Joseph & Partners

On the court record

Joseph & Partners is a Malaysian firm whose reported matters before the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) and the Court of Appeal (Mahkamah Rayuan) show a marked concentration in admiralty and shipping litigation, alongside banking and company work. In the admiralty field the firm has appeared in applications to set aside a warrant of arrest of a vessel, turning on whether a bareboat charterparty had been terminated, whether the plaintiffs had a right to possession of the vessel and whether control over the charterer conferred a proprietary interest, under Order 70 of the Rules of Court 2012. It has litigated the admiralty jurisdiction of the High Court itself, invoking section 24(b) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 read with the relevant provisions of the United Kingdom Senior Courts Act 1981, and the summary disposal of a jurisdictional question under Order 14A, in an ownership dispute between co-owners engaging resulting and constructive trusts and the terms of an investment agreement.

The firm's banking and corporate work includes a bank's application for summary judgment arising from facilities granted to finance the purchase of a vessel, secured by a mortgage over the vessel, where a receiver and manager had been appointed and had sold the vessel and the propriety of that conduct was in issue, and a winding-up petition under section 465(1)(e) of the Companies Act 2016 which was allowed. It has also argued a civil appeal on the distinction between the legal and evidential burdens of proof and the treatment of expert and circumstantial evidence. In a further admiralty action in rem the court examined competing claims of beneficial ownership between co-owners of a vessel and the resulting and constructive trusts said to arise from an investment agreement and the parties' contributions to the purchase price. The reported profile is that of a litigation practice with distinctive depth in admiralty and maritime disputes, an area demanding command of vessel arrest, charterparties and cross-jurisdictional statutes, complemented by banking-enforcement and company-winding-up work.