The Rt. Hon. Tan Sri Dato Seri Md Raus Sharif, President of The Court of Appeal

The Right Honourable Mr. Justice Md Raus Sharif was born on 4 February 1951 in Rembau, Negeri Sembilan. His Lordship read law at University of Malaya and secured his LL.B (Hons) degree in year 1976. He went on to pursue and obtained his Master’s degree (LL.M) at the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom. His Lordship’s career started in the Judicial and Legal Services on 1 July 1976. His Lordship served in various capacities. He was elevated as a Judicial Commissioner on 1 November 1994, and thereafter as a High Court Judge on 12 January 1996. On 28 July 2006, Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Md. Raus Sharif was appointed as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. On 12 September 2011 His Lordship was appointed the President of the Court of Appeal.

The Hon. Dato' Mah Weng Kwai, Judge of the Court of Appeal (retired)

Dato’ Mah Weng Kwai was called to the English Bar as a Barrister-at-Law in 1971 and to the Malaysian Bar as an Advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in July 1972. In 1973 Dato’ Mah joined the Judicial and Legal Services of Malaysia and held, inter alia, the posts of Magistrate, President of the Sessions Court and Senior Assistant Registrar of the High Court. He also served as a Deputy Public Prosecutor and Senior Federal Counsel in the Attorney General’s Chambers. Dato’ Mah obtained his Master of Laws degree with Honours in 1985 from the University of Sydney,

Australia and in 1999 was appointed a Fellow of the Senate of the University of Sydney. He left the Judicial and Legal Services in 1985 and commenced private practice as an advocate and solicitor as the principal of Mah Weng Kwai & Associates. Dato’ Mah is a past-President of the Malaysian Bar and of LAWASIA, the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific. He was also a member of the Legal Profession Qualifying Board and the Advocates and

Solicitors Disciplinary Board both established under the Legal Profession Act 1976. On 4/1/10 Dato’ Mah was appointed a Judicial Commissioner of the High Court of Malaya and on

10/8/11 a Judge of the High Court of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. He was elevated to the Court of Appeal, Malaysia on 21/9/12.

Dato’ Mah returned to MahWengKwai & Associates as a Consultant after his retirement as a Court of Appeal Judge in February 2015. He is on the KLRCA’s panel of arbitrators and is certified as a mediator by the Malaysian Mediation Centre. 

David Lee, Partner, Zul Rafique & Partners

DAVID LEE is a partner in the Corporate Department at ZUL RAFIQUE & partners

David has a post qualification experience of 20 years after being called to the Malaysian Bar in 1995. During this time, he advised on a wide range of corporate matters, with  a keen  focus  on  corporate  finance,  mergers and  acquisitions  and  takeovers  and  mergers. He also advises  on  foreign direct investments, in particular, the establishment of corporate entities and licensing  requirements in Malaysia. David also advises companies and real estate investment trusts listed  on Bursa Malaysia in their business activities, compliance requirement and transactions. 

He holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) with honours from the University of London as well as a Master of Laws (LL.M) from the University of Malaya. He presently serves the Corporate and Commercial Law Committee of the Bar Council.

David has presented a variety of papers at seminars and conferences, with the most recent presentation made in Singapore at the invitation of the International Enterprise Singapore.

Samantha Grant, Regional Coordinator for Southeast Asia, Transparency International

Samantha Grant has been working with Transparency International (TI) in the Asia Pacific Departments since 2008. She is currently the Regional Coordinator for Southeast Asia and works with Transparency International National Chapters in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to stop corruption and promote transparency, accountability and integrity at all levels and across all sectors of society.  Currently she has focused on issues of corruption in ASEAN integration and has brought together various stakeholders to help develop the idea of the ASEAN Integrity Community detailed in the report: ASEAN Integrity Community: A Vision for Transparent and Accountable Integration released in April 2015.  She also works with other countries in Southeast Asia to develop new chapters and programmes, with a special focus on Myanmar. 

Prior to coming to TI she worked as a marketing manager and website administrator in China, where she lived for 6 years. She holds Postgraduate Diploma from the University of Sheffield in Chinese Business/International Relations and a BA in Politics, Law and Society from Simon’s Rock College. She also speaks Mandarin.

Telephone: +49 30 3438 20 45

Email: sgrant@transparency.org

Dr Mark Lovatt is the Business Integrity Programme Manager for Transparency International Malaysia, and concurrently the Managing Director of TI BIP Malaysia Sdn Bhd, the consultancy wing of TI Malaysia. He holds a BA (Hons) and PhD from Nottingham University, UK, and has a background in IT, business analysis, corporate regulation and business development in the power & gas sector. He is an internationally recognised expert in private sector corruption, and speaks regularly at conferences and seminars across the region. A published author, he also lectures in Theology and business ethics.  

Eric R. Finkleman, Executive Director & General Counsel, APAC, Avon 

Eric R. Finkelman is Executive Director and General Counsel, APAC Region, for Avon Products, Inc.,  with his office at Avon’s regional headquarters in Singapore where Eric has been stationed since September  of 2014.  Prior to this, Eric served as Avon’s Regional Compliance Director for the APAC Region, working from Avon’s former regional headquarters in Hong Kong.  Eric has responsibility for Avon’s legal and compliance matters throughout the region, which includes China, Taiwan, the Philippines, India, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand and, commencing in 2016, Indonesia; and leads a team of 10 lawyers and compliance managers.

Prior to joining Avon, Eric served as NAFTA General Counsel for Ciba Specialty Chemicals and as General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer for Sun Chemical.   Before becoming an in-house attorney, Eric was a litigation associate at the firm of Chadbourne & Parke in New York City.

Eric is a native of New York City, and earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy, magna cum laude, from Princeton University and his J.D. degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law.  He is married to Lisa Kazmer, a yoga teacher who presently teaches in Singapore; and has two grown children, Emma and Sam; a dog, George Fang, whom he and Lisa adopted in Hong Kong; and a cat, Boo, who was adopted in New York.  His hobbies include yoga, reading, cooking and travel.

 Lily Rozita Mohd Khairi, Managing Counsel, Downstream Malaysia and Head of Legal, Shell Malaysia

Lily Rozita Khairi has 20 years of Oil and Gas industry experience with significant knowledge in O & G projects and operations, leadership roles, change management, corporate governance, board management, talent development, policy formulation, litigation, crisis and risk management and compliance. Her area of specialisation includes commercial negotiations and decommissioning of Upstream Installations.She read law at Cardiff Law School, UK and holds a Diploma in Human Resource Management from the Malaysian Institute of Personnel Management.

As the Managing Counsel and Head of Legal for Shell Malaysia, she oversees the legal interests of Shell Malaysia’s 34 companies and is an Advisor to the Chairman for its public-listed entity. In the last couple of years, she has held various internal and external engagements and leadership positions – Deputy President of the Malaysian Corporate Counsel Association (2008-2010), Shell Women Action Network (SWAN) President (2010-2012), secondment to the Talent Corporation lab, engagement as a Shadow Coach to a senior Government officer, Shell Legal representative to the Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Kolej Tunku Jaafar Board of Trustees and Governors and as a Shell nominated director to a few of its boards. She is a known speaker in the region on Compliance and Governance, In-House Counsel, Personal Data Protection and decommissioning of offshore installations.

She is a an active Diversity and Inclusion champion within Shell, a business faculty for the Shell Senior Leaders of Teams programme and mentors a wide spectrum of young professionals within Shell and externally (Young Corporate Malaysia programme and Association of International Petroleum Negotiators). Her most recent achievement is the recognition for her Legal team by Financial Times in 2014 as one of the “Highly Commendable” Innovative In-house Counsel in Asia Pacific.

In her free moments, she indulges in hiking, cycling, house decorating, swimming and running.

Thavakumar Kandiahpillai, Vice-President, Legal, SapuraKencana Petroleum, President, Malaysian Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA)

Thavakumar obtained his LLB (Honours) from University of London in 1989 and was admitted to the English Bar at Middle Temple in 1990.  He then went on to obtain his LLM from University Of London and was admitted to the Malaysian Bar.  He also became a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Thavakumar practiced in Kuala Lumpur as an Advocate & Solicitor becoming a partner in 1998.  He then joined Shell Malaysia in KL in 2000 as Senior Counsel. He has held various positions including Head of Legal at Shell Malaysia Exploration & Production and was appointed General Counsel of Shell Malaysia in August 2006. He was elected as President of the Malaysian Corporate Counsel Association in 2011 and now works at Sapura Kencana Petroleum Berhad as VP Legal Affairs. 

William Seccombe, Regional Director, Financial Lines Group – Mergers & Acquisitions, Jardine Lloyd Thompson

William heads JLT’s Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity practice in Asia. William has placed Representations and Warranty insurance for a number of major deals in the region in a number of different countries and sectors. He has also has extensive experience of fund liability and directors and officers liability for PE funds and financial institutions throughout Asia.

William has over 26 years of experience in the insurance industry specializing in the financial risks sector. Prior to joining JLT, William was responsible for Willis’ North Asia Financial Lines practice. He started his career at Lloyd’s of London working for a syndicate before entering the broking market in London in 1991. William has been with JLT for five years, during which time he has been based in Singapore and Tokyo, he now divides his time between Tokyo, Hong Kong and South East Asia. 

Jamie Sparkes, Specialty Casualty Manager North Asia & Transaction Liability Product Leader, Asia Pacific, Liberty International Underwriters

Jamie joined LIU in 2014 and is the Specialty Casualty Manager for North Asia, overseeing the team and all Financial Lines business carried out in that region. Also key to Jamie’s role has been the development of, and now ongoing management of LIU’s Transaction Liability portfolio across the Asia Pacific region with a specific focus on Warranties & Indemnities Insurance.

Before joining LIU, Jamie gained 3 years’ experience at a large international broker in Hong Kong. Prior to that, he worked as an insurance lawyer in London, Singapore and Hong Kong with a primary focus on financial lines business.

Jamie holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons).

Muhammad Suria Doshi Abdullah, Senior General Manager, Group Legal & Company Secretarial Department, SIRIM Berhad

Muhammad Suria Doshi bin Abdullah is the Senior General Manager, Group Legal & Company Secretarial Department, SIRIM Berhad. He is also the Company Secretary of SIRIM Berhad. He holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) degree from University of London and a Certificate of Legal Practice (CLP) from Legal Profession Qualifying Board of Malaysia. He practised law for many years as an Advocate & Solicitor prior to joining SIRIM Berhad and now advises SIRIM Group of Companies on all local and international matters. He is a frequent speaker at conferences. He has presented papers on various subjects to local and international participants including on company secretarial practice, corporate governance, in-house counsel, employment & industrial relations, contracts, commercial, dispute resolution, intellectual property rights and commercialization of technology & licensing. He is also the past Vice President of the Malaysian Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA). 

Hema Latha Sinnakaundan, General Counsel, Legal, Compliance & Company Secretarial, Sun Life Malaysia Assurance Berhad 

Hema Latha Sinnakaundan was appointed as the General Counsel of Sun Life Malaysia Assurance Berhad in May 2013, heading its Legal, Compliance and Company Secretarial departments. Hema graduated with a LL.B (Hons) degree from the University of London, United Kingdom and qualified as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 2000. In 2005, she was admitted to the Rolls of Solicitors of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. Hema has extensive legal experience, both as a litigator and a corporate lawyer with particular emphasis on insurance law and regulatory matters. In October 2014, she qualified as a Licensed Company Secretary and has since been appointed as the Company Secretary for Sun Life Malaysia. In the recent ALB Malaysia Law Awards 2015, Hema and her legal team won the Best In-House legal team of the Year award for the insurance industry category. Hema was a top 5 finalist for the In-House Lawyer of the Year and her legal team was a top 6 finalist for the MI Arb Award for the Best In-House Legal Team of the Year.  In her free time, Hema enjoys reading spiritual literature and travelling with her family. 

Edmund Wei Keong Sia, Commercial Counsel, Motorola Solutions

Edmund Sia is a Senior Counsel at Motorola Solutions. He advises on corporate and commercial matters for Motorola Solutions in Malaysia and a number of other countries in the region. He works on a wide range of matters including contractual, regulatory, litigation and commercial matters. He holds a LLB (Hons) from University of Warwick, United Kingdom. He has been called to the Malaysian Bar and he is qualified as a solicitor of England and Wales. Prior to joining Motorola Solutions, he had roles as a Partner with a UK law firm based in their Abu Dhabi branch office, as in-house counsel with a large Malaysian corporation, and as an associate with a leading Malaysia legal firm.

 Abhinav Bhatt, Vice-President & Senior Counsel, Global Products & Solutions, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa, Mastercard 

Abhinav is a Vice-President and Senior Counsel with MasterCard in Singapore. In his current role, Abhinav supports MasterCard’s Global Products and Services division in Asia-Pacific, on development and rollout of new payment products and technologies including digital and mobile wallets, credentials management and tokenization etc. Prior to MasterCard, Abhinav spent several years as an in-house counsel advising tech and medic companies on issues relating to software, outsourcing, cloud-based services and intellectual property.

Muhamed Nasri Sallehuddin, Executive Director, Corporate & Support Services, Company Secretary and Head of Legal, Khazanah Nasional Berhad

Mohamed Nasri Sallehuddin is currently Executive Director, Corporate & Support Services, Company Secretary and Head of Legal at Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the strategic investment fund for the Government of Malaysia. 

Nasri holds an LLB (Hons) degree from Aberystwyth University (Wales) and an MBA from the University of Strathclyde Business School. He was called to the degree of an Utter Barrister by the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn in 1995 and admitted to the High Court of Malaya as an advocate and solicitor in 1996. In 2014, he was named In-House Lawyer of the Year at the inaugural Asian Legal Business Malaysia Law Awards. Prior to joining Khazanah in 2009, Nasri was a partner with a leading law firm in Malaysia, advising clients on corporate law and the legal aspects of corporate restructuring, take-overs and mergers.

CHUA Cheng Kwee, Regional Sales Director, Asia, Elite Client Services APAC, Thomson Reuters

Chua Cheng Kwee is the Regional Director Sales for Elite client services in Asia. The client services team is responsible for providing Sales & Client Account Management for Asia clients. Prior to joining Sales in January 2015, he was responsible for project management, application and technical consulting, data conversion and training services across the Elite range of products – Elite Enterprise and Elite 3E. He has over 25 years of IT experience, with the last 19 in the legal industry including Business Management, IT Management, Project Management and Development roles. With Thomson Reuters Elite, Chua has successfully managed many Enterprise/3E projects including King and Wood Mallensons (Internationally), Junhe Law Offices (China), Landers & Rogers (Australia), Johnson Stokes & Master (Hong Kong), Amarchand Mangaldas (India), Nishith Desai (India), Barlow Lyde & Gilbert (Hong Kong), Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill (Malaysia) and DLA Phillips fox (New Zealand).

Ranajit Dam, Managing Editor, Asian Legal Business, Thomson Reuters

Ranajit Dam is the Managing Editor of Thomson Reuters’ Legal Media Group, which includes Asian Legal Business, Asia’s foremost monthly publication covering the legal industry. A former lawyer, he has been a journalist for more than a decade, after graduating from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Since then, he has worked in China, India and Singapore, where he is currently based.