Alvin Yeo Khirn Hai (; 28 March 1962 – 30 July 2022) was a Singaporean lawyer and politician.

Education

Yeo obtained his LLB from

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

Career

Politics

Yeo was a member of the

People's Action Party The People's Action Party (abbreviation: PAP) is a major conservative centre-right political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and ...

. He served as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Hong Kah GRC Hong Kah Group Representation Constituency was a five-member Group Representation Constituency located in the western area of Singapore. The constituency covered the areas of Bukit Batok, Choa Chu Kang, Upper Bukit Timah, Jurong West and Lim Ch ...

from 2006 to 2011, and for

Chua Chu Kang GRC The Chua Chu Kang Group Representation Constituency is a four-member Group Representation Constituency located in the western area of Singapore. There are four divisions of the GRC: Choa Chu Kang, Bukit Gombak, Keat Hong and Brickland. Military ...

from 2011 to 2015. At the 2015 general elections, he retired from politics, with

Yee Chia Hsing *Yu (Chinese surname) ( Chinese: 余) * Yee (surname) ( simp. 叶, trad. 葉) -- variants Yee, Yeh, Yip/Ip, Yap, Yapp Notable people with surname Yee (余) Persons with surname "Yee"(余) include: *Charmaine Yee (born 1987), Singaporean emcee ...

succeeding in his seat.

Legal

Yeo was called to the bar in 1988. In 1992, Yeo founded the law firm, WongPartnership alongside with Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara,

Sundaresh Menon Sundaresh Menon (born 26 February 1962) is a Singaporean lawyer and jurist who has been serving as the fourth chief justice of Singapore since 2012, appointed by President Tony Tan. Education Sundaresh graduated from the National University of ...

, and Wong Meng Meng. In 2000, Yeo was appointed as a

senior counsel The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel (post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictio ...

, making him the youngest lawyer to be named at that time. On 31 July 2017, a complaint of possible overcharging by Yeo was made by three Court of Appeal judges to the

Law Society A law society is an association of lawyers with a regulatory role that includes the right to supervise the training, qualifications, and conduct of lawyers. Where there is a distinction between barristers and solicitors, solicitors are regulated ...

. The legal bill that was sent to a wealthy widow, who Yeo represented between November 2010 to June 2015 in series of legal proceedings was . The judges were concerned by the amount charged and with the client's lack of mental capacity. The bill was later discounted by 32.5 percent. On 19 June 2019, a Law Society disciplinary tribunal dismissed the complaint. On 24 June 2019, the Law Society sought a review of the tribunal to the

High Court of Singapore The High Court of Singapore is the lower division of the Supreme Court of Singapore, the upper division being the Court of Appeal of Singapore, Court of Appeal. It consists of the Chief Justice of Singapore, chief justice and the judicial offic ...

. On 8 January 2020, the High Court later ordered for another round of disciplinary tribunal hearing after having found that the original charges brought on by Law Society were not framed properly as they excluded considerations for the client's lack of mental capacity, and also that the original tribunal had decided that the mental capacity issues were not within the scope of complaint, contrary to some of the initial concerns raised by the Appeal judges. On objections from Yeo's lawyers that he would have to be investigated again, the High Court judge, Justice Valerie Thean, called the situation "unfortunate" and cited a 2008 parliamentary act that forbids any judicial review while disciplinary proceedings are ongoing, and thus the Court could only review after disclipinary proceedings completed. Yeo was the chairman and senior partner of WongPartnership.

Business

After

Peter Lim Peter Lim (born 21 May 1953) is a Singaporean business magnate who was a stockbroker, and is now a private investor who has invested in sectors ranging from palm oil to medicine. In 2019, Forbes ranked him as the 10th richest person in Singap ...

owned

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

in 2014, he appointed a new board of directors which included Yeo. Yeo held the directorship until his death in 2022.

Personal life

Yeo was married to Chan Hee Lien and had two children. He died on 30 July 2022 from cancer, aged 60.

Accolades

* 2017 – Outstanding Contribution to the Legal Profession, Chambers Asia-Pacific

References

External links

Alvin Yeo's CV
on WongPartnership's website {{DEFAULTSORT:Yeo, Alvin 1962 births 2022 deaths Deaths from cancer in Singapore Alumni of King's College London Members of the Parliament of Singapore 20th-century Singaporean lawyers Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean Senior Counsel People's Action Party politicians Anglo-Chinese School alumni Singaporean Christians