Biography
KOH Swee Yen, Senior Counsel, is the Head of the International Arbitration Practice and a Partner in the Commercial & Corporate Disputes and Commodities & International Trade Practices of WongPartnership.
Her practice focuses on complex, high-value and multi-jurisdictional disputes involving asset recovery, commodities, energy, fraud, infrastructure, international trade, joint ventures, transport and technology. In addition to her active counsel practice in international commercial and investment arbitration and before the Singapore courts (including the Singapore International Commercial Court), she is admitted to the Roll of Solicitors of England & Wales and also has rights of audience before the DIFC Courts.
Swee Yen is the Co-Chair of the IPBA Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Committee, and an officer of the IBA Asia Pacific Regional Forum. She has been appointed as a member of the ICC Court, and was also the former Vice-Chair of the IBA Arbitration Committee. In addition to being on the Executive Committee of the Foundation for International Arbitration Advocacy, Swee Yen is the President of the Singapore branch of the International Law Association, and on the Governing Board for the Centre of International Law, National University of Singapore.
She is highly recommended in leading legal publications, and earned the distinction of a Global Elite Thought Leader in Who's Who Legal: Arbitration 2024. She is recognised as a Thought Leader in Who's Who Legal: Commercial Litigation 2024, and also ranked in Asset Recovery 2024 and Energy 2024. She was awarded Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year at the ALB SE Asia Law Awards 2024 and Litigation Lawyer of the Year at The Legal 500 Southeast Asia Awards 2023.
Regarded as the "go-to disputes lawyer in Singapore", Swee Yen is described as “a doyenne of the litigation world”, a “powerhouse and a force of nature” and "in a league of her own". Known to "always bring her A-game to everything she does and someone you want in your corner in a life or death situation", sources also praise her for a "keen sense of strategy" and "great ability to quickly grasp her clients' perspective and understand their commercial issues".