Please support our partners, the International Academy of family Lawyers (IAFL), who are hosting a complimentary webinar on “Is Artificial Intelligence really an intelligent or ethical tool in family law practice? “.

All are welcome to this online event under the AP Hour series run by the IAFL Asia Pacific Chapter, where the panel will discuss Artificial Intelligence, Generative AI, social media, and modern technology generally, and how they impact family law practice. The speakers will explore the  benefits,  pitfalls and safeguards which should be considered around their use.

Date: Tuesday 25th February 2025

Time: 6.30am UTC

Register here to attend

Moderators Introduction: Kai Yun Wong and Gowri Subbaiyah

Kai Yun, Wong (IAFL Fellow, Singapore)
Niche focus on family law matters, with clients comprising largely high net worth individuals with especial concerns over financial settlements; as well as expatriates with cross-border issues in jurisdictions ranging from the likes of Europe, United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia to Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia and India. An accredited member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), and is therefore in the unique position of being competent to advise on, and to set up, trusts and other structures for assets and income preservation and succession in the course of her international family law practice. Executive Editor of the Singapore Law Journal of Singapore published by the Law Faculty of the National University of Singapore since 2009. Also an accredited Mediator on Singapore Mediation Centre’s Family Panel and Collaborative Family Practice, a Principal Mediator with the Law Society of Singapore Mediation Scheme, and on the panel of Cross-Border Family Mediators of Mediation bei Internationalen Kindschaftskonflikten (MiKK), Berlin, Germany. She is the present Co-Chairperson of the Family Law Practice Committee of the Law Society of Singapore from 2020, and the present Co-Chairperson of the Family Law and Children’s Rights Working Group of the Singapore Academy of Law from 2022. Consistently recognised and awarded in running years, including in the Doyle’s Guides, Benchmark Litigation, and Citywealth Powerwomen Awards; and the ‘Gold Inspirational Woman of the Year – International Award’ and ‘Gold Woman of the Year – Professional Services – International Award’, in 2022.

Gowri Subbaiyah (Malaysia, CLA and Malaysian Bar Association)
Gowri Subbaiyah is the Managing Partner of Messrs P.Subbaiyah;  a firm established in Penang, Malaysia since 1988 which was carried on from her father.   Gowri is an elected member and secretary of the Penang Bar Committee. She has been an active member of the Family Law Committee under the Malaysian Bar Gowri and also the Commonwealth Lawyers Association. Further, Gowri also handles disciplinary issues pertaining to lawyers as a sitting member of the Disciplinary Committee since 2021. Recently trained and certified as a Collaborative Practitioner, Gowri looks forward to handling family matters, in particular child custody proceedings in a non-combative manner. Gowri has also handled an array of adoption cases which includes adoption of foreign children wherein the citizenship of the child had been a great struggle and hope to shed some light on the lives of these stateless children.

Speakers: Siu Lin Goh (Malaysian Bar Association), John Spender (IAFL Australia), Caroline McNally (IAFL, Hong Kong), Keiko Imazato (Japan, IAFL), Shu Mei Hoon (IAFL, Singapore), Jennifer Lee (Barrister, United Kingdom)

Siu Lin Goh (Malaysian Bar Association)
Siu Lin, a Bristol University graduate, started her career with Shook Lin & Bok and was the firm’s former Deputy Head of the Family, Probate & Trusts Department. In 2017, she established the boutique firm of Messrs Kee Sern, Siu & Huey, as one of its founding partners. Siu Lin handles all aspects of contentious disputes arising from contractual civil claims, banking and finance litigation, probate & trust administration, inheritance disputes, powers of attorney, estate and legacy planning, family law, surrogacy, adoption and child issues. Siu Lin was the first woman Chairman of the Kuala Lumpur Bar Committee and former President of the Association of Women Lawyers. She is currently the Co-Chairperson of the Asia Pacific Taskforce of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP) and Co-Chair of the Malaysian Collaborative Practice Group (MCPG). She is a trained Collaborative Law professional and accredited Mediator in both the insight and facilitative methods. In 2022, she successfully handled the first collaborative law case in Malaysia and has gone on to handle several more cases using this process. She is also passionate about women’s and children’s rights and has written and advocated for more gender-responsive laws, policies and systems. More recently, Siu Lin authored the Malaysian chapter of Hart Studies in Private International Law: Asia Thematic Series: “Choice of Law and Recognition in Asian Family Law” 1st edition, 2023, which contains a comprehensive analysis of cross-border family law challenges. She has provided expert evidence on Malaysian probate, adoption and family law used in courts of jurisdictions such as Hong Kong, America, France and the United Kingdom.

John Spender (IAFL, Australia):
John Spender is a senior family lawyer from Melbourne, Australia, and has been practising in family law since 1993. After working in various firms, including a major eastern suburbs law firm in Melbourne, he joined Kennedy Wisewoulds (as the firm then was) in 2007, and became a partner of the firm in 2012. John has been an accredited family law specialist since 2003. He has been a member of various committees of the Family Law Section of the Law Institute of Victoria since 2003, chairing two different Committees between 2011 and 2022. By reason of his long involvement in and commitment to the family law community through such committee work, in May 2019 was honoured with a Certificate of Service from the Law Institute of Victoria, and in October 2023 with a Distinguished Service Award from the Law Institute of Victoria. John was a sessional teacher and marker within the family law elective of the Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice Course with the Australian National University between 2011 and 2016 and has been a sessional lecturer in family law at Deakin University since 2021. John is regularly sought out by legal publications and continuing professional development (CPD) providers to contribute to the pool of discussions around the interpretation, and evolving nature, of the court’s approach to resolving family law disputes. He was a consulting editor as to family law precedents for LexisNexis between 2013 and 2015. In June 2019, John co-organised and presented at a family law conference in Malta, involving judicial officers, lawyers and psychologists from each of Malta, Australia and the United States.
John is well respected throughout the Melbourne family law community for his practice, knowledge, and approach to family law. Since 2016, John has been annually recognised by Doyle’s Guide to the Australian Legal Profession. John is a member of the Law Institute of Victoria, the Family Law Section of the Law Council of Australia and the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. He has been a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (“IAFL”) since 2015 and has been President-Elect of the Asia-Pacific Chapter of the IAFL since February 2024.

Caroline McNally (IAFL, Hong Kong)
Caroline advises on all aspects of family law in Hong Kong and is a highly sought-after practitioner when it comes to high value, complex financial claims and high-conflict children matters. Caroline also regularly advises on pre and post nuptial agreements. Caroline McNally is recognised in Hong Kong and internationally as one of the leading family lawyers in Hong Kong. Caroline qualified in England and Wales in 1998 and in Hong Kong in 2014. In London, she worked at top tier firms before relocating to Hong Kong to set up the family team at an independent boutique law firm. Although Caroline has extensive experience in litigation, she is well-known for taking a pragmatic approach and for guiding clients sensitively through one of the most difficult times of their lives. Caroline is a trained mediator and collaborative lawyer and uses these skills to find tailor-made and creative solutions for clients. In May 2020 Caroline broke new legal ground in Hong Kong by acting for a party in the first Private Financial Adjudication, where the parties chose to appoint an adjudicator to settle their dispute. Caroline held the position of Chair of the Hong Kong Family Law Association (HKFLA) from 2016 to 2018 and she continues to play an active role on the committee. Caroline is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and sits on the Asia Pacific Chapter committee.

Keiko Imazato (IAFL, Japan)
Keiko Imazato is an attorney admitted in 1988 in Japan and in 1996 in the State of New York, graduated from Kyoto University (BA) and George Washington University (LLM). She is a litigator in the field on international family disputes including 1980 Hague Convention cases and international divorce and custody cases, as well as an expert witness in relocation cases outside Japan. She is the chair of Hague Convention Committee of Tokyo Bar Association and a member of Family Law Committee of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations.  She is one of the leaders in Japan introducing mediation and collaborative practice in the field of cross-border family disputes, working as mediator/conciliator for various institutions such as Tokyo Summary Court, Tokyo Bar Association ADR Center, MiKK (Germany), Singapore International Mediation Centre, and Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office. She is working as a Certified Trust Practitioner and member of a Civil Trust Centre. Keiko is a Committee Member of National Bar Examination (in charge of International Private Law) of Ministry of Justice of Japan.

Shu Mei Hoon (IAFL, Singapore)
With a niche practice in private client and matrimonial disputes, Shu Mei appears at all levels of the Singapore Courts on all matters affecting the family including division of marital assets (inc. business & digital assets), custody and international relocation, trusts and property disputes, mental capacity. She has been a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL) since 2021, and Governor since 2023. As an accredited mediator and Collaborative Family Practitioner, Shu Mei strives to find common ground even in the most complex of cases in negotiations and mediations, as advocate or neutral. She has particular expertise drafting and negotiating prenuptial, postnuptial, financial arrangements between family members. Shu Mei advises trustees, families & beneficiaries in times of peace and in times of stress. My interest in child development has also led her to become a certified parenting coach (Parent Effectiveness Training, Dr Thomas Gordon), undertake child developmental courses which gives her insight in contested child proceedings involving complex psychiatric/psychological elements, as well as draft parenting agreements which actually work.

Jennifer Lee (Barrister, United Kingdom)
Jennifer Lee is a family law barrister at Pump Court Chambers, London. She has particular expertise in complex financial remedies and is regularly instructed by HNW clients in cases concerning inherited wealth, family businesses, nuptial agreements and trusts. Many of her cases involve tax complications and international elements, such as the validity of overseas marriages/divorces or claims in multiple jurisdictions (across Europe, Asia and Africa). She is also experienced in Schedule 1 (financial provision for children), cohabitation and trusts of land disputes. Jennifer is consistently top ranked in the legal directories, including Chambers & Partners, The Legal 500 and the prestigious Spear’s Legal Index. She is described as ‘a fierce and outstanding advocate’ with ‘exceptional attention to detail’, ‘a complete powerhouse’ and ‘an absolute class act’. She is recognised for her ability to ‘grapple with complex matrimonial finance work in a heartbeat’ and as ‘a confident and calm practitioner with gravitas, technical ability and professionalism far beyond her year of call’. She has appeared in high-profile reported High Court and Court of Appeal financial remedy/ divorce cases, most notably in Veluppillai v Veluppillai & Ors [2015] EWHC 3095 (Fam) (High Court), LFL v LSL (McKenzie Friends & Breach of Court Orders) [2017] EWFC B62, N v N (Afghanistan: Validity of an overseas marriage: Procedure)[2020] EWFC B55, and in BC v SC [2023] EWFC 307(B) in which she was led by King’s Counsel. Jennifer retains a niche practice in modern families/surrogacy and has an interest in capacity issues in family proceedings. Her expertise in these intersections of law makes her uniquely placed to advise clients when novel issues arise. She acted in R v T [2022] EWHC 3362 (Fam), and later represented the successful appellant (and was led by King’s Counsel) in the seminal Court of Appeal case of S (Children: Parentage and Jurisdiction) [2023] EWCA Civ 897, the leading decision on “consent” under the HFEA 2008 and the means by which jurisdiction may be established over children matters “in or in connection with” matrimonial proceedings in England. Jennifer sits as a Judge of the Tax Chamber (FTT) alongside her practice at the Bar. She is regularly invited to speak at family law conferences and to write for legal publications. She is a member of the Family Law Bar Association, LAWASIA and Resolution.

See you on 25th February 2025!

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