Brendon Choa
Background
1. Brendon has been in legal practice for a total of about 27 years. Brendon read law at the University of Sussex, England where he graduated with a B.A. (Law) Honours in 1990. He was called to the English Bar at the Inner Temple in 1991 and was subsequently admitted to the Singapore Bar in 1992. Brendon joined Patrick Ong Law LLC as a Director in November 2019. Prior to that he was a Consultant in ACIES Law Corporation for about 16 years, after having been a Partner in the Construction/ Litigation Department of Helen Yeo & Partners / Rodyk & Davidson for about 4 years; and before that, having worked at a few medium-sized law firms.
Summary of Brendon’s Key Skills / Experience
2. Brendon’s main area of practice is in the field of Building, Construction and Engineering Dispute Resolution. He has appeared as lead Counsel in numerous cases involving building, construction and/or engineering disputes before the Singapore courts, namely, the State (Subordinate) Courts, the High Court and the Court of Appeal, as well as before reputed arbitrators in arbitration cases and accredited adjudicators in statutory adjudication cases. Over the years, Brendon has acted for and advised a number of reputed main contractors, reputed specialist sub-contractors, sub-sub-contractors, developers, architects and civil engineers, quantity surveyors, suppliers, tradesmen, etc. on a whole, wide spectrum of building, construction and/or engineering disputes or issues. These include disputes or issues (non-exhaustive) relating to:
-
- the rights, duties and liabilities of main contractors, sub-contractors, employers, developers, architects vis-à-vis building or engineering contracts;
- claims for payment for work done and/or variations, issues of set-off and counterclaims in construction contracts, claims for delays and extension of time, loss and expense, prolongation and acceleration, the effect of non-
compliance with condition precedents in contracts requiring timely written notice for any claim for variations or the extensions of time, issues of wrongful termination and stoppage of work, certification issues, disputes over
the interpretation or construction of contractual clauses, the specifications and/or drawings, etc.; - the abusive or unconscionable calls on performance bonds by the employer or main contractor and applications to court for an injunction to restrain such calls;
- the local standard form construction contracts, namely, the Singapore Institute of Architects (Lump Sum) Conditions of Contract, the Singapore Institute of Architects (Measurement) Conditions of Contract, the REDAS Design & Build Conditions of Contract and Public Sector Standard Conditions of Contract (PSSCOC), as well as numerous bespoke construction contracts.
- applications for statutory adjudication and review adjudication under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act (Cap. 30B, Revised Edition 2006) (“SOPA”); and arbitration proceedings under the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators (SIArb) and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC).
3. Reported court cases on building, construction and/or engineering disputes where Brendon appeared as lead Counsel include:
- Yap Boon Keng Sonny v Pacific Prince International Pte Ltd and Anor [2009] 1 SLR(R) 385, where Brendon successfully represented the main contractor and architect against the homeowner employer. This is a significant case, cited in a number of subsequent Supreme Court cases, which decided that an employer was not entitled to claim the cost of rectifying defects against the contractor if during the maintenance period he did not allow the contractor requisite access into his property to carry out rectification;
- Tong Hai Yang Construction Pte Ltd v Little Swan Air-Conditioning & Engineering Pte Ltd [2019] SGHC 188, where Brendon represented the main contractor in its application to set aside a SOPA adjudication determination made in favour of a sub-contractor;
- China Railway No 5 Engineering Group Co Ltd Singapore Branch v Zhao Yang Geotechnic Pte Ltd [2019] SGHC 130, where Brendon represented the specialist sub-contractor in its attempt to defend the main contractor’s application to set aside a SOPA adjudication determination made in the sub-contractor’s favour;
- Lendlease Singapore Pte Ltd v M & S Management & Contracts Services Pte Ltd [2019] SGHC 139, where Brendon represented the labour sub-contractor in its attempt to defend the main contractor’s application to set aside a SOPA adjudication determination made in the sub-contractor’s favour;
- Long Rise Construction Pte Ltd v Logistics Construction Pte Ltd and AXA Insurance Singapore Pte Ltd [2019] SGDC 9, where Brendon successfully represented the main contractor in defending its call on the performance bond, after an application was taken out by a sub-contractor for an injunction to restrain the call;
- Scada Solutions Pte Ltd v Anderco Pte Ltd
- [2013] SGDC 237, where Brendon successfully represented the sub-contractor in its application for an injunction to restrain the call on the performance bond by the main contractor;
4. In addition, Brendon is also an Accredited Adjudicator (Construction) with the Singapore Mediation Centre, when he was admitted to the Register of Adjudicators in October 2009. As an Accredited Adjudicator (Construction) since 2009, Brendon has been appointed adjudicator in many adjudication application cases (including 2 as review adjudicator) and to-date has written and delivered no less than 40 adjudication determinations (including 2 adjudication review determinations).
Brendon’s Other Interests of Relevance
5. Brendon has been an active member of the Society of Construction Law (Singapore) since its inception in 2002. In August 2004, he was elected to the Management Committee of the Society of Construction Law (Singapore), where in 2006–2008, 2008-2010, 2010-2012 and 2012-2014 he held various posts of Secretary, Treasurer and Council Member of the Society’s Council.
6. In March 2006, Brendon was admitted as a member of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators (SIArb) and in October 2018, he successfully completed and passed the Fellowship Assessment Course (conducted by SIArb).
7. Brendon has also been accredited as a CDP trainer for core-subjects (practice-related knowledge and issues) by the Council of Estate Agents and he regularly conducts training on Core CDP courses for salespersons (levels 1) and experienced salespersons (level 2) at the Institute of Estate Agents.
8. Brendon is also currently the Chairman of a Management Corporation of a residential development (MCST 2802), a post which he has held since December 2004.