Cavinder Bull

Cavinder Bull is a Singaporean lawyer and the chief executive officer of the law firm Drew & Napier. He has served in this position since August 2017, upon the departure of Davinder Singh to start his own practice. He has an active practice in complex litigation and international arbitration and is considered one of the top 15 litigators in South-East Asia. In late 2024, Bull was awarded a global award for commercial litigation lawyer of the year.

Career

Legal career

Bull graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (first class honours) in Jurisprudence from Trinity College, Oxford University in 1992, and was called to the Bar of England and Wales the next year.Cavinder Bull
, www.drewandnapier.com, accessed 7 January 2008.
, www.moe.gov.sg, 12 August 1995, accessed 7 January 2008. He was ranked fourth in the Bar Exams; when he returned to Singapore, he topped the local Bar Exam. He served as a Justices' Law Clerk to former Chief Justice Yong Pung How before joining Drew & Napier in 1994, and left for Harvard Law School in 1995 on a Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship to pursue a Master of Laws. He then passed the New York Bar Exams and joined Sullivan & Cromwell as a litigation associate.

Bull re-joined Drew & Napier in late 1997 and was made a partner in 1998. He is involved in commercial litigation and is cited by ''Chambers Global'' and ''Asia Pacific Legal 500'' as one of Singapore's top lawyers. In 2008, he was appointed Senior Counsel at the age of 39, an accolade rarely accorded to those under 40 years of age. Bull is also occasionally involved in academic writings, having written on subjects such as civil procedure. He has sat on various review committees, such as one chaired by the Attorney-General in 2006 regarding the supply of foreign lawyers in Singapore, and was reported to be looking into developing a mechanism "to handle disputes amongst businesses" in Singapore and China.

Bull sits on several professional bodies, including Vice-President of the SIAC Court of Arbitration, a member of the Governing Board of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration, and Vice-President of the Asia Pacific Regional Arbitration Group. Bull was also appointed to the Disciplinary Tribunal of the International Association of Athletics Federations and also a member of the NUS Law Advisory Council. He was previously also the Co-Chairman of the Singapore Exchange Disciplinary Committee, where he served for six years.

Bull has been involved in several high profile and high value matters in the course of his career including a US$1.27 billion case involving Georgia's former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, a civil case acting for the liquidators against Hin Leong founder Lim Oon Kuin, securing a S$3.5 billion judgment in that case, and a case of fraud by thumb drive inventor Henn Tan. Bull was also on the Disciplinary Tribunal which fined Eugene Thuraisingam for a poem that was in contempt of court in 2018. He also represented Lee Kwan Yew's former lawyer Kwa Kim Li in disciplinary proceedings as a result of a complaint made by Lee Hsien Yang.

Other appointments

Directorships

* Singapore Technologies Electronics (2009–2012)
* National Healthcare Group (2009–2012)
* Singapore University of Technology and Design (2009–2015)
* Ascendas Property Fund Trustee (2010–2013)
* Agri‑Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (2004–2010)

Personal life

Bull and his two elder sisters were raised single-handedly by his mother after his father died when he was 15 months old. He studied at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and Anglo-Chinese Junior College.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bull, Cavinder
Anglo-Chinese School alumni
Harvard Law School alumni
20th-century Singaporean lawyers
Singaporean Senior Counsel
Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford
Singaporean Christians
Living people
Sullivan & Cromwell associates
Year of birth missing (living people)
21st-century Singaporean lawyers