Singapore's top Senior Counsel Davinder Singh is going his own way.

Local law firm Drew & Napier announced on its website that Davinder, the company's Executive Chairman, will depart with two firm directors and set up his own practice to train up young lawyers.

The 61-year-old litigator is familiar to political observers in Singapore, having represented Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his defamation trial against blogger Roy Ngerng in 2015, and most recently Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council in its lawsuit against members of the Workers' Party (WP) in the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council trial.

Davinder made headlines for his tough cross-examination style, sparring against WP members Pritam Singh, Low Thia Khiang and Sylvia Lim. Back in 2015, he also made Ngerng break down twice.

Singapore's top lawyer

Davinder is widely considered to be one of Singapore's top lawyers, having racked up a number of accolades over his career.

He spent a decade at the helm of Drew & Napier as CEO, as part of a 37-year stint at the firm. In 2017, though, he initiated a leadership renewal process and appointed Drew's current CEO Cavinder Bull in August that year.

He was then asked to stay on as Executive Chairman with no retirement age.

Davinder has been ranked by Chambers & Partners as the only “Star Individual” in Dispute Resolution (Singapore), a category above Band 1, from 2011 to 2019.

He was also named the "Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year” by Asian Legal Business, as part of its Southeast Asia Law Awards 2018.

Represented PM Lee

Davinder has famously represented Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in the past.

During PM Lee's lawsuit against Roy Ngerng, he reduced the blogger to tears on the stand.

Recently, Davinder also represented PM Lee in his defamation lawsuit against local blogger Leong Sze Hian.

Training young lawyers

Davinder will also train young lawyers in his next venture. He is joined by two other members of Drew & Napier, directors Jaikanth Shankar and Pardeep Singh Khosa.

In the firm's announcement, he was quoted as saying:

“Renewal in the commercial world cannot meaningfully take place under a shadow. If you train the young to take over, you must trust them to do so. I have overseen the transition and am convinced that the new team is ready and the firm is in capable hands. I therefore believe that it is the right thing to do to move on. I am also very blessed to be able to do that at a time of my choosing.”

With Singh's departure, Senior Counsel Jimmy Yim will assume the role of chairman of the board.

CEO Senior Counsel Cavinder Bull expressed his gratitude to Singh and the others, and said that they will always count as their "closest and dearest friends".

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Top image by Guan Zhen Tan.