Desmond has a strong grasp on property development, both commercial and residential; corporate, commercial and consumer banking and conveyancing. He is also experienced in Islamic loans and has handled the same for various banks such as CIMB Islamic Bank Berhad, Hong Leong Islamic Bank Berhad, RHB Islamic Bank Berhad, Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad, HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad, Malayan Banking Berhad, Public Bank Berhad and Standard Chartered Saadiq Berhad. Desmond has been and remains the lead lawyer for the See Hoy Chan Group of Companies in all their projects. Desmond is also conversant in private sales, auction sales, tenancies, leases, easements, build and lease arrangements for residential, commercial, industrial and estate properties. In commercial, Desmond is conversant in joint venture agreements, asset purchase agreements, share sale agreements, share subscription agreements, shareholders agreements, consortium agreements, warehousing and distribution agreements, technical assistance agreements and corporate performance guarantees. In litigation, Desmond took on the task of heading and developing the Litigation Practice Group of the Firm. He is largely responsible for the success of the Litigation Practice Group, which is evidenced by its diverse clientele ranging from Malaysian individuals and corporate clients (both private, public and public listed) as well as foreign and multinational corporations.
His love for the law and the keenness to learn has made him one of the unique few lawyers that has mastered the various areas of law as well as being an outstanding senior litigator.
With 30 years of experience, he has conducted intricate and complex corporate, commercial and civil litigation cases at all levels of the Courts (including the Federal Court) as well as in arbitration proceedings. He has been sought after to act in various tort, breach of fiduciary duties and professional negligence cases involving directors and auditors. He was also a pioneer in stockbroking law and helped draft the various contracts relating to this industry. He also handles debt recovery, building and construction law, industrial relations, labour law, banking/foreclosure and divorce law. In the area of debt recovery, Desmond has been retained by corporations in several global debt recovery exercises which require formulation of specific strategies. In one such instance, he had acted for a subsidiary of a multinational corporation in its bid to recover debts from over 100 debtors prior to the closure of its operations in Malaysia. Owing to his prompt conduct of the matter and aggressive negotiations skills, the entire exercise was completed within 1½ years. In another instance, Desmond had also acted for a leading stock-broking firm subsequent to the economic downturn in actions to recover RM20.0 million in bad debts. He had also been engaged by a subsidiary of a multinational corporation in the construction industry to formulate a strategy to recover bad debts in anticipation of an economic slow down. Desmond has also been retained by various corporations in different industries (including trading companies, stock-broking firms and construction related corporations) as their consultant to render advice in the areas of credit control and risk management. The assistance rendered to clients in those circumstances extend to drafting of trading/credit documents and implementation of procedures and methods for minimizing bad debts. He was formerly a panel member in the Industrial Court. He is currently a member of the Bar Disciplinary Committee and has regularly presided as Chairman in the disciplinary committee inquiries. He has further been from time to time invited to conduct presentations and seminars on various legal issues to various corporations.