Johnson is a Director in the Dispute Resolution Department and Family and International Personal Relationships Practice. He specialises in family litigation, contentious and non-contentious probate proceedings involving large estates, and personal disputes.
He maintains an active civil and commercial dispute practice, representing personal and corporate clients in case s involving complicated legal and factual issues.
Johnson has been involved in many notable matters. Here are just a few:
- Lim Leong Huat v. Chip Hup Hup Kee Construction Pte Ltd and Anor [2011] 1SLR 657 - Johnson successfully represented an employee in a high stakes legal action. The High Court described the case as a “bitter dispute” between our client and the ultimate owner of his ex-employer, which had led to many separate legal proceedings and a criminal prosecution. The action involved claims totalling more than S$ 60 million and complex issues involving fraud, misappropriation, conspiracy, and illegality. The High Court granted our client’s claim and dismissed the bulk of the counterclaim following a grueling 6 week trial that involved testimony from numerous witnesses and voluminous documentary evidence. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the High Court.
- AYZ v AZB [2012] SGHC 108 - In a custody tussle over a nine-year old girl, Johnson secured the Court’s permission for an American woman married to a wealthy businessman, the son of an influential Malaysian tycoon, to leave Singapore and relocate to America with the parties’ daughter. This case is significant in that, unlike the majority of relocation cases, the Court granted the wife permission to relocate, even though the final rights pertaining to custody and other child-related issues, as well as the financial issues ancillary to the divorce proceedings, had not been decided.
- Pang Rosaline v. Chan Kong Chin [2009] 4 SLR(R) 935 - Johnson represented the wife in the Court of Appeal. The team successfully overturned a finding in the High Court that the wife did not make any direct financial contributions to the acquisition of one of the parties’ properties. As a result of the appeal, the wife’s original entitlement to the property was doubled.
- ANJ v ANK [2015] 4 SLR 1043 – Johnson successfully represented the husband in this important Court of Appeal decision. In this case, the Court of Appeal disapproved the “uplift” methodology and laid out a new methodology to be applied when exercising the Court’s discretion in dividing matrimonial assets. This case is frequently cited by practitioners as the leading authority for the “structured approach” in the division of matrimonial assets in ancillary matters disputes.
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BPC v BPB [2019] 1 SLR 608 – Johnson acted for the wife in a nine-year long litigation, eventually successfully securing assets worth over S$11.6 million for the wife, despite the husband’s failure to give full and frank disclosure. In the appeal, the Court of Appeal held that the operative date for the determination of the pool and value of matrimonial assets are respectively the interim judgment and the date of the ancillary matters hearing, and that these principles apply equally to all matrimonial assets, regardless of its manner of holding.
Asian Legal Business SE Asia Law Awards
Matrimonial and Family Law Firm of the Year 2021, 2022 and 2023
Johnson is part of the team that won the Matrimonial and Family Law Firm of the Year Award for handling some of the most complex, cross-border and intricate matrimonial and family law matters.