Lim Jin Wen

On the court record

Lim Jin Wen appears in the corpus in professional-discipline, insolvency and general civil litigation, argued in the High Court (Mahkamah Tinggi) and the Court of Appeal (Mahkamah Rayuan). One High Court matter, appearing for the appellant, concerned the legal profession under the Legal Profession Act 1976: a complaint of professional misconduct founded on the breach of a solicitor's undertaking, and whether the Disciplinary Board had erred in dismissing the complaint under section 100(3)(a), together with the duties of a solicitor acting as a stakeholder — whether the stakeholder is obliged to follow the instructions of the party who appointed him or the terms of the stakeholding agreement, and whether the deposit should be released where conditions precedent are not met. A Court of Appeal matter, appearing for the appellant, turned on a point of insolvency procedure of general importance: whether leave of court is required before an action or proceeding may be brought against the liquidator of a wound-up company, the court explaining that a court-appointed liquidator is an officer of the court under section 486 of the Companies Act 2016 and that leave is required so that the liquidator can carry out his statutory duties without having to defend unnecessary proceedings; because leave had not been obtained before the originating summons was filed, it was held to be incompetent. A third matter, in the High Court and appearing for the appellant, was an appeal against a Sessions Court decision that had dismissed a suit for want of proof, where the alleged payment of a substantial sum was not proved, a challenge based on section 114(g) of the Evidence Act 1950 failed, and the res judicata point did not affect an outcome that turned independently on the merits; the appeal was dismissed with costs. Across the appearances the practice combines professional discipline with insolvency procedure and appellate review of findings of fact.