Datuk Darryl Goon Siew Chye, PJN, DMSM, is a retired judge of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia and now a consultant with the firm. 

Datuk Darryl retired from the judiciary in June 2022. Prior to his time on the bench, he was a founding member of the firm in its current iteration, he was a management partner of the firm and he headed its Dispute Resolution Practice Group.

Called as an utter barrister to the Bar of England and Wales in 1980 and a member of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, Datuk Darryl was admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 1982 and practised as a litigation barrister until his elevation to the Bench in 2018. He has also been admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore.

Datuk Darryl holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree from the University of London and a Master of Laws degree from King’s College London. He also has a diploma in Air and Space Law from the London Institute of World Affairs.

As a litigation barrister, Datuk Darryl rose to be one of the foremost litigators in the country. Consistently top-ranked in leading legal publications and directories, his ability and versatility were manifest in the variety of litigation and arbitration work he handled during a period of over 35 years at the Bar – cases in the fields of, inter alia, medical negligence, intellectual property, defamation, companies, insurance, real property and judicial review of administrative decisions.

Even at an early stage of his career at the Bar, Datuk Darryl acquitted himself sufficiently to be invited to be a member of the legal team that represented the then Lord President of the Supreme Court of Malaysia, the late Tun Salleh Abas. This was the watershed event which has since become known as the 1988 Judicial Crisis of Malaysia.

Among his stand-out cases was the successful representation of The Edge Media Group in an application for judicial review against a ministerial decision to suspend the publication of The Edge Malaysia and The Edge Financial Daily arising from articles relating to the 1MDB scandal. This case is also a precedent for the principle that damages may be awarded for the infringement of constitutional rights.

One of his last major cases at the Bar was his successful appeal to the Federal Court on behalf of a private hospital. This is a reported landmark decision of the Federal Court concerning the liability of a private hospital for a medical doctor who had performed a surgery there as an independent contractor.

Back in 2012, when the Rules of Court 2012 were being drafted, Datuk Darryl was a member of the Task Force set up under the auspices of the Bar Council to undertake this important responsibility. Following therefrom, he became one of the Advisory Editors for the Malaysian Rules of Court 2012 – An Annotation published by LexisNexis.

Datuk Darryl is a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators. He has sat and continues to sit as arbitrator in disputes in diverse areas of the law, where he makes good use of his vast knowledge and understanding in commercial, corporate and civil law gained from his legal practice and tenure on the Bench.

Datuk Darryl brings with him a wealth of experience accumulated over the years from his varied practice at the Bar and also from having served as a council member of the ASEAN Intellectual Property Association, being a founder member and past Treasurer of the Malaysian Intellectual Property Association, a member of the Malaysian Bar Council, a past president of the Medicolegal Society of Malaysia, a member of the Bursa Listing Committee and, of course, his time on the Bench. 

Datuk Darryl provides consultancy and advice in relation to various matters that are managed by the firm. He is also consulted by members of the Bar outside the firm in relation to matters that involve legal and factual complexities. 

TERTIARY QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor of Laws (Hons) (University of London)
• Master of Laws (University of London)
• Diploma in Air & Space Law (London Institute of World Affairs)

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS & MEMBERSHIPS

• Barrister (called by the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn)
• Called to the Bar of England and Wales: 24th July 1980
• Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya
• Admitted to the Malaysian Bar: 18th September 1982
• Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore
• Admitted to the Singapore Bar: 10th November 1993
• Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb)
• Fellow of the Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators (FMIArb)