Lee Suet Fern, the managing partner of Morgan Lewis Stamford, has stepped down from her post amid the ongoing dispute within Singapore’s Lee family. Ng Joo Khin, the firm’s erstwhile deputy managing partner, is expected to take over.
Despite leaving her post, however, Lee Suet Fern is expected to retain a role in guiding Morgan Lewis’ overall Asia-Pacific strategy.
The very public clash pits Lee Hsien Loong – the current prime minister of Singapore and eldest child of the country’s founding leader Lee Kuan Yew – against his siblings: sister Lee Wei Ling and brother Lee Hsien Yang. At the heart of the disagreement is the future of 38 Oxley Road, the house that their father lived in for most of his life.
Lee Suet Fern is the wife of Lee Hsien Yang, Lee Kuan Yew’s youngest child. In 2015, the law firm she led, Stamford Law Corporation, merged with the U.S. firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius in a one-of-a-kind combination that involved full financial integration.
Last week, Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Wei Ling said they had lost confidence in the prime minister, and feared that the state's organs would be used against them. Lee Hsien Yang said he and his wife would be leaving Singapore because they felt closely monitored and threatened, according to Reuters. However, it is still unclear where they will be moving to.
Local media reports added that the prime minister had concerns over the role Lee Suet Fern and Stamford Law Corporation played in the drafting of Lee Kuan Yew’s wills. Reuters reported that in his last will, Lee Kuan Yew said he wanted his house, located near the bustling Orchard shopping district, to be demolished.
Singapore’s prime minister is expected to make a public statement statement on the issue and answer questions when parliament sits on July 3, added Reuters.
Drew & Napier is representing Lee Hsien Loong in the dispute. Rajah & Tann Singapore is representing Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang as joint executors and trustees of the Lee Kuan Yew estate in litigation relating to the estate’s rights over certain oral transcripts, as well as other matters relating to the administration of the estate. However, the firm is not acting for Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang in the dispute relating to the Facebook posts.
