Eugene Thuraisingam – One of ALB Asia’s Top Litigators 2022

Managing Partner, Eugene Thuraisingam, has been recognised by Asian Legal Business as one of Asia’s Top 15 litigators 2022

1. Asian Legal Business Asia’s Top 15 Litigators 2022

For the second year running, Asian Legal Business (“ALB”) Asia’s Top 15 Litigators 2022 recognises the leading litigators and most impactful disputes across Asia.

The 15 lawyers named in the ALB Asia’s Top litigators list have stood out based on several evaluation criteria, including the profiles of cases handled and clients’ recommendations.

2. Eugene Thuraisingam named as one of the top 15 litigators in Asia by ALB

Eugene Thuraisingam LLP is pleased to announce that our managing partner, Eugene Thuraisingam, has been named as one of Asia’s Top 15 Litigators by ALB. Eugene is one of four litigators from Singapore to be listed. There were 86 submissions received by the ALB across Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Saudi Arabia.

In A Conversation with Eugene Thuraisingam, One of ALB Asia Top 15 Litigators 2022 (or click here for PDF), Eugene shared some of the highlights in the past 12 months, Eugene said:

We have a strong pro-bono public interest litigation practice that sits alongside a robust commercial disputes and criminal investigations practice.

We brought three important constitutional law challenges to the Singapore Court of Appeal.  These challenges related to freedom of speech, the freedom to assemble, and Section 377A of the Penal Code, a law that criminalises sexual relations between male adults.  We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute in our small way to Singapore’s jurisprudence on fundamental liberties through these cases.

Our criminal practice has savoured some sweet victories, including acquittals for clients who faced the death penalty for murder and drug-trafficking, and two doctors accused of sexual offences.

It was also a busy year for our commercial disputes practice. We acted for the claimant in a large multinational arbitration concerning the ownership of a lucrative oil and gas concession. We also acted for the defendant in an arbitration over claims brought by a large financial institution arising out of a shareholders’ agreement for a listed company. In both matters, the claims exceeded USD100 million. After fighting long and hard, we were happy to have positioned these and other matters towards successful settlements.

In dispensing some insights for young lawyers, Eugene said:

Many things have changed with technology, but the essence of lawyering remains undisturbed.

At its core, good lawyering requires one to identify the 1 or 2 key issues that a case would turn on and to construct a case around the same.

For young lawyers, the temptation to throw the kitchen sink must be tempered. Instead of devoting equal air-time to all 6 arguments, one needs to learn how to prioritise the arguments. At the same time, being nimble and responsive to the Court is vital.

Good oratorical ability and drafting skills can only take one so far without efficient deployment. With experience, even in the most complex of cases, you will be able to identify the few issues that will weigh heavily on the Court’s mind in the final analysis.

Other than advocacy skills, one must have a strong ethical and moral compass. Above all, a disputes lawyer’s fundamental duty is to be honest. Be honest with the Court and the client. Always treat others – opposing counsel, juniors, anyone around you really – with decency and fairness. Never stop doing this, even if sometimes your efforts go unreciprocated.

These virtues have stood the test of time, and will continue to persist and remain relevant, especially when sieving the great litigators from the good ones.

3. Concluding remarks

We would like to congratulate Eugene for being named as one of Asia’s Top 15 Litigators by ALB in 2022!

The full report on Asia’s Top 15 Litigators can be found at pages 24-27 of the January/February 2022 issue of ALB here.