Practice Areas:
QUALIFICATION:
EDUCATION:
Languages:
Walter’s practice includes banking and finance-related litigation, restructuring and insolvency, and international arbitration. He regularly advises and acts for a diverse range of financial institutions, banks, and lenders in contentious corporate as well as personal insolvency matters.
Walter also specialises in hire purchase, auto-finance and healthcare related disputes. His experience includes acting for industry leaders, start-ups, and various healthcare providers in these spaces.
As a Legal Specialist Staff Officer with the Singapore Armed Forces, Walter is familiar with military, international humanitarian, and operations laws. He has also advised military personnel in disciplinary matters.
Walter is also an Accredited Mediator with the Singapore Mediation Centre and is currently serving as an appointed Mediator with Singapore’s Ministry of Law Community Mediation Centre. Walter previously taught mediation at Singapore Polytechnic.
Walter frequently volunteers with Justice Without Borders as well as various initiatives under Pro Bono SG. He is currently a member of Singapore’s Ministry of Defence Pro Bono Panel.
Prior to practice, Walter co-founded an education start-up and oversaw its overseas expansion, working primarily in Vietnam and China.
- Acted for the liquidators of a former SGX-listed company to wind up another company on just and equitable grounds;
- Acted for an auto-finance company to appoint alternate private trustees on the basis that the original nominees lacked independence;
- Acted for a financial institution in a contested mortgage application involving a property valued at more than S$14 million;
- Resisted the setting aside of a statutory demand based on a debt arising from the High Court’s decision in DDI v DDJ & Anor [2024] SGHC 68, which was upheld on appeal;
- Acted for a digitized trade finance platform in HKIAC arbitration proceedings involving a Chinese state-linked entity;
- Acted for a foreign high net worth individual in SIAC arbitration proceedings involving a claim for breach of a share sale agreement which was upheld by the Court of Appeal in Karan Chandur Tilani v Maarten Hein Bernard Koedijk and another [2024] 2 SLR 361;
- Acted for a high net worth individual involving a breach of an oral loan agreement and running accounts in Manoj Dharmadas Kalwani v Bharat Dharmadas Kalwani [2024] SGHC 70;
- Acted (as instructed counsel) for a Cayman-incorporated company’s appeal in Ascentra Holdings, Inc (in official liquidation) and others v SPGK Pte Ltd [2023] 2 SLR 421 and [2024] 1 SLR 130 where the Court of Appeal held for the first time that a foreign company need not be insolvent or in financial distress to be granted recognition under Singapore’s adaptation of UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross Border Insolvency;
- Acted for RHB Bank Berhad in Re All Measure Technology (S) Pte Ltd [2023] 5 SLR 1421 in opposing a scheme of arrangement application where the High Court clarified that procedural requirements were equally important as substantive requirements in such applications;
- Acted for the Law Society of Singapore in The Law Society of Singapore v Shanmugam Manohar [2023] SGDT 9 where the Tribunal addressed the novel issue of whether it had the power to compel a witness to attend court pursuant to an order issued by the High Court;
- Acted for DBS Trustee in Singapore’s first application for foreign insolvency proceedings and orders to be recognized under common law in relation to a real estate investment trust;
- Acted for an international hospitality chain in SIAC arbitration proceedings involving a land purchase dispute governed by Indonesian law;
- Advised a Singapore-based telehealth start-up on the relevant medico-legal compliance and regulatory requirements prior to the introduction of Phase 2 of the Healthcare Services Act;
- Assisted a coalition of more than 16 banks to resist various moratorium applications filed by Agritrade International Pte Ltd in connection with an aggregate debt of more than US$1 billion;
- Assisted with the recovery of a cross-border banking facility in excess of US$124 million in Indonesia; and
- Acted for DBS Bank in obtaining summary judgment in relation to a claim for S$500,000.
- Nurturing the Next Generation of Mediators: A Review of the Mediation Landscape and Opportunities for Young Mediators in Singapore and Hong Kong [2024] Asian JM 67-91;
- Book Review: Contemporary Issues in Mediation (Volume 8) in the Asian Journal of Mediation [2023] Asian JM 90-96;
- Book Review: The Hong Kong Mediation Manual (3rd Edition) in the Asian Journal of Mediation [2022] Asian JM 88-93;
- Halsbury’s Laws of Singapore Volume 1(3) on Bankruptcy (2022 Reissue) (Contributor);
- Halsbury’s Laws of Singapore Volume 13 on Insolvency (2022 Reissue) (Contributor);
- Our Grandfather Story: A Legal History of Military Law in Singapore (2020-2021) 38 Sing L Rev 126-153; and
- “Good Faith Since Toshin: A Beginner’s Guide to Understanding and Encouraging Good Faith in Mediation” in Contemporary Issues in Mediation (Volume 5) (2020).