Felicia Lai Wai Kim

On the court record

A specialist construction-adjudication practice under CIPAA, conducted mainly in the High Court.

Felicia Lai Wai Kim practises in construction and commercial litigation, appearing mainly in the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) with some Court of Appeal (Mahkamah Rayuan) work. The reported decisions are concentrated on statutory adjudication under the Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012 (CIPAA), the fast-track payment regime for the construction industry. Several matters are applications to enforce or to set aside an adjudication decision, and the reasons turn on whether the adjudicator acted in excess of jurisdiction and on the grounds for setting an award aside under the Act.

Appearing on both sides of the record — as plaintiff, defendant and respondent — the practice is instructed by employers, contractors and sub-contractors in payment disputes arising from building works. The recurring questions are jurisdictional and procedural: whether the adjudicator decided a matter that was properly referred, whether the decision was reached in breach of natural justice, and whether the statutory conditions for enforcement or for a stay of the adjudicated sum are satisfied.

The adjudication work is document-intensive and time-sensitive. The reasons frequently turn on the terms of the construction contract, the payment claim and payment response mechanism, and the strict timelines that CIPAA imposes, as well as on the limited grounds — including excess of jurisdiction and denial of natural justice — on which the court will interfere with an adjudicator's decision. The interplay between the adjudication regime and any parallel arbitration or court proceedings is a further recurring theme.

The overall profile is a specialist construction-adjudication practice conducted principally at first instance in the High Court. The matters turn on the CIPAA regime, the adjudicator's jurisdiction, and the narrow grounds for enforcing or setting aside an adjudication decision, rather than on any criminal or public-law dimension, marking a focused speciality in the payment machinery of the construction industry.