Partners

Chester Su

Associate Director, Dispute Resolution

Key Practices

Qualifications

  • LL.B. (Hons), National University of Singapore
  • Admitted to the Singapore Bar (2020)

Chester is an Associate Director in Drew & Napier’s Construction & Engineering practice group. He was minted as a lawyer in the firm during the COVID-19 era, and has assisted many clients in that era where there were multiple beleaguered projects and contracts. He has acted for clients in the Singapore Courts, in arbitrations (both international and domestic) and in adjudications.

Having had to deal with projects day-in and day-out ever since his days as a trainee within Drew, Chester is familiar with a myriad of construction issues in different contexts. These range from private sector and private-public-partnership (PPP) projects, such as Marina One and the Punggol Digital District, to public sector projects such as the Thompson East Coast Line, an Integrated Rail and the Bus Depot, and Woodlands Hospital (formerly Woodlands Health Campus).  

Chester has also represented parties across the construction chain from employers, main contractors, to subcontractors. These include Goldbell Engineering Pte Ltd (employer), Tiong Seng Construction Pte Ltd (main contractor), and Continental Steel Pte Ltd (subcontractor), amongst others.

Chester’s strength lies in getting to the bottom of complex factual and engineering issues, and condensing the crux of these issues to clients to offer practical solutions. 

  • Acting for a consortium partner in relation to disputes arising from an EPC Contract for combined-cycle power plants, where the claims and counterclaims in the arbitration are in excess of USD 600 million. The issues span claims for additional work, negligent engineering design, and construction delays.
  • Acted for a leading environmental and health and safety consultant, in issues arising out of a very large soil remediation project involving claims associated with the engineering design of soil remediation technology.
  • Acted for a company listed on the Thai Stock Exchange in a dispute against a leading air transport communications and IT giant in an international arbitration on airport projects in Thailand in relation to a claim that is more than USD 422 million.
  • Acting for Tiong Seng Construction (Private) Limited in a High Court action against Kurihara Kogyo Co., Ltd in relation to disputes arising from a subcontract for the electrical works on an industrial factory with a secondary workers’ dormitory. The dispute specifically relates to issues in relation to the bus duct systems installed on the project.
  • Acted as lead counsel in State Court and High Court proceedings for an employer against their main contractor in relation to the reconstruction of a good class bungalow on 81 Lim Ah Woo Road. This arose due to a disputed call on a performance bond issued by the main contractor in favour of the employer.
  • Member, Law Society of Singapore
  • Member, Singapore Academy of Law