The book launch by Mr Chow Kok Fong was held at JW Marriot at South Beach on 17 Nov 2023. It was attended by more than 150 practitioners, lawyers, Judges and invited guests.
Mr Chow, a seasoned writer, published more than 20 books so far . He sets aside time each Saturday to do his writing after walking his 20,000 steps to keep both mind and body fit.
The Seminar & Book Launch Of The ” Construction Arbitration” gave audience insights of how Mr Chow addresses practical and pragmatic challenges in Arbitration, whether it is resolving the difference between quantum and cost , or , the approach to challenges issues in complex construction cases. Mr Chow’s systematic approach gives insights to how he thinks when approaching such challenges . These are peals of wisdom for practitioners in the industry.
The seminar that followed discussed the practical issues on dealing with experts and managing documents in the construction Arbitration.
Kirin (Dentons) discussed about downsizing voluminous and convoluted documents, digitally storing them and equipped with data security. There is an element of good indexing for fast and accurate data extraction. Edwin (Elden Law) discussed on getting good lawyers and not to cap the fees of lawyers else good support would not be given. On the issue of engaging experts, Chien Mien (A&G) mentioned the need for independence of good and reliable experts that are not bias. Ian (Wong P) also emphasized that both Counsel and Experts have to be well prepared in all aspects else opposing Counsel will “crucify” the opposing parties and experts. He further elaborated that the Experts should not come to conclusions in their expert reports and statements, but rather, be objective of the evidence before the expert.
Generally, the speakers also commented that Lawyer fee agreements may provide for an “uplift” that is agreed upfront and not pegged to a “contract sum” sort of an arrangement. Certainly the no win-no fee arrangement is discouraged.
The seminar session ended off with a Panel discussion with questions directed to Mr Chow on how he would choose good experts and choose on the various ways to get value from the Experts and to spend their time effectively in the preparation, reports and the like. For instance, there is the Expert led Hot- Tubbing, Tribunal Let Hot-Tubbing and Counsel Led Hot-Tubbing and each have their own advantages and disadvantages. Rather than concentrate on the expert themselves, lawyers should get value out of the experts on their opinions and knowledge.
We look forward to Mr Chow’s next book launch and seminar session.
