Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Raphael is a dispute resolution counsel specialising in shareholder disputes, international arbitration, and asset recovery. Raphael has ventured into private practice, corporate in-house, and academic research. In 2014, he was awarded the Best Malaysian In-House Lawyer of the Year by ASEAN Legal Business for his role as Shell's corporate counsel overseeing the Asia-Pacific region (Malaysia, Singapore, India, Thailand, China, and Australia). Raphael's academic writings include: • 'The Dichotomy between Jurisdiction and Admissibility in International Arbitration' [2024] 73(2) International & Comparative Law Quarterly 417 (Cambridge University Press) • 'Shareholder reflective loss: a bogeyman in investment treaty arbitration?' [2023] 39(3) Arbitration International 425 (Oxford University Press) • ‘Vanishing Treaty Claims: Investors Trapped in a Temporal Twilight Zone’ [2023] 38(1) ICSID Review 140 (Oxford University Press) • 'Corruption Allegations in International Investment Arbitration: It Takes Two to Tango, But the House Always Wins' [2022] 2 AIAC ADR Journal 41 • ‘Interlocutory Applications in Malaysia’ Sweet & Maxwell (November 2022) • 'Injunctions and Interim Relief' in Law and Practice of Civil Litigation in Malaysia, Sweet & Maxwell (October 2022) • ‘Is There a Private Right to Privacy in Malaysia?’ [2022] 30(1) IIUM Law Journal 1 • 'How To Identify Insiders and Intruders Disguising as Investors in the Assignment of Investments’ [2022] 71(2) International & Comparative Law Quarterly 357 (Cambridge University Press) • ‘Online Intermediary Liability in Malaysia: From Delfi to Malaysiakini’ [2021] 3 Malayan Law Journal cclxxx • ‘Suppressing Fake News or Chilling Free Speech: Are the Regulatory Regimes of Malaysia and Singapore Compatible with International Law?’ [2020] 47(1) Journal of Malaysian Comparative Law 25 • ‘Data Protection’ in Malaysian Blockchain Regulatory Report, University of Malaya Malaysian Centre of Regulatory Studies (2018) Raphael’s reported cases before the Malaysian courts: • Koperasi Ladang Pekebun-pekebun Kecil Malaysia Bhd v Pihak Berkuasa Kemajuan Pekebun-pekebun Kecil Perusahaan Getah [2014] 2 CLJ 711 • Jordan Saw Yu Huan v Low Suan Chuan [2013] 4 MLJ 137 • Taipan Focus Sdn Bhd v Tunku Mudzaffar b Tunku Mustapha [2011] 1 MLJ 441 • Qimonda Malaysia Sdn Bhd v Sediabena Sdn Bhd [2011] 8 CLJ 269 • Aset Nusantara Sdn Bhd v Ekran Berhad [2010] 7 AMR 197 • Tube Home (M) Sdn Bhd v P Shanmugam & [2010] 10 CLJ 678
Raphael is a civil and commercial litigator. His core practice encompasses shareholder disputes, international arbitration, energy disputes, and asset recovery. He has represented clients from a myriad of industries, including power generation, property development, estate plantation, retail distributorship, banking and finance, telecommunications, shipping and haulage, healthcare, tourism and hospitality, and sports. Some of his trials and appeals have been reported in law journals. He specialises in multi-fora litigation. He has assisted senior counsel from England, Australia, and Singapore, particularly on the enforcement of arbitral awards, and jurisdictional challenges in arbitration. He is well-versed with the multifarious dispute resolution frameworks in public international law (ICJ and ICSID). He also advises on emerging areas of law shaped by digital technologies, especially data privacy, e-commerce, and online media regulation. He is well-versed with the EU General Data Protection Regulation and Digital Services Act. In 2021, he assisted a self-made billionaire to secure an interim injunction to restrain an online news portal from publishing private information leaked from the infamous ‘Pandora Papers’. At Lim Chee Wee Partnership, he is responsible for the firm's knowledge management and talent acquisition.
Publication • ‘Three Conceptions of Privacy: Property, Personality and Information’ (dissertation submitted for LLM degree) (17 February 2022) • ‘Is There a Private Right to Privacy in Malaysia?’ [2022] 30(1) IIUM Law Journal 1 • ‘How To Identify Insiders and Intruders Disguising as Investors in the Assignment of Investments’ [2022] 71(2) International & Comparative Law Quarterly 357 • ‘Online Intermediary Liability in Malaysia: From Delfi to Malaysiakini’ [2021] Malayan Law Journal cclxxx • ‘Suppressing Fake News or Chilling Free Speech: Are the Regulatory Regimes of Malaysia and Singapore Compatible with International Law?’ [2020] 47(1) Journal of Malaysian Comparative Law 25 • ‘Data Protection’ in Malaysian Blockchain Regulatory Report (Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Malaysian Centre of Regulatory Studies, 2018) Moot Coaching: • Jessup (International Octo-Finalist - 2019; National Champion - 2019, 2020) • LAWASIA (National and International Champion - 2018, 2019) • IMLAM (Semi-Finalist - 2018) • Price Media Law (Quarter-Finalist - 2018, 2019) • Asia Cup (Runners-Up - 2018)