The Girard-Foley law firm
Our law practice has developed in response to a need for legal assistance in a narrow segment: companies from a civil law background operating in three common law countries of South-East and South Asia, namely Malaysia, Singapore and India.
Founder of the practice, Philippe Girard-Foley has built his professional experience over several decades in London, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.
Because we are so focused, we can offer a full service, both “transactional”(acquisitions, commercial cooperation) and in dispute resolution, either in court (as “foreign lawyer” in Singapore courts and “instructing solicitor” in other courts of law) or via an alternative way (arbitration, mediation, representation as accredited counsel at the Singapore International Commercial Court).
More recently, we have added an expertise in two emerging areas, Artificial Intelligence and ESG Sustainability.
Malaysia
We are familiar with Malaysia, where Philippe has been resident since 1997, and authorised by the Malaysia Bar Council to practice in Federal Territory (Labuan) as an individual lawyer in 1996.
The practice is a member of the Malaysia branch of CIArb and registered as “local” with the arbitration and mediation panels of AIAC Asian International Arbitration Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
India
The practice has been associated since 2010 to a prestigious law firm in New Delhi, founded by the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association through a link of “correspondent organique” registered with the Paris Bar Council.
We have forged deep professional links over a period of many years with a group of experienced Indian lawyers in Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi. We can also rely on his former students candidates for the Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot based in Kolkata, Bhopal, Cuttack, Hyderabad, Gujarat, Pune and New Delhi.
Singapore
We use as much as possible the laws of Singapore as the governing law for contracts which we negotiate and draft for our clients, and we recommend Singapore as the seat for arbitration and mediation, with the added value of the right to represent clients in Singapore courts (Court of Appeal included) and the Singapore International Commercial Courts.
APAC Pre-Moot Arbitrators
As part of that network of around 165 legal practitioners based in India, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore, we have access to a pool of information stemming from the exchanges among members about alternative dispute resolution and related matters in international trade.
New areas of the law
We have made connections with local and worldwide experts in Artificial Intelligence and ESG Sustainability in order to develop our expertise ahead of the crowd in those two areas. In both instances, our focus is not restricted to compliance but includes liability for the companies as an entity and their directors as individuals.