Joseph Tan Jude Benny is best known for shipping litigation and arbitration, but the prominence of its commercial disputes practice has increased and it is acting on more general litigation, with a growing energy and commodities platform. For example, at present more than half of the team’s case load involves non-maritime-related claims, with the team acting for financiers, contractors and international companies. Besides specialist sector-focused disputes, the firm is also skilled in handling commercial contractual claims, investment disputes, insurance, insolvency, defamation and fraud cases. The team has extensive experience in high-profile wet and dry shipping matters, and admiralty proceedings, including the arresting and releasing of vessels, constituting limitation funds for collision matters and personal injury matters.
The key contacts at the firm for commercial and shipping disputes are Murali Pany, Danny Chua and John Sze.
The team continues to act for Grant Thornton, as the judicial managers of Xihe Holdings, and dozens of ship-owning companies in relation to the Hin Leong Group insolvency. The work involves dealing with claims from more than a dozen banks and traders, each entity having tens to hundreds of millions of dollars exposure from the collapse of the Hin Leong Group as a whole. Xihe Holdings is the main asset owner within the group structure.
In another highlight, the firm is representing Petroleo Brasileiro, a Brazilian state-owned oil and gas company, in an $80 million shipping case against Natixis Bank and others. The team also assisted the judicial managers of Nan Chiau Maritime and the company itself in relation to an ongoing action brought by a third party for a breach of statutory duties and obligations relating to the disposal of the company’s assets in a manner that is prejudicial to the third party. There are several novel law issues that arise in this matter, as they have never been adjudicated by the courts. The court will have to determine the rights of a plaintiff-holder of a statutory lien arising from an admiralty claim and whether such a security holder is a class of persons that a judicial manager should take into account for the purposes of a section of the chief insolvency law.
Sze and his team are acting for AmBank Berhad against a Singapore-listed oil and gas company in respect of a significant financing that has been provided.
Apart from broadening its capacity from shipping to encompass energy and commodities, the firm also has an international reach with its network of offices in Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bangkok, Taipei, Yangon, Piraeus, Los Angeles, Hamburg, Munich and Incheon. Joseph Tan Jude Benny is a member of the international network of independent law firms, ADVOC.
Client feedback
“They clearly set out the processes and issues.” – Shipping
“Prompt client service and advice, and practical solutions proposed.” – Shipping
“The lawyers are excellent with quick service. They are very knowledgeable and have great insight.” – Shipping
“I deal with numerous lawyers in various locations and we rarely come across professional minds of this calibre. JTJB surely stands out!” – Shipping
Danny Chua
“He presents issues clearly.”
“Danny is always reachable and maintains very good client relationships.”
“He has in-depth knowledge and experience in our particular industry sector.”
John Sze
“John Sze heading the matter, is simply next to none. He has a business mindset, understands the dispute and handles it extremely professionally. Working with him is an absolute pleasure.”
