Raphael Tay (FINAL PARAGRAPH)

Chair of the LAWASIA Moot Standing Committee

Raphael Tay was admitted as an advocate and solicitor of the High Court in Malaya in 1986. Having been in practice for over 30 years, he has extensive legal experience in various areas of practice notably Corporate and Commercial, Mergers and Acquisitions, Information Technology Law with a regional cross-border practice and a strong interest in startups. He has been a Notary Public since 2007 and a Registered Trade Mark Agent since 1998.

Raphael’s keen interest and vast knowledge of the economics and politics of South East Asia results in many invitations to present seminars and conduct conferences organised by both private and government sectors. Raphael was recently appointed as a course lecturer and coordinator for ASEAN Business and Investment Law Training Course at Chulalongkorn University, Thailand from 2016 and a non-executive Director of the ASEAN+6 LLM Programme of the College of Law, Australia and New Zealand

Raphael was a recipient of the Tun Hussein Onn Renewal Award (THORA) in 2004, an award jointly sponsored by the Malaysian Institute of Management and Konrad Adenauer Foundation of Germany.

Raphael was the Co-Chairperson of the Professional Standards and Development Committee as well as the Publications Committee of the Bar Council of Malaysia. He was also a member of the Disciplinary Committee Panel of Malaysia Advocates & Solicitors’ Disciplinary Board and a member of the Bar Council Malaysian Mediation Centre. In addition to his involvement with the Bar Council, Raphael is also the current Chairman of the LAWASIA Moot Standing Committee since 2008.

Raphael was also the inaugural Chair of the International Malaysia Law Conference 2012 and was instrumental in transforming it from a domestic forum into an international conference, which was subsequently awarded the Malaysia Effie Awards 2012, jointly organised by the Malaysian Advertising Association, Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia and Media Specialist Association in association with the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE).

Raphael graduated in Law and Politics in 1983 from Dorsett Institute of Higher Education (now known as University of Bournemouth, UK), and obtained a post graduate diploma in South East Studies from the University of Kent, Canterbury in 1984.

Raphael was formerly the managing partner of Messrs Tay Kuan Teck + Son before joining Chooi and Company in 2013 to spearhead the corporate, commercial and financial practice group of Chooi and Company and joined Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill in October 2018 as a corporate partner. Raphael is currently the Head of Corporate, M&A and Commercial in LAW Partnership.

Prof John McDermott, Prof of Law, Loyola – Los Angeles Law School

Past Member of the LAWASIA Moot Standing Committee

Chair, LAWASIA Moot Coaches Liaison Committee

(2011-2016)

John McDermott is a graduate of Middlebury College (BA) and the University of Denver (JD) and has over forty years experience as a lawyer and law professor including five years as an attorney with the federal judicial system.  His major areas of interest include intellectual property, civil dispute resolution, and international trade. He also has ten years pre-law experience as a research chemist and aerospace engineer. John is licensed to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Montana Supreme Court, the Colorado Supreme Court, the United States District Courts for the Districts of Colorado and Montana, and the United States Courts of Appeal for the Ninth and Tenth Circuits. He has been member of LAWASIA (Lawyers Association for Asia and the Western Pacific) for more than twenty five years and a regular speaker at Law Conferences (1985 to present). John was an Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Indian Law Program for the University of Montana School of Law where he directed legal services program for Native Americans while representing them in Federal and State court litigation.  He also served as General Counsel for several Indian Organizations and conducted training programs for Indian leaders, including programs for tribal court judges and administrative personnel. John was also the visiting Professor of Law to Dokkyo University, visiting Lecturer to Waseda University (both in Japan) and visiting Professor of Law at Vermont Law School. Presently, he is a Professor of Law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles where he teaches Admiralty Law, Intellectual Property Law, Conflict of Laws (Private International Law), International Business Transactions, Japanese Law and Islamic Law. He also has taught Civil Procedure, International Commercial Arbitration, Federal Jurisdiction, and International Civil Litigation.  

Michael Crowley

Past Member of the LAWASIA Moot Standing Committee

(2011-2012)

Michael Crowley is a graduate of the University of Sydney and Macquarie University holding undergraduate degrees in arts and law and postgraduate degrees in education and international law. Michael was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and The High Court of Australia in 1989, and a barrister of the same courts in 1991. In 2007 Michael was also admitted as a legal practitioner of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. As a barrister Michael practiced extensively as defense counsel in criminal law jury trials and as appellate counsel. Whilst practicing in Sydney Michael taught in the Law Extension Course within the University of Sydney and was an examiner for the Legal Practitioners Admission Board of New South Wales. In 2004 Michael was visiting lecturer in law at Chongqing Technical and Business University, China; teaching advocacy. In 2006 Michael accepted an academic appointment at Edith Cowan University where he is senior lecturer in law teaching, amongst other units, international law and evidence. Michael maintains membership of the Western Australian and New South Wales Bar Associations holding an unrestricted practicing certificate as a barrister. He is also a member of the International Humanitarian Law Committee of Western Australian Red Cross and since 2007 has written the mooting problem and sat as a finals judge in the Hong Kong Red Cross International Humanitarian Law Mooting Competition, an intervarsity competition for the Asia Pacific Region. At Edith Cowan University Michael is responsible for student mooting and is the Australian Universities Representative to the International Negotiation Competition.

Dr. Rajeswari Kanniah, Dean, Taylor’s Law School, Taylor’s University College

Past Member of the LAWASIA Moot Standing Committee

(2009-2010)

Rajes is currently the Dean of Taylor’s Law School, Taylor’s University College. She graduated with an LL.B (Hons) from the University of Malaya in 1982 and was called to the Bar as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 1983. She graduated from the University of Malaya with an LLM in 2000 and a Ph.D in 2010.  

Rajes was a Partner in a law firm (Meena Rajes & Partners) based in Penang – from 1983 to 1987, specializing in public interest litigation. She served as the Legal Advisor in Consumers International (formerly known as the International Organization of Consumers Unions) in Penang for 5 years, then re-located to Kuala Lumpur and was Dean of the School of Law at Kolej Damansara Utama for 5 years. Prior to her appointment at Taylor’s, she served as the Assistant Director and later Head of Consumers International Asia Pacific Regional Office in Kuala Lumpur for 8 years. She also served for a brief period as the Advisor to the Directorate of Consumer Protection in the Ministry of Trade, Indonesia.

Rajes has received several academic awards culminating with the Nippon Foundation Asian Public Intellectuals Senior Fellowship Award in 2003. She has participated and/or presented papers in over 80 national, regional and international conferences and written 50 articles/papers, including books, some of which have been published.

Memberships held: LAWASIA Moot Standing Committee; LAWASIA Moot Organising Committee-National Rounds and International Finals; Member, International Advisory Panel for the Global Accountability Project, One World Trust UK and Member, Asian Public Intellectuals Regional Project on Community-Based Initiatives Towards Human Ecological Balance.