Drew & Napier adding lawyers Siraj Omar, Christopher Chong

Singapore

DREW & Napier is adding two leading lawyers to its team amid a number of movements in the legal profession.

The Business Times understands that senior counsel Siraj Omar will rejoin Drew & Napier in July. He will bring over a team of eight lawyers, including himself, from joint law venture RPC Premier Law, where he is currently partner and head of dispute resolution.

Mr Omar spent the first four years of his career at Drew & Napier. Altogether, he has accumulated more than two decades of experience in dispute resolution, with an extensive focus on banking and finance, commercial litigation, and insolvency cases.

Drew & Napier also announced that construction law specialist Christopher Chong has joined the firm as an equity director.

Mr Chong, who has close to two decades of experience in his field, will lead Drew & Napier's construction and engineering practice.

That team now comprises 12 lawyers, which includes five lawyers who joined from Mr Chong's own practice, cLegal LLC, which ceased to operate after he moved over. Before establishing cLegal in January 2014, Mr Chong was a partner at international law firm Pinsent Masons LLP.

An experienced lead counsel in construction litigation, Mr Chong has represented clients at all levels in the Singapore courts and in international and domestic arbitrations. Some of his construction clients include Samsung C & T, Lendlease Singapore and Tiong Seng.

His experience also spans banking and finance as well as natural resources dispute work.

Mr Chong, who is ranked by legal publication Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific as a leading dispute resolution and construction lawyer, is an accredited adjudicator with the Singapore Mediation Centre as well.

Commenting on his move, Mr Chong said: "I am honoured to lead the construction practice in the dispute resolution powerhouse of Singapore. Drew & Napier has a 130-year history , driven by a forward-thinking leadership team. I am proud to be a part of the exceptional Drew family."

Drew & Napier chief executive Cavinder Bull welcomed Mr Chong on board, recognising him as a "leading light in construction law".

Separately, Eng and Co announced that managing partner Rachel Eng joined audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) global legal leadership team on June 1. (see amendment note)

Eng and Co is a member firm of PwC Legal, and the legal arm of the PwC network, specialising in corporate and commercial legal services.

Amendment note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Rachel Eng joined PwC's global leadership team. It is in fact the global legal leadership team . The article above has been revised to reflect this.