Wan Shahida Binti Wan Omar

On the court record

The reported matters span arbitration-immunity, arbitration-reference and civil-procedure work, grounded in High Court, Court of Appeal and Federal Court judgments.

Wan Shahida Binti Wan Omar's reported matters are concentrated in arbitration-related and public-law disputes, argued in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court. A significant apex-court matter concerned the extent of the legal immunity enjoyed by an international organisation in Malaysia, namely whether the immunity conferred on the Asian International Arbitration Centre protected it from suit. Appearing for a respondent, the Federal Court held that the words of the statutory provision were clear in providing that no action or suit could be instituted or maintained against the centre or its officers, giving effect to its immunity.

Arbitration procedure features in a High Court matter concerning whether a reference to arbitration by the High Court under subsection 24A(2) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 is the same as a reference to arbitration under the Arbitration Act 2005, and the effect of the terms of a consent order; appearing for a respondent, the Court ordered costs of RM30,000 to the applicant.

Civil procedure completes the profile. In a Court of Appeal matter arising from a failure to comply with an unless order, the non-compliance resulting in the automatic striking out of a defence and counterclaim, she appeared for the appellants, and the Court dismissed the appeal, ordering costs of RM10,000 to be paid to the respondent. A thread across these decisions is the interaction of arbitration, immunity and procedure with the enforcement of rights, from the statutory immunity of an arbitral institution and the meaning of a court-ordered reference to arbitration, to the strict consequences of failing to comply with an unless order, argued in the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court of Malaysia. The reported work thus sits in the arbitration and public-law fields, grounded in the judgments, with a recurring focus on how statutory text and procedural rules are given effect once their words are clear.