MAHMOOD GAZNAVI CHAMBERS
Mahmood Gaznavi
Managing Director
LL.B. (Hons), National University of Singapore (1997)
Advocate & Solicitor of the Singapore Bar (1998)
Mahmood Gaznavi leads the firm’s litigation department and oversees all aspects of cases in the firm. He has handled a variety of cases including civil disputes, criminal matters and arbitration in addition to performing work in the corporate area.
Clients approach law firms because they need help. With this in mind, Gaznavi developed an approach where he listens to the issues and formulate the ideas to go forward. All too often, the resolution lies not in moving in one direction only but by exploring avenues on a holistic and sometimes alternative basis.
Litigation and dispute resolution call for 2 types of skills – the spoken word and the written word. These days, most of the arguments are canvassed by the written route. Courts hear evidence but depend a great deal on the documents drafted by lawyers to substantiate their arguments.
Gaznavi’s stint as a journalist for 10 years holds him in good stead in both areas. The operative method in litigation is to sieve the wheat from the chaff and arrive at the relevant issues. This is both an art as well as a discipline. Gaznavi’s approach is to make things simple – to tell the client’s version as it should be so that the adjudicator knows what is relevant for the decision client seeks.
Expertise
Litigation & Dispute Resolution | Arbitration | Mediation | Corporate Law | Criminal Law | Family Law Trusts & Equity | Insolvency & Restructuring | Probate |
Biography
Honorary Title
President of the Singapore Cricket Association
Career
Journalist in the local daily newspaper The Straits Times from 1984 to 1993 and a regular contributor to the newspaper subsequently.
Sport
Represented Singapore at hockey in various age-groups and in the 1982 Junior World Cup finals.
Represented Singapore at cricket in various age groups and in the 1990 World Cup qualifiers.
Captained Raffles Institution to A Division hockey title in 1980.
Key member of Raffles Institution’s cricket team from 1976 to 1980.
Memberships
Singapore Academy of Law
Law Society of Singapore
Asian Cricket Council Development Committee
Singapore Cricket Association
Singapore Cricket Club
Singapore Indian Association
Ceylon Sports Club
Singapore Khalsa Association
Notable Cases
-
Successfully defended client in a High Court case between fellow directors involving allegations of breach of fiduciary duties. Managed to convince court that party accusing client of dishonesty was in fact himself dishonest.
-
Successfully defended false allegations against fellow director and dislodged injunction in a suit premised on fiduciary duties and procuring an order for the Plaintiff to pay client costs on an indemnity basis in the High Court.
-
Successfully defended claim by sibling against client in a dispute involving trust law where claim was dismissed on 5th day of a scheduled 19-day trial in the High Court.
-
Successfully pursued a non-involved third party to pay costs of litigation on the footing that the third party was liable because he had sufficient monetary interest in the outcome of the litigation in the High Court.
-
Involved in case where employee appropriated monies from a company for matter to be decided by Court of Appeal on novel point to when to attribute actions of a director to a company.
-
Successfully defended couple against developer in the High Court for alleged breach of agreement and damages in case where couple carried out works in condominium unit by persuading court that developer was fully cognisant of works.
-
Involved in a shipping dispute in the High Court, representing client to resist order to sell cargo on board ship.
-
Representing client in division of matrimonial assets where there was an agreement between couple for the division with each party looking after its asset distribution in the jurisdiction where that party was to reside post-divorce.
-
Successfully acted for client in claim for sale of commodity in the High Court where client’s claim that he had not received payment was upheld.
-
Involved in a hearing in the High Court to set aside of a Guarantee entered by mother and son in favour of the patriarch of the family who ran the family business.
-
Defended client in a High Court action whose shareholding in a company was diminished by allegations of unfair and improper means in a matter linked to defamation.
-
Acted for a businessman in a defamation suit in The High Court brought by resident in a condominium against member of Management Council.
-
Launched claim in the High Court on behalf of aggrieved parties who were shareholders of a dissolved company which came into money after dissolution and to address the issue as to who was entitled to the said monies.
-
Successfully claimed damages in the High Court for company that did work but were denied payment on false allegations of incomplete work.
-
Represented lawyer in a High Court action to successfully seek an order to quash a finding of guilt by the Disciplinary Committee of the Law Society.
-
Successfully defended a claim for return of monies in the purchase of shares by persuading the court that the party purchasing shares in fact obtained the correct shares in the correct entity.
-
Successfully defended a claim against allegation that client had failed to deliver up shares in a comp-any post sale by persuading court that purchaser declined to take ministerial steps in closing share transfer.
-
Successfully appealed against a number of charges against conviction in a case involving outrage of modesty.
-
Obtained an acquittal in a case where a client was accused of threatening the victim with a dangerous weapon.
-
Obtained an acquittal in a case where the client was accused of outraging the modesty of a young girl.
-
Involved in various Muslim family law cases in the Syariah Court and the Court of Appeal.