Author: Ronald JJ Wong

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Book Summary: LeaderShift_ Reinventing Leadership for the Age of Mass Collaboration by Emmanuel Gobillot

In this book, which was based on extensive research and interviews, Gobillot declares that existing ways of leadership may become irrelevant in the light of 4 major societal trends. Leaders must shift their emphasis to fostering social engagement by valuing conversations, working on the contribution they make to the community rather than the direction they give to the community, and develop executive maturity to see mass participation as an opportunity to create value rather than a threat to their existence.

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Case Update: HSBC Trustee (Singapore) Limited v Carolyn Fong Wai Lyn [2016] SGHC 31

Singapore Law; Legal; Lawyer

Case Update: HSBC Trustee (Singapore) Limited v Carolyn Fong Wai Lyn [2016] SGHC 31

Significance: Singapore High Court interprets will holistically (as opposed to a clause-specific construction), orders estate’s properties to be mortgaged to raise funds for professional trustees’ fees and costs, and refuses to order that trustees be discharged as Court found it was not in the interests of beneficiaries given the ongoing litigation in relation to the estate.

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Case Update: La Dolce Vita Fine Dining Co Ltd v Deutsche Bank AG [2016] SGHCR 3; [2016] SGHC 159 – SGHC orders pre-action discovery against banks to disclose customer account information

Singapore Law; Legal; Lawyer

Significance: Singapore High Court orders banks to disclose customer account information to plaintiffs in respect of the plaintiffs’ claims against the banks’ customer in an application for pre-action discovery under O 24 r 6(5) and/or the Court’s inherent jurisdiction (i.e. a Norwich Pharmacal order).

The decision was upheld on appeal by Andrew Ang SJ in Success Elegant Trading Ltd v La Dolce Vita Fine Dining Co Ltd and others and another appeal [2016] 4 SLR 1392; [2016] SGHC 159.

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Case Update: A M Mohamud v WM Morrison Supermarkets plc [2016] UKSC 11

Singapore Law; Legal; Lawyer

A M Mohamud (in substitution for Mr A Mohamud (deceased)) v WM Morrison Supermarkets plc [2016] UKSC 11

Significance: the UK Supreme Court held that an employer was vicariously liable for its employee’s act of causing injury to a customer under the close connection test.

Comment: this decision is significant because under previous applications of the doctrine of vicarious liability, an employer will not be held liable for an employee’s acts which were on his whim and frolic, outside the course of employment, or were unauthorised acts. In this case, the Court extended the analysis of unauthorised modes of authorised acts by the employer to an irrational physical attack as falling within the authorised act of an employee’s interactions with a customer.

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Case Update: Nava Bharat (Singapore) Pte Ltd v Straits Law Practice LLC and another and another appeal [2016] SGCA 12 – SGCA dismisses negligence claim against lawyer re advice on cross-border transaction

Singapore Law; Legal; Lawyer

Significance: Singapore Court of Appeal held that the plaintiff’s solicitors had not been negligent in advising on the legal implications of the plaintiff proceeding with the cross-border transaction to acquire an interest in an Indonesian coal mine based on an oral undertaking given by a 3rd party to obtain a forestry licence.

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MOM calls for public feedback on Employment Claims Tribunal

Singapore Law; Legal; Lawyer

MOM calls for public feedback on Employment Claims Tribunal

The current Labour Court under the Employment Act only covers workers who earn less than $4,500 per month regarding their salary disputes. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is considering establishing the ECT to expand this scope to include all employees (except public servants, domestic workers and seafarers for the time being). The detailed proposal can be found here. The public has until 23 March 2016 to give feedback.

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Poem: operation beside private development

its arm bled leaves. an orphaned
stub remained, stoic, silent.
the worker wielded a long blade
expertly, sawing at bone; dust
and sound of blunt metal on wood
flecked onto lifeless leaves.

I saw the whole row of them
standing in line, waiting for execution,
by the metal fence. on the other side,
infant shrubs watched listlessly.

we draw lines with surgical precision
dividing organ and waste, yours and ours,
cutting flesh and soul to which
none of us belong.