It was an evening of celebration as Fountain Court held its annual party and presentation of the Christopher Bathurst Prize in Singapore on 20th September 2016. It is the 7th year Chambers has awarded the prize in memory of Christopher Bathurst QC (1934-2009) who as a member of Fountain Court developed a substantial practice in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore, whilst still being a leading practitioner at the Commercial Bar in London. The prize was kindly supported again this year by the Singapore Academy of Law.
The reception was held at Empress at the Asian Civilisation Museum and the guests were old and new friends of Fountain Court, spanning across the legal profession in Singapore and the Pan-Asia region. The delegation from Chambers was led by Stephen Moriarty QC (Head of Chambers) and Bankim Thanki QC (Deputy Head of Chambers) and included Michael Brindle QC, Stephen Rubin QC, Derrick Dale QC, Nico Leslie, Niamh Cleary, Alex Taylor (Senior Clerk) and Caroline McConnon (Practice Manager, Asia). They were also joined by three of Fountain Court’s door tenants, Professor Lawrence Boo, Kanaga Dharmananda SC and Gaurav Pachnanda SA.
Chambers were delighted to award the winning prize of the Christopher Bathurst Prize 2016 to Mr Aloysius Chang Jun Siang, Associate from K&L Gates LLP. The first and second runners-up were awarded to Mr Daniel Lee Wai Yong from WongPartnership LLP and Mr Devathas Satianathan from Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP respectively.
The winning and runner up advices can be found below, along with the competition question here.
Participants were asked to submit a piece of written legal advice, not more than 3,500 words, on the question about the application of the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958. Entrants were judged on a variety of criteria, namely, originality, critical analysis, succinctness, clarity, persuasiveness and pragmatism. The judges were Mr Michael Brindle QC, Mr Toh Kian Sing, SC of Rajah & Tann LLP and Ms Sandra Annette Booysen, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. Fountain Court are grateful for their ongoing commitment to the Prize.
The prize for the winner is an all-expense-paid two-week internship at Fountain Court Chambers in London. The standard of entries was considered so high this year that unusually the first and second runners-up will also each receive an all-expense-paid one-week internship at Fountain Court Chambers.
- Mr Aloysius Chang Jun Siang, Winner, K&L Gates LLP
- Daniel Lee Wai Yong, First Runner-Up, WongPartnership LLP
- Devathas Satianathan, Second Runner-Up, Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP
Fountain Court would like to thank everyone who has continued to support them in Singapore and London, and also to those who attended the Reception.