Ganga graduated in 2001 from the National University of Singapore. She started out her career in one of the largest law firms in Singapore until 2008 in the Litigation department, working with and for eminent lawyers in the litigation practice. During that time, Ganga was able to learn, develop and hone her skills primarily in litigation on a variety of disputes in Court and arbitration, including employment disputes, professional negligence, property disputes, commercial disputes, defamation, and criminal law. She also had the opportunity to do some transactional work, thereby developing her drafting skills.
Ganga spent a short time in a private wealth bank as an in-house counsel, before returning once again to litigation practice in Advocatus Law LLP in 2010.
Ganga’s practice has further developed and widened now to include banking litigation, shipping disputes, construction disputes, matrimonial disputes, and advisory and commercial drafting work. Ganga’s active practice in litigation has seen her canvass her arguments in all levels of our Courts, including in the Court of Appeal.
Ganga’s work ethic has always been to give her best regardless of the type of work, client, or amount of claim. She works hard and revels in giving her clients a fighting chance, and has often turned matters around for the client successfully.
Accolades
Memberships/Appointments
Litigation
(1) Represented a tenant (Plaintiff) who had had her store items seized by the landlord upon a wrongful termination of her shophouse lease. The tenant was unable to produce evidence of the value of the goods that were seized, but succeeded in her claim for aggravated damages against the landlord (Lim Kai Xin v Personal Representative of the Estate of Ong Ah Lak (Deceased) and another [2017] SGDC 319). (2) (Confidential) Represented a bank (Plaintiff) who claimed from the Defendant, for receivables from sales contracts assigned by its 2 customers to the Defendant. The total value of the claims amounted to US$15 million. The Defendant was a debtor of the 2 customers of the Plaintiff and the Defendant relied on a right of legal and equitable set-off to dispute the claims by the Plaintiff. (3) Assisted in representing TJH Law Corporation (Defendant) in its defence against a claim by beneficiaries of a will in which the Defendant had been jointly appointed to act in a sale of a substantial piece of property that belonged to the deceased who owned a large property amounting to approximately S$5.4 million. The action involved complex questions of trusts and duties owed by a solicitor where there is dispute over entitlement of proceeds from Deceased's estate. The claim against the Defendant was dismissed, with the Plaintiffs being ordered to pay costs to the Defendant on an indemnity basis (Foo Jee Boo and another v Foo Jhee Tuang and others [2016] SGHC 260). (4) Assisted in representing the Defendant whose employment was terminated by the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff claimed for outstanding loans due to it, and the Defendant counterclaimed for wrongful termination of his fixed term contract, and his entitlements as a partner. In the course of the proceedings, the Plaintiff sought a stay of the proceedings in Singapore on the basis of an exclusive jurisdiction clause in the partnership agreement. This was successfully resisted on the basis that there was strong cause to have the litigation continued in Singapore (BGC Partners (Singapore) Ltd v Tan Wee Hiong Kevin [2017] SGHC 214).
Matrimonial matters
(1) Acted for the Defendant-wife in her appeal against the Plaintiff-husband’s successful application to reduce the Defendant’s maintenance from S$3,509 to S$100. The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and reinstated the Defendant-wife’s maintenance to S$3,509, finding that the Plaintiff-husband had not been forthright or honest about his financial status. (2) Acted for the Defendant-husband in matrimonial proceedings in which the Plaintiff-wife had unilaterally taken their 2 children out of the matrimonial home. The Court ultimately ordered parties to have shared care and control of the 2 children, 2 weeks at a time, which is a fairly uncommon order to be made (VGG v VGH [2020] SGFC 23).
Arbitration and Dispute Resolution
(1) Acted for a design and build interior design company against a government entity under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act for work done. The claim was complex, involving 13 payment claims, was in excess of S$340,000, and allowed in full. (2) Assisted in representing a Korean conglomerate listed on the Korean Exchange in its claim against an Indonesia company in respect of its investment in a coal company in Indonesia, which turned sour and precipitated 2 Singapore International Arbitration Centre international arbitrations and a number of court actions in the Singapore High Court and Court of Appeal, involving claims of conspiracy to defraud and breaches of long-term investment agreements.
Career Highlights