Davinder Singh

Davinder Singh Sachdev (born 1 August 1957) is a Singaporean lawyer and former politician. A former member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Toa Payoh division of Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency (GRC) between 1988 and 1991 and the Toa Payoh East division of Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC between 1997 and 2006.

Singh has worked at the law firm Drew & Napier for 37 years, spending 17 years as its chief executive officer, and the last two as executive chairman. In 2019, Singh left Drew & Napier to start his own law firm, Davinder Singh Chambers. Singh is widely regarded as Singapore's top litigator, he is best known for representing Singapore prime ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Lee Hsien Loong in civil lawsuits, as well as acting for Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) in the National Kidney Foundation scandal.

In 1997, Singh was appointed to the first batch of Senior Counsels (SCs) in Singapore. He is the Chairman of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre.

Singh has been widely acknowledged as Singapore's top litigator and being without peer. Amongst the many honours and accolades he has received include winning the ALB South East Asia "Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year" award twice and being the first lawyer from the Asia-Pacific region to be inducted into the Benchmark Litigation Hall of Fame. Some others have called him "legendary" and "the best cross-examiner in Singapore".

Early life and education Singh's father, Amar Singh, was born in Quetta, British India (present-day Balochistan, Pakistan) and left for British Malaya as an economic migrant. His mother was born in Kuala Lumpur. Amar Singh moved first to Kuala Lumpur, and then moved again to early post-independence Singapore with his family, working as a travel agent. Davinder Singh grew up alongside two brothers and two sisters.

Singh completed his early education in the Lasallian Saint Michael's School, following in his two older brothers' footsteps. He went on to attend Saint Joseph's Institution, as was the normal progression of students at Saint Michael's School at that time. He was not focused on academics, and, to his parents' disappointment, entered the arts stream rather than the sciences stream after his Secondary 2 examinations. He nevertheless performed well in his GCE Ordinary Level examinations, enabling him entry into the newly-established National Junior College, then a prestigious government school in Singapore. Singh decided that he enjoyed advocacy, and charted his career accordingly. founder of Hin Leong, Lim Oon Kuin for cheating and forgery and Hyflux founder Olivia Lum for violations of Singapore's Securities and Futures Act. He also represented Ministers K. Shanmugam and Tan See Leng in their defamation suits against Terry Xu and Bloomberg.

Notable cases

2005 National Kidney Foundation scandal

In 2005, Singh represented Singapore Press Holdings in a lawsuit brought against them by T. T. Durai, Chief Executive Officer of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), for defamation in relation to an article written by one of their correspondents. Durai dropped the case on the second day of the trial.

2014–15 Roy Ngerng defamation case In 2014, Singh and three other lawyers from Drew & Napier represented Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a defamation lawsuit against blogger Roy Ngerng, who was represented by M Ravi and Eugene Thuraisingam. On 7 November 2014, Justice Lee Seiu Kin found Ngerng to have defamed Lee Hsien Loong in an online article whose contents suggested that the Prime Minister was guilty of criminal misappropriation. In July 2015, during a hearing to assess the amount of damages he has to pay Lee Hsien Loong, Ngerng broke down in tears while he was being cross-examined by Singh. On 17 December 2015, the judge handed down a judgement ordering Ngerng to pay S$100,000 in general damages and S$50,000 in aggravated damages. Ngerng, through his lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, proposed to pay the S$150,000 in instalments – a request granted by Lee Hsien Loong on the condition that Ngerng paid the S$30,000 in hearing costs immediately, i.e., by 16 March 2016. Ngerng is expected to repay $100 a month from 1 April 2016 onwards over five years until 1 April 2021 when instalments are increased to S$1,000 until the full sum has been paid by the year 2033.

Political career In 1987, Home Affairs Minister S. Jayakumar, who had taught Singh constitutional law when he was a lecturer at the National University of Singapore, asked Singh to consider becoming a Member of Parliament. Singh, at that time, had a busy practice and was focused on his career, and was not sure that he was prepared for the commitment. However, Singh decided to accept, for a number of reasons. Singh's parents were ardent admirers of Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, and Singh knew that joining the PAP would make his mother and late father proud. Singh was himself an admirer of Lee. Once, when asked by Grimberg what he wanted to be in fifteen years, Singh replied, "I'd like to be Lee Kuan Yew's lawyer", to which Grimberg replied, "You will be."

Personal life Singh has two sons, who work in his Chambers.

Honours