Brenda Chan leads the team at D&P’s Disputes practice group.

Specialising in civil litigation, she advises and represents clients in a range of legal disputes and has honed her skills in one of the biggest leading law firms in Malaysia prior to moving on to a boutique setup.

Brenda’s breadth of experience spans from fast-paced chamber applications to full trials as well as playing instrumental roles in hearings at the highest appellate level, and her work has resulted in a number of reported case judgments.

Key Practice Areas

• Commercial Disputes
• Insolvency and Restructuring
• Construction Disputes
• Banking and Financial Disputes
• Strata Management
• Compulsory Land Acquisition
• Debt Recovery
• Industrial Relations and Labour
• Professional Negligence
• Probate and Estate Administration
• Defamation

Work Highlights

• Acted for a main contractor in a construction back-to-back claim brought by the sub-contractor and the principal was brought in as third party, and successfully mitigated and reduced liability exposure for the client by more than 60%.
• Acted for a shareholder embroiled in a minority oppression dispute with a collateral suit for directors’ breach of trust and fiduciary duty and successfully obtained judgment in the client’s favour.
• Acted for an Islamic bank in a dispute whereby the customer challenged the validity of the financings granted on the ground that the financings and/or the bank’s conduct was against Islamic principles, and successfully resisted various interlocutory applications for injunctive relief.
• Advised a foreign client on obtaining the assistance of Malaysian courts for the purposes of legal proceedings in a foreign jurisdiction.
• Played an instrumental role in a Federal Court appeal leading to a landmark judgment on the extent of the duty of a solicitor to a defrauded third party, whereby she had successfully defended a claim against the solicitor for professional negligence. The Federal Court’s judgment is reported at Pushpaleela R Selvarajah & Anor v Rajamani Meyappa Chettiar & Other Appeals [2019] 2 MLJ 553.
• Played an instrumental role in a Federal Court appeal leading to a landmark judgment on medical negligence, in which she acted for the patient and succeeded in resisting the doctors’ and hospital’s appeal against liability and quantum of damages. The Federal Court’s judgment is reported at Dr Hari Krishnan & Anor v Megat Noor Ishak Megat Ibrahim & Anor And Another Appeal [2018] 3 MLJ 281.
• Acted for a financial institution against the Government of Malaysia in a claim for unjust enrichment due to financing extended for the commissioned construction of two military vessels by a wound-up company. The continued financing was only extended on the strength of verbal assurances given by Government officers that approval for waiver of liquidated damages could be secured, which did not materialize in the end. The value of the claim was more than RM35.5 million. Successfully obtained judgment after full trial in the client’s favour which was later affirmed by the Court of Appeal. The High Court’s judgment can be found at Malayan Banking Bhd v Government of Malaysia [2023] MLJU 2015
• Acted for a developer in a dispute with religious entities for delivery of possession of land and successfully resisted multiple simultaneous attempts at injunctive relief. One of the judgments of the High Court is reported at Ramachandran Meyappan & Ors v Chellapan K Kalimuthu & Ors [2019] 12 MLJ 488.

• LLB (Hons) (First Class) / University of Reading
• Barrister-at-law / Inner Temple
• Advocate & Solicitor / Malaya