Partners

Gerald Seah

Associate Director, Dispute Resolution

Qualifications

  • LL.B (Hons) First Class, University of Nottingham (2016)
  • Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore (2018)

Gerald graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2016 with First Class Honours. He completed his pupillage with Drew & Napier and was called to the Bar in 2018.  

Gerald practices commercial litigation and arbitration. Gerald’s matters include complex shareholders’ disputes, the judicial management and liquidation of large companies, contracts involving cryptocurrency exchanges, claims for breach of trust and fiduciary duties, and the recovery of trust assets.

Gerald also acts for clients in both civil and criminal investigations, as well as proceedings arising from such investigations.

In 2021, the Legal 500 Asia Pacific published client feedback which mentioned Gerald for having “showed mastery of the facts of the case and demonstrated excellent client hand-holding throughout the process”.

  • Successfully acted for the former Prime Minister of Georgia, Mr Bidzina Ivanishvili, and his family in bringing claims for breach of trust and fiduciary against Credit Suisse Trust Limited. The Singapore International Commercial Court awarded damages of US$926 million. The Court of Appeal “dismissed the key points of CS Trust’s appeal”: Ivanishvili, Bidzina v Credit Suisse Trust Ltd [2023] SGHC(I) 14 / Credit Suisse Trust Limited v Ivanishvili, Bidzina [2024] SGCA(I) 5.

  • Successfully acted for the estate of an Indian mining baron in bringing claims against an errant trustee for breach of trust and recovery of trust assets valued at around US$690 million. The case involved documentary evidence spanning more than a decade. The case also involved complex issues of Indian law and expert evidence, including Indian legislation such as the Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 (India), the Customs Act 1962 (India), and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002 (India). The matter is pending appeal: Lakshmi Anil Salgaocar and another v Darsan Jitendra Jhaveri and others [2023] SGHC 47.

  • Successfully acted for the aforementioned estate on appeal in obtaining an anti-suit injunction restraining the errant trustee from pursuing parallel proceedings against the estate in the British Virgin Islands. The appeal involved novel issues concerning the role of comity in the grant of anti-suit injunctions. The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and agreed with the estate that the errant trustee had acted vexatiously and oppressively and brought the parallel proceedings in bad faith: Lakshmi Anil Salgaocar v Jhaveri Darsan Jitendra [2019] 2 SLR 372.

  • Successfully acted for the former Chief Executive Officer of the Beyonics Group in defending claims for diverting business to a competitor. The Singapore International Commercial Court struck out the claims for being an abuse of process and found that the diversion did not cause any loss. While the Court of Appeal found that there was no abuse of process, the Court of Appeal agreed that the diversion did not cause any loss: Beyonics Asia Pacific Ltd and others v Goh Chan Peng and another and another appeal [2022] 1 SLR 1.

  • Acted for an individual on an appeal concerning claims arising from an oral agreement concerning collective investments. The case involved novel issues concerning ad hoc fiduciary relationships: Tan Teck Kee v Ratan Kumar Rai [2022] 2 SLR 1250.

  • Acted for the Pasir Ris Punggol Town Council in bringing claims against its former town councillors, general manager and secretary: Aljunied-Hougang Town Council and another v Lim Swee Lian Sylvia and others and another suit [2019] SGHC 241.

  • Acted for the former Managing Director of Sentek Marine, one of Singapore’s largest bunkering companies, in relation to criminal investigations and proceedings concerning a complex cross-border misappropriation from Shell’s refinery in Pulau Bukom.

  • Successfully acted for a global venture capital and private equity firm in resisting injunctive proceedings brought by the shareholder of a portfolio company.

  • Successfully acted for a Philippine company in an SIAC arbitration in bringing claims against its joint venture partner in relation to a mining project. The tribunal allowed the claims. Also successfully acted for the same company in resisting an application to set aside the tribunal’s award: CIP v CIQ [2022] 3 SLR 39.

  • Acted for a group of subsidiary proprietors in objecting to a proposed collective sale of one of Singapore’s oldest condominium developments. The proposed collective sale was eventually abandoned.

The Asia Pacific Legal 500 2021

“Among the younger lawyers we worked with, … Gerald Paul Seah [has] to be specifically mentioned. [Gerald] showed mastery of the facts of the case and demonstrated excellent client hand-holding throughout the process.”

  • Member, Singapore Academy of Law
  • Member, Law Society of Singapore