate wing.

The full-service firm provides services in litigation, arbitration and corporate law, among others. It has also had continuing overseas operations since the 1990s.

Talks to mend the rift apparently failed and the partners are working towards a smooth transfer.

‘At the annual partners’ conference earlier this year, the firm did not appoint a managing partner and the proposal for a lawyer brought in by (former managing partner) Tan Chong Huat to be admitted as an equity partner was also not carried,’ said KhattarWong.

The management of the firm has now been entrusted to an elected executive board.

‘The firm has been built on the strength of the collective contributions of the partners, lawyers and staff, through many years of dedicated service,’ said Mr. Gurbachan Singh, a senior partner in the firm.

‘Departures of lawyers are part and parcel of the practice of law but KhattarWong will remain and continue to grow,’ he added.

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