Charmaine Neo

Charmaine Neo 梁筱嫣

Director
charmaine.neo@fortelaw.com
+65 6505 0203

Charmaine is a dispute resolution lawyer with expertise in employment disputes, cross-border corporate investigations (including anti-bribery and fraud), and regulatory compliance.

Charmaine has worked in both private practice at a local Big Four law firm, and in-house with a top Singapore listed company with a global footprint in more than 20 countries.

Charmaine has represented clients before all levels of court in Singapore (including the Singapore Medical Council’s disciplinary proceedings) as well as arbitration with the International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”).

During her time in-house, Charmaine handled significant cross-border anti-bribery and fraud investigations involving government authorities in both Singapore and the U.S., as well as internal corporate investigations into anti-bribery and employment / conduct matters in Singapore, China, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Charmaine also worked with top law firms in the US and Shanghai, China in relation to significant cross-border litigation matters, including a claim involving fraud and RICO Act-related matters worth over US$500 million in the US District Court, and complex employment disputes in the Shanghai Labor Arbitration Tribunal and the Singapore High Court.

Charmaine is also experienced in advising on regulatory compliance matters, having designed scalable compliance programs for data protection (PDPA / GDPR), international trade and sanctions, anti-corruption, and anti-money laundering. She has also advised Dubai Healthcare City, a foreign quasi-government entity, on an overhaul its medical regulations framework, including drafting regulations in respect of oversight and disciplinary processes, and standards of medical education and research.

Charmaine graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB, Hons). She is a member of the Association of Corporate Investigators.

Significant Matters

Successfully obtained a permanent injunction in the Singapore Court of Appeal for a local listed company against an international bank, thus preventing the bank from paying out US$18 million under counter-guarantees on grounds of fraud (reported as Arab Banking Corp (B.S.C.) v Boustead Singapore Ltd [2016] 3 SLR 557);
Represented a private education institution in Singapore in a claim for wrongful termination of contract against two government bodies (reported as The Stansfield Group Pte Ltd (trading as Stansfield College) v Consumers’ Association of Singapore and NTUC Income Insurance Co-Operative Limited [2011] 4 SLR 130);
Represented a bank in defending an allegation of unfair preference in a High Court suit and appeal (reported as Rabobank International, Singapore branch v Jurong Technologies Industrial Corp Ltd (under judicial management) [2011] 4 SLR 977);
Represented an Italian company in an ICC arbitration against its former joint venture partner, a Malaysian listed company. The arbitration centred on quantification of damages suffered for breaches of contract and loss of profit exceeding US$50 million;
Represented the Singapore Medical Council in disciplinary proceedings against a doctor who administered a surgical treatment not accepted by the profession outside the context of an approved clinical trial;
Represented a patient in a defamation claim against a top local plastic surgeon;
Represented foreign high net worth individuals in novel local judicial review proceedings against the Singapore tax authority;
Defended a senior officer in a top marine company against charges of corruption and falsification of documents;
Represented the ex-wife of a foreign national football team in acrimonious divorce proceedings;
Co-authored the Singapore chapter of the 2nd and 3rd editions of The Life Sciences Law Review, which provides an overview of legal issues of interest to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies in more than 30 jurisdictions; and
Seconded to Tokyo to work at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, a top Japanese law firm, to assist with English language arbitration and disputes involving international MNCs.