Sanjiv Kumar Rajan

Partner

Sanjiv is a litigator with more than two decades of experience, in practice areas spanning litigation, arbitration and white-collar crime and investigations.

Clients have described Sanjiv as a practitioner who “is fantastic to work with”, “incredibly knowledgeable”, “able to form an opinion quickly”, an “excellent negotiator and outstanding communicator”, “commercially aware”, “with vast business experience and practical perspective”, and a “top notch lawyer” who is able to deliver solutions “in the midst of complex chaos”.   Widely respected for his court craft, his conduct in matters has been described as impeccable, and in his speech at the Opening of the Legal Year 2020, the Attorney General referred to Sanjiv’s conduct as defence counsel on a matter as being “in line with the best traditions of the Bar”.

A market leader, Sanjiv is regularly instructed in high profile white-collar defence and fraud investigations work, commercial disputes, international and domestic arbitrations and employment, and health and safety investigations and prosecutions.

In terms of white-collar defence and investigations, Sanjiv advises clients on matters involving corruption, criminal breach of trust, insider trading and money-laundering.  He remains counsel of choice on regulatory investigations and was lead defence counsel for the Noble group in one of the largest regulatory investigations launched by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority under the Securities and Futures Act and the Companies Act.  The matter resulted in no individual being prosecuted, with a civil penalty imposed.  Sanjiv’s defence of a previous director of the Technology Department of the Singapore Civil Defence Force on charges of criminal breach of trust resulted in an acquittal, on appeal before the Singapore High Court.  

In terms of commercial practice, Sanjiv is regularly instructed on shareholder disputes, minority oppression, and derivative actions.  On the arbitration front, he is involved as counsel in both international domestic arbitrations before the Singapore International Arbitration Centre and the International Chamber of Commerce, and has successfully acted for clients in proceedings before the courts challenging arbitral awards.

Recently appointed as co-head of the Employment, Health & Safety Practice, Sanjiv has extensive experience in advising and representing clients in respect of employment, health and safety matters.  He regularly acts for and advises clients on employment disputes, ranging from restraint of trade to wrongful dismissal, retrenchment, and disciplinary inquiries.  For Health and Safety, he is also counsel of choice in relation to inquiries, investigations, and defence work relating to large-scale industrial accidents, chemical leakage and pollution.

A staunch, long-standing supporter of the pro bono community, Sanjiv has been described as a “paragon of excellence” in terms of his contributions in this space.  Appointed as lead counsel under the Legal Assistance for Capital Offence Scheme administered by the Supreme Court, he takes on regular appointments for accused persons facing capital charges, sits on Disciplinary Tribunals, acts for the Law Society in various proceedings, and defends lawyers facing disciplinary charges.

Sanjiv also contributes to the development of the legal profession in his various teaching roles.  He is a senior trainer for the advocacy module of the Part “B” course run by the Singapore Institute of Legal Education, an advocacy trainer with the National University of Singapore, and a mediation advocacy trainer with the Singapore Mediation Centre.

A Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators and a Principal Mediator with the Singapore Mediation Centre,  Sanjiv is also the Chairman of the Admissions Committee of the Law Society of Singapore, a Director with the School of the Arts, a member of the Programmes Committee of the SBF Foundation and a member of the Resource Pool of committee members for the Yellow Ribbon Fund.  Sanjiv is also the honorary legal adviser to Hao Ren Hao Shi, a non-profit set up to distribute food and essential supplies to needy families in Singapore.

Work Highlights

• Acted as lead counsel for New Noble in relation to recently concluded investigations by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Accounting & Corporate Regulatory Authority in relation to Noble Group Limited.
• Acted for a client in the financial services industry one of the largest employee-poaching claims in Singapore’s history, involving allegations of inducement and conspiracy.
• Acting for a client in the commodities sector in arbitration proceedings with claims in relation to various cross-border disputes with claims in excess of US$500 million.
• Acted for a client in the financial services industry in claims by an ex-employee in relation to claims involving a breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence, with claims for damages for post-traumatic stress disorder, the first of its kind in the local courts.
• Acted for a client in the aviation industry in a cross-jurisdictional, multi-million dollar employee misconduct inquiry, involving investigations by foreign and local authorities, including the Department of Justice.
• Acted for a client in a claim in the technology sector, against its previous in-house legal counsel for breaches of fiduciary duties, the first of its kind in Singapore.
• Acted for the estate of the deceased in the first posthumous call, in Singapore, of an advocate & solicitor to the Rolls.
• Acted for the Director of the Technology Department of the Singapore Civil Defence Force on charges of criminal breach of trust, resulting in an acquittal on appeal before the High Court.