Issue #11 : Don’t Be Grumpy

Written By Overheard in Asia

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! 

For those who aren't gambling their souls away at mahjong tables or overindulging on abalones & lou songs, here are the latest 🌶  legal headlines:


Ling Yah

P/S: Know of any interesting seminars happening in 2023? Drop us a note at editor@overheard.asia!

Just Take Your Time...

We've all handled cases that drag on for too long.

But what if it was dragged on for... 72 years from filing?! 😱

India's oldest pending case, filed in 1951, finally came to a close on 9 January. In the court in Kolkata, the court upheld its ruling to liquidate a debt-ridden bank, Berhampur Bank Limited.

The Problem

  • said bank is long gone; and

  • most of the original litigants are dead. 😳

A perfect illustration of how overwhelmed the Indian judicial system is.

And that justice (severely, in this case) delayed, is justice denied.

Fun Facts
To date, over 47 million cases have yet to be concluded, out of which:

  • 5 pending cases were filed in 1952;

  • ~420,000 have been open for over 10 years; and 

  • ~5 million have been open for over 3 years.

Meanwhile, the India Supreme Court has over 60,000 cases languishing in its backlog. 

Yikes.


P/S: India's oldest pending case was decided by the current Chief Justice, who was born 10 years after the case was filed. 😅

Oil & Spoils

You know I know we know that if anything ends up online... it's there forever.

Thanks, Google.Who owns the sea 🌊?

Background

In 2005, China, the Philippines and Vietnam signed a pact to jointly explore for oil over some ~142,000 square kilometres of the South China Sea ⛽️ ("Agreement").

In 2008, the Supreme Court of the Philippines received a petition to void the Agreement because it was unconstitutional.

In 2016, an arbitration ruling was made in favour of the Philippines. Many of China's activities in the South China Sea were held to be unlawful.

Unsurprisingly, China considered this 2016 ruling to be "null and void".

✍🏻 Latest Development
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court voided said Agreement and held that the country's constitution didn't allow foreign entities to exploit natural resources.

Instead, such activities had to be:

  • "under the full control and supervision of the state"; and

  • only involve majority Philippine-owned companies 🇵🇭.


🖼️ What's Next?
Will the Philippines find a way to exploit its untapped energy reserves by itself?

Will China still capture a slice of the oily pie?

Only time will tell.

We'll keep an eye on this part of the sea for you. 😉

Don’t Be Grumpy

Earlier this month, we sent one of our OIA interns (👋🏻 Yi Qian!) to attend a fireside chat with:

  • Sir Bernard Eder

  • David Grief

  • Professor Maartje de Visser (moderator)

Some life lessons that Sir Bernard shared:

  • The job of a judge is to be kind. To rule according to justice and not just the words of the law.

  • Whatever you do in life, do things you have never done before. Whether that's watching a poetry recital, going for a football match or picking a random book to read.

  • Everything will be good in the end. If it isn't good, it isn't the end.

  • Be kind to everyone around you.

  • If you don't want it, you won't get it.

  • Don't be grumpy.

  • Recommended Reading: Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas 

P/S: Looks like we'll be spending a week in a fictional small Welsh fishing village!

Spotlight - Jonathan Muk (Associate Director, LVM Law Chambers LLC)

⚒️ What do you do?

I am a disputes lawyer at LVM Law Chambers LLC.

I represent both individuals and corporations in complex commercial disputes that are litigated or arbitrated, with a specialisation on matters involving fraud and internal investigations – in the course of my relatively short career, I have already executed 2 search orders.

🏆 What is your proudest achievement?

Back in Junior College, I was captaining the floorball team. Our teacher in charge said that the school didn’t have funds for our coach to accompany us to the A division competitions.


I went to the principal’s office and spoke to the manager (who later informed the principal).

A few days later, I was lectured by the Head of Department of the Physical Education department for breaching the chain of command through my actions. 

That said, I still got the funds! Our coach came with us to the competition and we placed second.
 

After we won the competition, the teacher in charge told me he was really angry at what I did as well.

Why I consider this my proudest achievement – for the first time in my life, I stood up to what I saw as a gross dereliction of duty on the part of the teacher and stood up for my teammates, who had trained so hard throughout the year for the competition only to be let down at the last minute.

This was a defining moment for me and to this day, I don’t regret what I did. If I had to live life again, I would do it again.

⌛ There are now 25 hours in a day! How do you spend your extra hour?

Either playing with my daughter, or spending unhurried time with God. The former is something I don’t spend enough time doing, and the latter is something that I always want to do, but find that life is too rushed and I don’t get to do.


🚀 If you weren't a lawyer, what would you do?

Probably an engineer. Had I been taught by teachers who displayed passion for Physics, I think engineering would have been quite a fun field to get into.


😋 Your favourite food haunt (bonus points if it's off the beaten track!)

Amoy hawker centre. Its near my office and I’m spoilt for choice every lunch time at Amoy.

Note: This interview was edited for clarity and length.

Food Feature

Ah durian. 

Hate 'em or... love 'em (we hope!).

Because if you do, you'd better hustle over to the SS2 Durian House Stall for a meal. It's durian season and you'll be spoilt for choice.

We recommend trying the Old Tree Musang King, Black Gold Musang King & Blackthorn (in that order!).

Details: Website, Google Maps

Are you a student or young lawyer?

Want to get involved in helping to run Overheard? Meet senior practitioners? Do legal research with real world impact?

We're always looking for bright, young talent like yourself so if you're interested, give us a holler at editor@overheard.asia! 

Special thanks to Overheard in Asia's sponsor:

David Grief was described as "the Law's Middleman" (Business Times, 2021). You can reach out to him at dg@davidgrief.com if you need help identifying the right lawyer, arbitrator or expert for your matters, or even if you just want to grab a drink 🍵🍺 with someone who has managed and mentored lawyers for almost 5️⃣0️⃣ years! 

Overheard in Asia
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Issue #12 : Blood & Water Don’t Mix
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Issue #10 : Taming the Big Bad Wolf