28 min
Spotlight on … Independent arbitrator and Tommy Thomas law firm co-founder Sitpah Selvaratnam Arbitral Insights
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Distinguished Malaysian lawyer and full-time international arbitrator Sitpah Selvaratnam is our guest for this episode of ‘Spotlight on …’ Host Gautam Bhattacharyya takes us on a journey through Sitpah’s remarkable career, discussing the focus of her practice and the attributes she believes are necessary for anyone aspiring to become an arbitrator. The conversation then explores diversity, equity, and inclusion within the legal profession – pertinent given Sitpah’s role as co-chair of the Asia Pacific chapter of the Equal Representation in Arbitration pledge.
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Transcript:
Intro: Hello and welcome to Arbitral Insights, a podcast series brought to you by our International Arbitration practice lawyers here at Reed Smith. I'm Peter Rosher, global head of Reed Smith's International Arbitration Practice. I hope you enjoy the industry commentary, insights and anecdotes we share with you in the course of this series, wherever in the world you are. If you have any questions about any of the topics discussed, please do contact our speakers. And with that, let's get started.
Gautam: Hello and welcome back to our Arbitral Insights podcast series. And I'm delighted that in this edition we have as our guest, Sitpah Selvaratnam. Hello, Sitpah.
Sitpah: Hi Gautam. Thank you for having me on your podcast. I'm delighted to be here.
Gautam: Well, I'm delighted that you're on this podcast. I've been wanting to do a podcast with you for a long, long time and it's, it's wonderful that we've got this opportunity and I know that our listeners will thoroughly enjoy your thoughts and discussions on the points that we're going to be talking about. Now, I will first will introduce you because some of our listeners may not be familiar with you, but you are put it this way, a real force of nature and you are an incredibly impressive lawyer and arbitrator. So um I, I could actually spend the whole half hour talking about your antecedents, but I will have to keep this uh summary short about your profile. So, Sitpah is one of the leading lawyers in Malaysia. Um She's been practicing there for over 30 years. She was called to the Malaysian Bar in 1990 having studied over here in the UK. Yeah, and I'm sure we'll come back to that Sitpah over the course of our discussion, and she, she commenced her practice in Malaysia at one of the largest firms in Malaysia and then was a founding partner of the very excellent firm of Tommy Thomas, uh where she recently has just left. So she's just left that firm to set up practice as a full time arbitrator. And we'll be discussing that in the course of this podcast. Sit is a very highly ranked lawyer in a number of areas amongst other things. Apart from her commercial practice, she has a very, very well regarded maritime practice and that has always been one of her big specialisms as well as commercial arbitration and litigation. So it's a real honor to be doing this podcast with you Sitpah and I'm really looking forward to our discussions today.
Sitpah: Gautam, you are just too kind. It's so lovely to be here chatting with you. So I hope this is of interest to your listeners.
Gautam: It will undoubtedly be. And I, I want to start with this question, what drew you to law as a career in the first place right now?
Sitpah: So it was accidental, as much as it was a process of elimination. I come from a rather conservative family out here in Malaysia, of Sri Lankan descent. And so my father was only about to fund my education in the UK if I did a profession. And so the law and being a lawyer seemed least worse. And that's how I ended up in, in Cardiff reading law and then in Cambridge to do my master's and the rest is history.
Gautam: Well, thank goodness you chose the law because you made good history in the course of everything. So, you know, so, yeah, so you studied in, uh uh in Cardiff and in Cambridge. So tell us your thoughts about your time over here?
Sitpah: Oh, I, it, it still s
Distinguished Malaysian lawyer and full-time international arbitrator Sitpah Selvaratnam is our guest for this episode of ‘Spotlight on …’ Host Gautam Bhattacharyya takes us on a journey through Sitpah’s remarkable career, discussing the focus of her practice and the attributes she believes are necessary for anyone aspiring to become an arbitrator. The conversation then explores diversity, equity, and inclusion within the legal profession – pertinent given Sitpah’s role as co-chair of the Asia Pacific chapter of the Equal Representation in Arbitration pledge.
----more----
Transcript:
Intro: Hello and welcome to Arbitral Insights, a podcast series brought to you by our International Arbitration practice lawyers here at Reed Smith. I'm Peter Rosher, global head of Reed Smith's International Arbitration Practice. I hope you enjoy the industry commentary, insights and anecdotes we share with you in the course of this series, wherever in the world you are. If you have any questions about any of the topics discussed, please do contact our speakers. And with that, let's get started.
Gautam: Hello and welcome back to our Arbitral Insights podcast series. And I'm delighted that in this edition we have as our guest, Sitpah Selvaratnam. Hello, Sitpah.
Sitpah: Hi Gautam. Thank you for having me on your podcast. I'm delighted to be here.
Gautam: Well, I'm delighted that you're on this podcast. I've been wanting to do a podcast with you for a long, long time and it's, it's wonderful that we've got this opportunity and I know that our listeners will thoroughly enjoy your thoughts and discussions on the points that we're going to be talking about. Now, I will first will introduce you because some of our listeners may not be familiar with you, but you are put it this way, a real force of nature and you are an incredibly impressive lawyer and arbitrator. So um I, I could actually spend the whole half hour talking about your antecedents, but I will have to keep this uh summary short about your profile. So, Sitpah is one of the leading lawyers in Malaysia. Um She's been practicing there for over 30 years. She was called to the Malaysian Bar in 1990 having studied over here in the UK. Yeah, and I'm sure we'll come back to that Sitpah over the course of our discussion, and she, she commenced her practice in Malaysia at one of the largest firms in Malaysia and then was a founding partner of the very excellent firm of Tommy Thomas, uh where she recently has just left. So she's just left that firm to set up practice as a full time arbitrator. And we'll be discussing that in the course of this podcast. Sit is a very highly ranked lawyer in a number of areas amongst other things. Apart from her commercial practice, she has a very, very well regarded maritime practice and that has always been one of her big specialisms as well as commercial arbitration and litigation. So it's a real honor to be doing this podcast with you Sitpah and I'm really looking forward to our discussions today.
Sitpah: Gautam, you are just too kind. It's so lovely to be here chatting with you. So I hope this is of interest to your listeners.
Gautam: It will undoubtedly be. And I, I want to start with this question, what drew you to law as a career in the first place right now?
Sitpah: So it was accidental, as much as it was a process of elimination. I come from a rather conservative family out here in Malaysia, of Sri Lankan descent. And so my father was only about to fund my education in the UK if I did a profession. And so the law and being a lawyer seemed least worse. And that's how I ended up in, in Cardiff reading law and then in Cambridge to do my master's and the rest is history.
Gautam: Well, thank goodness you chose the law because you made good history in the course of everything. So, you know, so, yeah, so you studied in, uh uh in Cardiff and in Cambridge. So tell us your thoughts about your time over here?
Sitpah: Oh, I, it, it still s
28 min