Our Team of Lawyers
CHITHRA GANESALINGAM
Email: chithra@wlpta.com.my
Written
English, Bahasa Malaysia, Tamil
Spoken
English, Bahasa Malaysia, Tamil
Chithra has over 23 years of "hands-on" and work experience in the corporate arena and in legal practice. She was a Group Company Secretary & Legal Advisor with a financial services listed group as Group Company Secretary and Legal Advisor from 1993-2000. She passed the Bursa Malaysia Dealer’s Representative Malaysian Futures & Options Registered Representative and Malaysian Exchange of Securities Dealing & Automated Quotation (MESDAQ) exams. She has vast experience in licensing, enforcement and compliance of various regulations in respect of companies involved in the financial services industry specifically the Securities Commission and Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad’s rules and regulations.
In legal practice, she advises clients in a wide spectrum of advisory work ranging from corporate and listing advisory, legal due diligence, corporate & commercial contracts, acquisitions, charitable foundations, consumer & corporate banking (conventional & Syariah) to conveyancing. She has acted as company secretary for corporate clients and regularly attends board meetings of corporate clients in dual capacities (legal advisory & secretarial). She has spearheaded legal due diligence exercises for the firm including a RM 1 billion corporate acquisition exercise. She was also instrumental in establishing a Syariah compliant shipping fund based in Labuan.
Chithra has special interest in company law. She has guided numerous corporate entities including charitable foundations from the pre-incorporation stage to full-fledged operational entities and continues to advise them some fifteen (15) years later. She has been regularly invited to attend clients' board meetings. Her interest was piqued further with the proposed introduction of a new Companies Act. Following this new legislation namely the Companies Act 2016, she has advised on numerous corporate secretarial issues. Towards this end, she has conducted briefings for clients and assisted in addressing clients’ issues and concerns vis-à-vis the Companies Act 2016.
Chithra has also been closely involved in advisory work for corporate litigants particularly in board room disputes and minority protection suits. She also sits as an independent non-executive director of a public listed company.
Qualifications
-
Bachelor of Laws (Honours) University of Leicester
-
Certificate in Legal Practice
-
Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya since 1993
TAN CHONG PEI
Email: tan.chongpei@wlpta.com.my
Written
English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin
Spoken
English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien
Chong Pei graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from Multimedia University in May 2013. She then read and completed her pupillage in this firm under the tutelage of Mr Andrew Teh. She was admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of High Court of Malaya in July 2014. Upon admission to the Malaysian Bar, she joined the dispute resolution team as a legal assistant.
Chong Pei continues her practice in the litigation team and gained vast experience especially by having the opportunity given by the firm to act for prominent clients. Through the years being attached to the firm, she is skilled and familiar with the procedures in filing and defending civil suits in the courts of Malaysia and the conduct of legal researches in assisting the clients to support/defend claims.
The areas of law practiced by Chong Pei includes debt recovery, contractual dispute, employment law, insurance law, family law, bankruptcy, companies winding-up, strata management, compulsory acquisition and tenancy disputes.
Her clientele includes financial institutions, railway company, insurers, joint management bodies/committees, building contractors, freight services providers and liquidators.
Qualifications
-
Bachelor of Laws (Honours), Multimedia University
-
Advocate & Solicitor of High Court of Malaya since July 2014
-
Registered Mediator with the Bar Council Malaysian Mediation Centre
Reported Cases
-
Rohaya Bt Ali Haidar v AmBank (M) Bhd [2016] 2 MLJ 819
-
Selangor State Government & Anor v Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd [2017] 3 MLJ 205
-
Dubon Berhad (in liquidation) v Wisma Cosway Management Corporation [2020] 4 MLJ 288
-
See Leong Chye v United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Bhd [2021] 6 CLJ 650
MUHAMMAD SYAFIQ BIN MAT SAAD
Upon completing his Bachelor of Laws from UiTM in 2014, Syafiq commenced his pupillage under the guidance and tutelage of Puan Farah Deba. He was called to the Bar in November 2015. After exploring his various interest, he joined Puan Farah Deba’s estate planning and advisory team in May 2016 as a legal associate.
As part of the estate planning and advisory team, Syafiq’s areas of practice includes probate and administration, wills and trust, administration of estates, and Syariah (estate) related matters. He has a keen interest in trusts and how it is used as an estate planning tool.
His clients range from individuals (which includes global citizens and ultra high-net-worth clients) to trust companies and even to legal firms practicing in other jurisdictions.
Qualifications
-
Bachelor in Legal Studies (BLS) (Honours), Universiti Teknologi MARA
-
Bachelor of Laws (LLB) (Honours), Universiti Teknologi MARA
-
Postgraduate Diploma in Syariah Law and Practice (DLSA) (Honours), Universiti Teknologi MARA
-
Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya since November 2015
THAM JIAZHENG
Email: jiazheng@wlpta.com.my
Written
English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin
Spoken
English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin
Jiazheng holds a Bachelor of Laws from University of Malaya in 2019 and subsequently commenced her pupillage under the guidance of Lee Chui Li at Wong Lu Peen & Tunku Alina. She was admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in July 2022.
As part of the conveyancing team, Jiazheng has been involved in a diverse range of conveyancing transactions including representing developers in housing development projects and end-users in real estate transactions, handling end-financing transactions, tenancies and other non-contentious matters.
Qualifications
-
Bachelor of Laws (LLB) (Hons) from University of Malaya
-
Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya since July 2020
AMANDA ALEXANDRIA FUNK
Email: amanda.funk@wlpta.com.my
Written
English, Bahasa Malaysia
Spoken
English, Bahasa Malaysia
Amanda read law at University of Malaya and graduated with a Bachelor of Laws in 2019. Subsequently, she commenced her pupillage at Wong Lu Peen & Tunku Alina under the tutelage of Andrew Teh and was admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in October 2020. She is currently a legal assistant in Andrew’s dispute resolution team.
Throughout her time in the firm, Amanda has primarily assisted in general civil litigation matters, which includes debt recovery, contractual disputes, tortious claims, tenancy disputes, strata management, and insurance law.
Qualifications
-
Bachelor of Laws (LLB) (Honours) from University of Malaya
-
Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya since October 2020
NADIA KHAIRINA BINTI RASHDAN
Nadia graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the International Islamic University Malaysia in 2021. She then commenced her pupillage under the guidance and tutelage of Farah Deba. She was admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in May 2022. Upon admission to the Bar, she joined Farah Deba’s estate planning and advisory team as a legal associate.
Under the estate planning and advisory team, Nadia’s area of practice includes probate and administration, estate planning instruments such as wills and trust, conveyancing, Labuan Foundations as well as corporate advisory such as legal due diligence. Having assisted in various matters, her exposure has kindled an interest in offshore jurisdictions as a whole.
Qualifications
-
Bachelor of Laws (LLB) (Hons) from the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM)
-
Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya since May 2022