William Ong

Partner

William is the Co-Head of the Litigation & Dispute Resolution Department. His areas of practice encompass international arbitration, banking litigation and corporate insolvency and restructuring.   He is actively involved in representing clients in corporate disputes, such as shareholder and directors’ disputes as well as joint venture disputes, in the fora of the Courts and arbitration.

He often acts in shareholder litigation, such as alleged minority oppression, breach of directors’ duties, misappropriation of company property (including information) as well as disputes arising out of M&A transactions. Where arbitrations are concerned, he was most recently involved in a case where the Singapore court ruled on whether there should be any presumption of admissibility for pre-arbitration requirements.

William has special interest in the field of assessment of damages and valuation methodology, as he believes that most disputes would be ultimately concerned with damages and its assessment - he is familiar with the technical and legal aspects of this area which is valued by clients.

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2024 states that William is “able to clearly identify a litigation strategy and prepare the case accordingly”  and “has the ability to break complex matters into manageable steps”, whilst the 2020 edition states that he “…never …disappoint(s) with his ability to distill the issues and bring about an amicable and (most importantly) commercially palatable resolution to any situation.”.  He is also recognised in the Top 30 Litigators 2025 list by Asian Legal Business.

William joined the Firm in 2000 after he was called to the Singapore Bar and has been a Partner since 2006.  He also serves as the Deputy Chairman of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra in Singapore.

Work Highlights

• Acting for the insurer in a dispute between an insurer and a bank spanning arbitration in Taiwan and court proceedings in Singapore. It involved fraud and the legality of trust/investment structures spanning various jurisdictions like Singapore, Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands, as well as the validity of security, with a value of about US$200 million.
• Acted in a dispute between Malaysian and Chinese parties over the due diligence process in an aborted acquisition deal, where parties are contesting the recoverability of deposits and payments made by purchaser.
• Acting for the liquidator in seeking to recover funds from a director and controlling shareholder of the Park Hotel Group arising out of claims at an undervalue, declared dividends and transfer of receivables amounting to S$60 million or more.