Speakers

NIRU PILLAI, is a Barrister at Law of England & Wales. He was called to the English Bar by the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple in 1976. He holds two Masters degrees from The University of Melbourne and Nottingham Trent University. The latter is an LLM in Advanced Litigation which he attained with distinction.

He is also an Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore since 1978. In 1990, he was admitted as a Barrister & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK and a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators.

Niru has appeared as counsel in the Privy Council with Anthony Clarke QC (Lord Justice Clarke, formerly a member of the Supreme Court of England the Master of the Rolls) and Gordon Pollock QC in two major appeals (reported in Lloyds Law Reports, All England Law Reports and Lloyds Maritime Law Quarterly). One of the decisions led to changes being made to marine insurance terms by Lloyds.

Niru has also appeared as lead counsel on an ad-hoc basis in the High Court of Brunei.

He has represented several parties on Commissions of Inquiry in Singapore.

Several cases in which he has been involved as counsel and/or solicitor, are landmark decisions in Singapore and are reported in Singapore, Malaysian and English law reports.

Niru also sits as an arbitrator in domestic and international arbitration disputes.

Niru’s forte covers all aspects of litigation work straddling insurance, reinsurance, shipping and admiralty, medical and healthcare, professional negligence, aviation, media (defamation), commercial, corporate, civil, banking, international trade, employment, energy and utilities (oil and gas or power plants) and arbitration. In some of these areas, Niru also does advisory work.

In the medical and healthcare practice, since 1982 Niru has represented hospitals, many doctors and dentists in defence of medical negligence actions as well as in professional disciplinary matters. Niru has also acted for patients and their families, in medical negligence suits. Niru is currently the Honorary Legal Advisor to the Singapore Dental Association

Niru is also an exponent in Plain English Drafting having been trained by Professor Robert Eagleson of Sydney. He has also been involved in Advanced Litigation training for lawyers in Malaysia and Brunei (as specialist counsel to the Attorney General’s Chambers in Brunei).

Niru is currently a senior and managing director of Niru & Co LLC. The predecessor to this firm was Niru & Co, founded by him in 1978. Niru & Co was previously in a formal association with CMS Cameron McKenna, a top ten tier law firm in the United Kingdom.

Niru retired from the National University of Singapore as an Adjunct Associate Professorin July 2008 after having taught law since 1993 for engineering students at the Faculty of Engineering.

Niru speaks and writes English, Tamil and Malay.

His private interests are reading, writing, classical music, travel, mountain trekking and community/social work.