Nicholas Yap Chun Yew
Senior Associate
Nicholas Yap Chun Yew is a Senior Associate at Daniel & Wong within the Dispute Resolution department. He specialises in civil, corporate and commercial litigation, with a focus on corporate and shareholder disputes, fraud and asset recovery, defamation, and insolvency matters.
Nicholas holds an LL.B. (Hons) from the University of London and obtained his Certificate in Legal Practice in 2019. He was admitted as an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 2021.
In a complex asset recovery matter involving alleged imposters falsely claiming ties to one of the world’s largest glove manufacturers during the COVID-19 pandemic, he assisted in obtaining Mareva and Proprietary Injunctions, along with Ancillary Disclosure Orders.
With respect to corporate disputes, Nicholas assisted the board of directors of a well-known investment holding company in successfully invalidating notices for an extraordinary general meeting aimed at forcing a backdoor winding-up, as well as securing consequential injunctive relief.
As regards defamation, Nicholas also assisted in defending the Prime Minister of Malaysia in defamation proceedings commenced by his immediate predecessor, concerning public statements made in relation to a complex waiver and debt restructuring scheme involving the write-off of RM 8.3 billion in debts owed by settlers of a statutory body.
Nicholas was also recently ranked as a Recommended Lawyer in one of the global legal directories (Legal 500, Asia Pacific 2025), where he was described as “very thorough with the work”, and someone who looks at “all angles to offer the best advice”.
Some of Nicholas’s key work highlights: –
- Assisted in acting for the board of directors of a company in successfully securing declaratory relief to invalidate shareholders’ notices convening an extraordinary general meeting intended to effect a de facto backdoor winding-up. Nicholas also successfully assisted in obtaining consequential injunctive relief to restrain further improper attempts to undermine the company’s governance structure.
- Assisted in acting for a company’s board of directors in successfully obtaining a Pre-Action Discovery Order for the disclosure of key documents concerning an alleged “friendly loan” bearing interest at 60% per annum, purportedly entered into during the tenure of the company’s previous board.
- Assisted in acting for Canadian-based clients in a complex cross-jurisdictional claim for the recovery of over USD 76 million based on causes of action including conversion, fraud, breach of trust, and breach of fiduciary duties. The matter involved parallel proceedings in multiple jurisdictions across Asia, Europe, North America and Australia and involved extensive injunctive relief, including freezing, discovery, and tracing orders, alongside a range of intricate legal issues.
- Assisted in acting for Thailand and Singapore-based companies in a successful civil fraud and conspiracy claim to recover funds paid to imposters who falsely claimed to represent one of Malaysia’s largest glove manufacturers during the COVID-19 pandemic. He had successfully assisted in obtaining Mareva and Proprietary Injunctions, along with Ancillary Disclosure Orders against the defendants. A subsequent debarring order was also secured due to their non-compliance with court-ordered disclosure obligations, which effectively barred them from defending the proceedings and facilitated the prompt recovery of the misappropriated funds.
- Acting for companies based in the Republic of Guinea and Belgium in a civil fraud claim in Malaysia arising from a push-payment fraud. Nicholas successfully assisted in obtaining urgent injunctive relief, including freezing and tracing orders, to preserve and facilitate the recovery of the misappropriated funds.
- Assisted in acting for the Prime Minister of Malaysia in defamation proceedings commenced by his immediate predecessor, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, in respect of statements made concerning a complex waiver and debt restructuring scheme involving the write-off of debts owed by settlers of a statutory body.
- Assisted in representing a member of parliament in defamation proceedings concerning statements made by an elected Member of a State Legislative Assembly from an opposing political party pertaining to, amongst others, sensitive issues of religion.
- Assisted in acting for the liquidator of a solvent company in liquidation with significant assets, where the liquidation was significantly delayed by complex cross-shareholdings with two other associated companies, also in liquidation. In contentious court proceedings, Nicholas successfully assisted the liquidator in formulating a distribution-in-specie scheme to resolve the cross-shareholding impasse – an approach endorsed by the High Court and subsequently affirmed by the Court of Appeal (see: Zheng Yi Trading v Sing Lian Sdn Bhd & Ors [2022] MLJU 377).
- Successfully assisted in representing a major contributory of a solvent company in liquidation in resisting a liquidator’s claim for remuneration, on the grounds that substantial portions of the liquidation work had been improperly sub-delegated to an external party.
- Successfully assisted in acting for a co-trustee of an estate valued at over RM 70 million, with assets spanning Malaysia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and Australia, in securing the removal of a co-executor and co-trustee on grounds of conflict of interests arising from a personal claim brought against the estate.
- Successfully assisted in acting for executors and trustees in estate proceedings involving allegations of a secret trust and document forgery concerning valuable jewellery, forming part of an estate valued at over RM70 million, with assets located both locally and internationally.
