Steven Thiru

Steven Thiru is the CLA President.

He is the Managing Partner of Messrs. Steven Thiru in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and a senior litigation lawyer. His main areas of practice are administrative law, constitutional law, commercial law, corporate law, employment law, energy law, native title law and general litigation. He appears regularly as senior counsel in the superior and appellate courts.

Steven read law at the University of Leicester and was admitted to the Bar of England and Wales at Middle Temple. He was then admitted to the Malaysian Bar. Steven also holds a Master of Laws degree from the University of Malaya.

Steven was ranked as a “Leading Individual for Dispute Resolution” by the Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2019 and as a “Distinguished Practitioner” by Asialaw 2020 and 2021.  Chambers Asia Pacific 2022 recognized him as “an experienced counsel.   He is measured and calm and takes a balanced view on things”. Steven was ranked as a Litigation Star in Labour & Employment law by Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific 2024. Recently, Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2025 inducted Steven in the Hall of Fame (Dispute Resolution) for Malaysia, with a testimonial that he is a “… strategic …brilliant lawyer “.

Steven has been a CLA member since 1999 and a CLA Council member since 2006. He was the Chair of CLA’s Australasia Hub in 2018 and was elected as Vice President (Australasia) of the CLA in 2019. Steven has also served as a CLA Exco member since 2019. He is a fervent  advocate for the independence of the bar , and led CLA’s  inaugural Bar Leaders forum at the Commonwealth Law Conference in Goa, India in 2023.

Steven brings 32 years of professional experience as a lawyer, which includes 10 years on the Bar Council of Malaysia. He served as the 31st President of the Malaysian Bar in 2015 and 2016. He is currently one of the Vice Presidents of LAWASIA.