Cavinder Bull

Cavinder Bull SC is a Singaporean lawyer and the chief executive officer of the law firm Drew & Napier. He has served in this position since August 2017,^[1] upon the departure of Davinder Singh to start his own practice.^[2] He has an active practice in complex litigation and international arbitration^[3] and is considered one of the top 15 litigators in South-East Asia.^[4] In late 2024, Bull was awarded a global award for commercial litigation lawyer of the year.^[5]

Cavinder Bull SC
Born	Singapore
Education	University of Oxford (BA) Harvard University (LLM)
Occupation	Lawyer
Years active	1993–present
Known for	CEO of Drew & Napier

Career

Legal career

Bull graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (first class honours) in Jurisprudence from Trinity College, Oxford University in 1992, and was called to the Bar of England and Wales the next year.^[6][7] He was ranked fourth in the Bar Exams; when he returned to Singapore, he topped the local Bar Exam.^[6] He served as a Justices' Law Clerk to former Chief Justice Yong Pung How before joining Drew & Napier in 1994,^[8] and left for Harvard Law School in 1995 on a Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship to pursue a Master of Laws.^[6][7] He then passed the New York Bar Exams and joined Sullivan & Cromwell as a litigation associate.^[6][9]

Bull re-joined Drew & Napier in late 1997 and was made a partner in 1998. He is involved in commercial litigation and is cited by Chambers Global and Asia Pacific Legal 500 as one of Singapore's top lawyers.^[6][10] In 2008, he was appointed Senior Counsel at the age of 39, an accolade rarely accorded to those under 40 years of age.^[11] Bull is also occasionally involved in academic writings, having written on subjects such as civil procedure.^[12] He has sat on various review committees, such as one chaired by the Attorney-General in 2006 regarding the supply of foreign lawyers in Singapore,^[13] and was reported to be looking into developing a mechanism "to handle disputes amongst businesses" in Singapore and China.^[14]

Bull sits on several professional bodies, including Vice-President of the SIAC Court of Arbitration, a member of the Governing Board of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration, and Vice-President of the Asia Pacific Regional Arbitration Group.^[15] Bull was also appointed to the Disciplinary Tribunal of the International Association of Athletics Federations^[16] and also a member of the NUS Law Advisory Council.^[17] He was previously also the Co-Chairman of the Singapore Exchange Disciplinary Committee, where he served for six years.^[18]

Bull has been involved in several high profile and high value matters in the course of his career including a US$1.27 billion case involving Georgia's former prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili,^[19] a civil case acting for the liquidators against Hin Leong founder Lim Oon Kuin,^[20] securing a S$3.5 billion judgment in that case,^[21] and a case of fraud by thumb drive inventor Henn Tan.^[22] Bull also represented Ong Beng Seng in a high profile case involving former Minister S Iswaran.^[23] Bull was also on the Disciplinary Tribunal which fined Eugene Thuraisingam for a poem that was in contempt of court in 2018.^[24] He also represented Lee Kwan Yew's former lawyer Kwa Kim Li in disciplinary proceedings as a result of a complaint made by Lee Hsien Yang.^[25]

Other appointments

Directorships

• Singapore Technologies Electronics (2009–2012)
• National Healthcare Group (2009–2012)
• Singapore University of Technology and Design (2009–2015)
• Ascendas Property Fund Trustee (2010–2013)
• Agri‑Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (2004–2010)

Personal life

Bull and his two elder sisters were raised single-handedly by his mother after his father died when he was 15 months old.^[26] He studied at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and Anglo-Chinese Junior College.^[27][28]