59 LAWYER MONTHLY ADR AWARDS 2023 Commercial Litigation Lawyer of the Year About Monica Monica Chong Wan Yee is a Partner in the Commercial & Corporate Disputes Practice at WongPartnership LLP, one of the largest and most-recognised law firms in Singapore. She has an active court and international arbitration (both commercial and investment) practice, with a focus on complex, high-value and cross-border disputes across various sectors. On the arbitration front, Monica routinely acts in proceedings conducted under a variety of arbitral rules, including SIAC, ICC, UNCITRAL and ICSID. Amongst her portfolio of matters, Monica is currently lead counsel in a $250 million joint venture dispute between Canadian and Korean parties (conducted under ICC arbitration rules) and recently achieved success for Hong Kong claimants in three parallel arbitrations concerning a HKD 80 million dispute conducted under SIAC and UNCITRAL rules. Monica also sits as arbitrator. On the court litigation front, Monica is currently leading a High Court action involving a luxury watch investment fraud spawning at least three actions in Singapore (two of which Monica is acting in – one with success to the client, and the other ongoing). A key focus area is arbitration-related court reliefs. To that end, Monica was part of the team that has achieved various rare setting-aside outcomes in Singapore (including the setting-aside of a $80 million portion of an SIAC award in 2015 and the setting-aside of a $525 million portion of two ICC awards in 2021) and is currently leading various enforcement efforts before the Singapore Courts. Monica was one of five Singapore lawyers to make the 2020 Asian Legal Business 40-under-40 list, and is recognised as a National Leader in Who’s Who Legal (Southeast Asia) – Commercial Litigation 2022 guide and Dispute Resolution Rising Star in asialaw’s 2023 guide. Lawyer Monthly had the pleasure to speak with Monica for a short interview: What motivates you? I enjoy strategising and the rush from getting good outcomes for my clients. In your opinion what are the three most important traits for a disputes lawyer? Creativity, Commerciality, Courage. What do you think is the biggest challenge young lawyers face today? A lack of airtime in the courtroom which is essential for the development of oral advocacy skills. To that end, I chaired the Singapore Academy of Law’s Working Group which helped to develop the Guide on the Development of Junior Civil Commercial Litigators in Oral Advocacy to address this issue. In the May 2022 Foreword to the Guide, the Chief Justice noted that “the availability and quality of advocacy opportunities can vary widely across different firms and areas of practice” and “The Guide helps to level the field by providing a set of quantitative and qualitative markers against which junior lawyers at varying levels of seniority may benchmark their progress. This will not only help aspiring advocates to better gauge their own progression and professional development, but also encourage law practices to ensure that the opportunities they offer are in keeping with industry best practice”. SINGAPORE Monica Chong Wan Yee Partner WongPartnership LLP
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