Nicholas Yap Chun Yew
Partner
Nicholas holds an LL.B. (Hons) from the University of London and was admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 2021.
Nicholas Yap is a dispute resolution lawyer practising principally in civil, corporate and commercial litigation, with a focus on corporate and shareholder disputes, fraud and asset recovery, insolvency and liquidation, and defamation matters.
He has acted in a range of complex and high-value disputes involving corporate governance, cross-border tracing and asset recovery, and contested liquidation proceedings. His practice also encompasses contentious probate and public law matters.
His corporate and commercial disputes experience includes advising boards and shareholders in contentious governance matters, including challenges to attempts to effect a backdoor winding-up, disputes concerning transactions entered into by former directors, and applications for urgent injunctive relief and pre-action discovery.
In asset recovery matters, Nicholas has acted in cross-border fraud and asset recovery proceedings involving parties from Malaysia and other jurisdictions. His experience includes obtaining freezing and proprietary injunctions, disclosure and tracing orders, and pursuing recovery proceedings arising from fraudulent payments.
Nicholas has experience in contentious insolvency matters. This includes involvement in proceedings concerning a solvent company with assets exceeding RM500 million and substantial cross-shareholdings between companies in liquidation, involving the restructuring of those cross-shareholdings to facilitate the distribution of assets.
His practice also extends to defamation proceedings involving public figures, as well as constitutional and other public law matters.
He was recognised as a Recommended Lawyer in The Legal 500 (Asia Pacific) in both 2025 and 2026, where he was described as “very thorough with the work” and noted as someone who looks at “all angles to offer the best advice”.
Some of Nicholas’ 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 a company in successfully obtaining a declaration to invalidate a statutory notice issued under Section 465 of the Companies Act 2016, as well as consequential injunctive reliefs.
- 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 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia, who was named as a defendant in defamation proceedings commenced by a former two-time Prime Minister of Malaysia. The suit seeks, amongst others, exemplary and/or punitive damages amounting to RM 150 million.
- Assisted in acting for the 10th 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 against an elected Member of a State Legislative Assembly from an opposing political party concerning statements made 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).
- Assisted in acting for the liquidator of a solvent company in liquidation with assets exceeding RM500 million, in resisting, inter alia, the remuneration sought by a former court-appointed liquidator of an associated company in liquidation following an alleged unauthorised and unlawful delegation of his liquidation duties to a third-party international accounting company.
- 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 interest arising from a personal claim brought against the estate.
- Successfully assisted in acting for a co-executor and co-trustee 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.
- Assisted in acting for the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia (“PMX“), in defending proceedings filed by a political party leader, who sought, amongst others, declarations that the PMX’s election as a Member of Parliament (“MP“) and his subsequent appointment as Prime Minister (“PM“) were unconstitutional, null, and void, further seeking a consequential order that the PMX cease to act as an MP and as PM (see: Waytha Moorthy a/l Ponnusamy v Dato Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim [2026] MLJU 1438).
