Davinder Singh (lawyer)

Singh was widely considered Singapore's top litigator, he is best known for representing Singaporean prime ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Lee Hsien Loong in civil lawsuits, and for acting for Singapore Press Holdings in the National Kidney Foundation scandal. He worked at the law firm Drew & Napier for 37 years, spending 17 years as Chief Executive Officer, and the last two as Executive Chairman. In 2019, he left Drew & Napier to start his own firm, Davinder Singh Chambers.

In 2014, Singh and three other lawyers from Drew & Napier represented Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a defamation lawsuit against blogger Roy Ngerng, who was represented by M Ravi and Eugene Thuraisingam. On 7 November 2014, Justice Lee Seiu Kin found Ngerng to have defamed Lee Hsien Loong in an online article whose contents suggested that the Prime Minister was guilty of criminal misappropriation. In July 2015, during a hearing to assess the amount of damages he has to pay Lee Hsien Loong, Ngerng broke down in tears while he was being cross-examined by Singh. On 17 December 2015, the judge handed down a judgement ordering Ngerng to pay S$100,000 in general damages and S$50,000 in aggravated damages. Ngerng, through his lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, proposed to pay the S$150,000 in instalments – a request granted by Lee Hsien Loong on the condition that Ngerng paid the S$30,000 in hearing costs immediately, i.e., by 16 March 2016. Ngerng is expected to repay $100 a month from 1 April 2016 onwards over five years until 1 April 2021 when instalments are increased to S$1,000 until the full sum has been paid by the year 2033.

In 2005, Singh represented Singapore Press Holdings in a lawsuit brought against them by T. T. Durai, Chief Executive Officer of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), for defamation in relation to an article written by one of their correspondents. Durai dropped the case on the second day of the trial.

In 1997, Singh was appointed to the first batch of Senior Counsels in Singapore. He is the Chairman of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre.

In 1987, Home Affairs Minister S. Jayakumar, who had taught Singh constitutional law when he was a lecturer at the National University of Singapore, asked Singh to consider becoming a Member of Parliament. Singh, at that time, had a busy practice and was focused on his career, and was not sure that he was prepared for the commitment. However, Singh decided to accept, for a number of reasons. Singh's parents were ardent admirers of Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, and Singh knew that joining the People's Action Party would make his mother proud and would have made his late father proud too. Singh was himself an admirer of Lee. Once, when asked by Grimberg what he wanted to be in fifteen years, Singh replied, "I'd like to be Lee Kuan Yew's lawyer", to which Grimberg replied, "You will be." He also felt that contributing as a parliamentarian was a rare opportunity would add a valuable dimension to life. Singh ran in the 1988 Singaporean general election and won in an walkover, and from 1988 to 2006, Singh served as a Member of Parliament for Bishan-Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency.

Singh described pupillage as life-changing. He entered Drew & Napier in May 1983, one of a number of pupils. Through a stroke of administrative luck, he was assigned pupil to Joseph Grimberg, then a well-known advocate in Singapore, whose clients included Singapore's prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. Singh described his experience under Grimberg is transformational, filling him with the inspiration he had earlier lacked. He decided then that he wanted to be "the next Joe Grimberg".

Davinder Singh Sachdev s/o Amar Singh SC (born 1 August 1957) is a Singaporean lawyer and former politician. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Toa Payoh East ward of Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC from 1997 to 2006 and the Toa Payoh ward of Toa Payoh GRC from 1988 to 1991.