Biography
Practising for close to 20 years, Edwin has argued both major courtroom disputes and heavyweight arbitrations, whilst advising government authorities, developers, contractors, and consultants on all the intricacies of building contract law. Previously a partner of Rajah & Tann LLP, he is one of the founding partners of Eldan Law LLP.
Recommended for infrastructure and energy (AsiaLaw Profiles, 2007), Edwin has advised on local and overseas projects and these include joint ventures, consortium arrangements and the review and drafting of an assortment contracts for engineering, infrastructure and building works. Projects where Edwin’s legal and commercial acumen proved invaluable include luxury hotels, industrial buildings, condominiums, roads and tunnels, mass rapid train stations, oil tanks, offshore rigs and jetties, and power plants.
Other significant matters include offering strategic advice on a large solar manufacturing project worth $6.3 billion, advising on the University Town project worth $400 million and helping clients to kick-start the $400 million National Art Gallery project. Edwin has also recently advised the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) on its contracts and tender documents for Singapore’s fourth university.
Edwin is an accredited adjudicator with the Singapore Mediation Centre, and a member of the Construction Adjudication Accreditation Committee, which oversees the selection and assessment of adjudicators. He is extremely familiar with the adjudication regime, having acted as Counsel in numerous adjudications whilst also possessing crucial insight into the minds of decision-makers given his experience as both Adjudicator and Review Adjudicator, hearing adjudications and adjudication reviews.
Apart from his active practice, Edwin is an Adjunct Assistant Professor with the National University of Singapore and is also currently a Consultant Instructor for the Nanyang Business School’s MBA programme. For the last 15 years, he has taught Building Contract Law at the Singapore Institute of Management for a degree programme on project management administered by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
Edwin is the author of Building Contract Law in Singapore, into its 2nd Edition (2003), a coauthor of Law & Practice of Injunctions in Singapore (2004), co-author of Confidentiality in Arbitration (2007), and one of the general editors of the annual Singapore Construction Adjudication Review.
Education
- LL.B. (Upper Second‐Class Honours), National University of Singapore, 1993
- M.Sc (Real Estate Development)
Professional Practice
- Founding Partner, Eldan Law LLP (2010 – present)
- Partner, Rajah & Tann / Rajah & Tann LLP (2003 – 2009)
- Director, CTLC Law Corporation (2002 – 2003)
- Partner, Chong Yeo & Partners (1999 – 2002)
- Associate / Senior Associate, Wong Partnership (1994 – 1999)
Publications / Exhibitions
Books / Journals
- Subject Editor, Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) Practitioner, on Construction Law
- Building Contract Law in Singapore (3nd Edition) (2016)
- Contributing Editor of the Singapore Journal of Construction Law (2016 ‐ 2017)
- General editor of the Singapore Construction Adjudication Review (2009 ‐ 2017)
- Co‐author (with Justice Quentin Loh), Confidentiality in Arbitration: How Far Does it Extend? (2007)
- Contributor to the Construction section of the book Singapore Precedents of Pleadings (2006)
- Co‐author, Law & Practice of Injunctions in Singapore (Sweet & Maxwell, 2004)
Articles
- ‘Pyramid Selling – the Need for Regulations’ (1995) 7 Singapore Academy of Law Journal 412
- Consultants’ Liability to Third Parties in Building Contracts’ (1999) 23 Asia Business Law Review 20
- ‘An Analysis of Pay‐When‐Paid Clauses’ (2003) 40 Asia Business Law Review 14
- ‘Pay When Paid or Pay if Paid?’ (2003) November / December issue, Southeast Asia Construction
- ‘One Chapter Closes, Another Opens’ – article on adjudications in SCL(S) S’pore Construction Law Newsletter No. 19 (2013) Jan/Feb 2013
- ‘Proposals for Amending the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act’ (2016) 1 SingJCL 19
Professional Affiliations
- Advocate and Solicitor, Supreme Court of Singapore, 1994
- Senior Accredited Specialist (Building and Construction), Singapore Academy of Law
- Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators
- Accredited Adjudicator in Singapore & Malaysia (CIPAA)
- CEDR Accredited Mediator
- Member, Law Society of Singapore
- Member, Society of Construction Law, Singapore