COLEMAN STREET CHAMBERS - Key Persons
David has experience in a wide range of domestic and international financings. His banking, finance and capital markets practice includes acting for arrangers, lenders, financial institutions and borrowers on a wide variety of domestic and cross border syndicated lending, aircraft finance, structured finance, property finance, acquisition finance, Islamic finance and debt restructurings.
David is dual qualified in Singapore and Malaysia. David is consistently named as a leading banking and finance lawyer in The Asia-Pacific IFLR 1000.
David is in active legal practice in Malaysia and is a senior consultant with Coleman Street Chambers LLC.
David is a recipient of the British Chevening Scholarship and the Tenaga Nasional Scholarship.
Job Titles:
- Director / Education, Bar Admittance and Experience
Mr Liem has substantial experience in various aspects of corporate / commercial matters. He has negotiated and structured a variety of transactions (including joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions and divestments) in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bangkok, Macau, Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Chennai.
He also has acted for and advised corporate and individual clients in various aspects of legal practice, including corporate/commercial matters, transactions and disputes, matters in the Supreme Court and the State Courts, Public-Private Partnership matters, employment matters, advertising matters, intellectual property rights portfolio management and enforcement, regulatory matters, and corporate secretarial matters. Mr Liem has acted in a number of cases, several of which have been reported.
Mr Liem read law at the National University of Singapore, graduating in 2004 with an LLB (Honours) (Second Class Upper Division). While in his final year in university, Mr Liem was a member of the National University of Singapore Moot Team which finished runners-up in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (the world's largest moot court competition, with thousands of participants from over 500 law schools in more than 80 countries).
After graduating, Mr Liem undertook his pupillage at Wong & Leow LLC (affiliated with Baker & McKenzie) and was admitted to private practice as an Advocate and Solicitor of Singapore in 2005. He was also admitted as a Solicitor of the Rolls of England & Wales in 2008. During his time in Wong & Leow LLC (from 2004 to 2007), Mr Liem worked on a wide variety of matters, spanning the broad spectrum of legal services (as he had worked in the Dispute Resolution / Intellectual Property Practice Group, as well as the Corporate / Commercial Practice Group).
Between 2007 and 2011, Mr Liem served as Legal Counsel of Certis CISCO Security Pte Ltd (a Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd subsidiary), one of Asia's leading providers of security services and products. He also oversaw all legal matters for a subsidiary specialising in information technology security products and services. While at Certis CISCO Security Pte Ltd, he served as Company Secretary for a number of its subsidiaries and affiliates.
In October 2011, Mr Liem and Mr Daniel Chia set up Coleman Street Chambers LLC. Mr Liem focused on corporate/commercial matters and transactions, while also handling civil litigation and other matters. At the time, Mr Liem also served as Company Secretary and Director for a number of Small and Medium Enterprises.
From March 2016 to August 2019, Mr Liem served as Deputy Director / Senior Legal Counsel of Sport Singapore (formerly known as the Singapore Sports Council), a government statutory board of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth.
In September 2019, Mr Liem re-joined Coleman Street Chambers LLC.
Qibin graduated from National University of Singapore with a LL.B. (Honours) and was admitted to the Singapore Bar in 2020. He is competent in English and Mandarin, both written and spoken.
Mr Daniel Chia read law at the National University of Singapore on a Singapore Government Public Service Commission Scholarship, graduating in 1997 with a LL.B (Honours) (Second Class Upper Division).
He was appointed State Counsel and Deputy Public Prosecutor at the Attorney-General's Chambers from 1998 to 2000. In this capacity, Mr Chia directed enforcement agencies (including the Police, Commercial Affairs Department, Corrupt Practices Investigations Bureau and Central Narcotics Bureau) in all aspects of investigation and prosecution. Mr Chia was also involved in and conducted numerous criminal trials, appeals and inquiries at the then Subordinate Courts and the Supreme Court.
From 2000, Mr Chia was admitted to private practice as an Advocate and Solicitor of Singapore. He was also admitted as Solicitor of the Rolls of England & Wales in 2003.
While in practice, Mr Chia represented numerous multi-national and regional companies, financial institutions, liquidators/receivers, organizations and businesses in the full spectrum of legal services. He has considerable cross-border and regional experience assisting clients in all aspects of legal practice, including contract, M&A, corporate/commercial, employment/redundancy, intellectual property rights portfolio management and enforcement, regional product recall and the establishment of internal compliance and fraud prevention programs within their organizations. In respect of the latter, Mr Chia developed and reviewed internal compliance programs and manuals for many clients for implementation on a regional or global basis, having regard to the unique circumstances and laws of different countries. Mr Chia has trained senior management of some of the world's largest companies in in-house preventative programs on corruption, fair competition, fraud prevention and crisis management.
Mr Chia has extensive experience and represented clients in all aspects of litigation, from simple breach of contract and debt recovery to complex white-collar crime litigation. Mr Chia has acted and advised a variety of significant, Fortune 500 clients and high nett worth individuals in diverse areas of litigation ranging from corporate governance, internal fraud investigations, tracing or recovery of assets, and crisis management, to legal proceedings for breach of contract, conspiracy to injure, insurance, negligence, intellectual property rights infringement, and complex employment issues including negotiation and termination of employment (including C-level officers), preservation of trade secrets, confidential information, patents, design, trademark and copyright matters. He has appeared as counsel before both the High Court and Court of Appeal.
As for corporate experience, Mr Chia has substantial experience in all aspects of M&A and corporate/commercial work (both within Singapore and in regional countries like India, Sri Lanka, China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Thailand), including corporate secretarial management, contract negotiation and drafting and conduct of M&A deals and structuring. He has negotiated, structured and drafted a variety of contracts, ranging from sale and purchase of assets and businesses, share issue or subscription, joint ventures, public private partnership, interface agreements, to distribution, SAP, franchising, distribution, outsourcing, shared services, IT procurement, employment, intellectual property licensing, vendor, customer and settlement agreements.
In October 2011, Mr Chia decided to establish his own litigation and corporate practice, Coleman Street Chambers LLC. Coleman Street Chamber LLC has since acquired a loyal and growing stable of reputable corporate and individual clients in Singapore and the region.
Ei Leen graduated from the Singapore Management University in 2018 and had completed the Part B bar examinations in 2018 with a distinction in the family law practice. She was admitted to the Singapore Bar in 2019.
Prior to joining Coleman Street Chambers, Ei Leen was trained in various practice areas of law including matrimonial and commercial litigation and had assisted in various matters including adoption, divorce, probate, employment and shareholder disputes.
During her days as a student, Ei Leen had been involved in numerous pro bono and community service projects which include being a student volunteer at various pro bono clinics and a student mentor at the Chen Su Lan Children's Home.
Ei Leen enjoys cooking and would, during her free time, whip up Asian and western dishes for her family. She is also currently learning the Korean language and is looking forward to being able to speak in Korean fluently.