William Ong

Partner

William is the Co-Head of the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Department. His areas of practice encompass international arbitration, banking litigation, corporate insolvency and restructuring as well as corporate litigation. 

William has substantial experience in banking litigation, financial and securities-related disputes, and regularly acts in disputes involving structured products, margin trading, valuations, guarantees and enforcement of security. He is also actively involved in representing clients in corporate disputes, such as shareholder and directors’ disputes as well as joint venture disputes. William has special interest in the field of assessment of damages and valuation methodology, as he believes that most disputes would be ultimately concerned with damages and its assessment - he is familiar with the technical and legal aspects of this area which is valued by clients.

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2020 states that William “…never …disappoint(s) with his ability to distill the issues and bring about an amicable and (most importantly) commercially palatable resolution to any situation.”, while the 2019 edition notes that he “can zero in on the key issues of concern, map out strategic solutions and passionately deliver legal arguments”.

William joined the Firm in 2000 after he was called to the Singapore Bar and has been a Partner since 2006.

Work Highlights

• Acting in a dispute between an insurer and a bank involving fraud and the legality of trust/investment structures spanning various jurisdictions like Singapore, Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands, as well as the validity of security, with a value of about US$200 million.
• Acted in an international arbitration involving a joint venture dispute between a Chinese enterprise and its East Asian partner involving foreign regulatory issues, foreign law, and the assessment methodology of damages, where the claim is about RMB300 million. 
• Acting in a dispute between Malaysian and Chinese parties over the due diligence process in an aborted acquisition deal, where parties are contesting the recoverability of deposits and payments made by purchaser.