Shook Lin & Bok

On the court record

Shook Lin & Bok appears in the reported judgments as a commercial and banking litigation practice, acting in a wide range of record positions — respondent, defendant, plaintiff, intervener, petitioner and third party — and working mainly in the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi). Contract disputes recur, including a sale-of-goods matter turning on whether a "pay-when-paid" clause made the buyer's payment obligation conditional on its own receipt of payment. Banking is a defining strand: matters on mandate and forged cheques engaging sections 24, 73A and 95 and the respective duties of customer and banker, and Islamic-financing enforcement involving guarantees and the service of a letter of demand, for example in litigation concerning Kuwait Finance House (Malaysia) Berhad, together with questions of individual guarantor liability under Murabahah and Tawarruq facilities. The firm also appears in insolvency and bankruptcy — an application for discharge from bankruptcy and whether the Senior Assistant Registrar erred in the exercise of discretion, and matters involving a liquidator of a construction company — and in procedural contests such as discovery under Order 24 rules 3 and 7 of the Rules of Court 2012, and appeals struck out for non-compliance where a party failed to serve notices of appeal or to file and serve the record of appeal in time. Its counterparties include financial institutions such as Malayan Banking Berhad, Public Bank Berhad, AmInvestment Bank Berhad and Affin Hwang Investment Bank Berhad, together with corporate parties. Occasional matters reach the Court of Appeal (Mahkamah Rayuan) and the Federal Court (Mahkamah Persekutuan). Its contract work also touches pleading and practice, estoppel, and the construction of commercial terms, while its banking litigation ranges from the enforcement of financing facilities to the allocation of loss where a cheque is dishonoured or forged. The overall pattern is that of a firm acting for banks and corporations in contract, banking, insolvency and procedural disputes, with the enforcement of guarantees and the recovery of debt forming a consistent thread through its docket.