WongPartnership LLP

Banking & Financial Disputes; Financial Services Regulatory; International Arbitration

Chou Sean Yu is the Deputy Managing Partner of WongPartnership and Head of the Firm's Litigation & Dispute Resolution Group.

He is also the Head of the Banking & Financial Disputes Practice and a Partner in the International Arbitration, Financial Services Regulatory and Malaysia Practices.

Sean Yu’s main practice areas are banking & trade finance disputes, insolvency & restructuring, corporate fraud, investigations & asset recovery, financial services regulatory, commercial & corporate disputes, shareholder litigation, tort & contractual claims and domestic & international arbitration.

He was a Justices' Law Clerk with the Singapore Supreme Court before entering into private practice.

Work Highlights

Matters of significance in which Sean has been involved in include advising / acting for the following:

Defending an arbitration claim by an international oil & gas company with claims totalling US$500 million concerning production contracts of coalbed gas methane projects in the PRC. Defending an international financial institution in relation to claims relating to the distribution of credit-linked structured notes. A satellite TV group in an arbitration dispute which culminated in awards for over US$230 million and resulted in several high-profile enforcement challenges across Asia. Defending an international private equity firm in a multi-jurisdictional shareholders dispute arising from a US$260 million leveraged buy-out of a technology company. A Singapore-listed company in a minority oppression action concerning a S$80 million electrical products company. An international private bank in a cross-border enforcement of banking facilities of over US$200 million.

Publications & Legal Updates

Getting The Deal Through - Investment Treaty Arbitration 2021 - Singapore Chapter Contributing editor to Singapore Civil Procedure Contributor to the 2011 edition of Halsbury's Law of Singapore on Finance and Banking Chambers Global Practice Guide - Banking & Finance Singapore 2019 Global Arbitration Review: The Guide to Advocacy 4th Edition - Chapter on Cultural Considerations in Advocacy: East Meets West The Asia-Pacific Arbitration Review 2019 - Singapore Chapter

Sean Yu frequently sits as an arbitrator and is on the Panel of Arbitrators of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre ("SIAC"), the Asian International Arbitration Centre, the Korean Commercial Arbitration Board, the Maldives International Arbitration Centre, the Japan Commercial Arbitration Association, the Hainan International Arbitration Court and the Russian Arbitration Center at the Russian Institute of Modern Arbitration. He is a Chartered Arbitrator of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a former Chairman of the Board of its Singapore Branch. He is also a Fellow of the Insolvency Practitioners Association of Singapore.

Sean Yu is an Honorary Racing Steward of the Singapore Turf Club.

Sean Yu graduated with First Class Honours from the University of Bristol and is admitted to the English Bar (Middle Temple) and to the Singapore Bar.