Raja Eileen Soraya practises in the area of civil and commercial litigation. Her portfolio involves a broad spectrum of industries including healthcare, health technology, media as well as oil & gas. Raja Eileen is a familiar presence in the superior courts in Malaysia and her extensive experience as counsel at civil and commercial trials has been published in many reported cases in the Malaysian law journals. She has worked closely with clients from various jurisdictions including the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Singapore.

Recognised by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific publication for many years as a Leading Individual in Dispute Resolution, its 2021 – 2024 editions have listed her in its Hall of Fame. Another publication, asialaw, ranked her as a “Leading Lawyer” in Dispute Resolution for the years 2016 – 2019 and as a “Distinguished Practitioner” for 2020 – 2024. She has also been named as a “Litigation Star” by Benchmark Litigation in 2018 – 2024. In June 2020, Raja Eileen was listed in the inaugural edition of Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific Top 100 Women in Litigation and has been listed every year since then. Raja Eileen has also been included in Legal 500’s “The Arbitration Powerlist: Southeast Asia”, a list of the best arbitration practitioners in Southeast Asia.

In a case arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic, Raja Eileen successfully defended a premier Malaysian university in Judicial Review proceedings brought by employees of the university who sought to quash the university’s policies relating to Covid-19 on the basis that they were discriminatory and in violation of their constitutional rights. The High Court dismissed the application.

Recently, Raja Eileen represented a major European bank in a civil lawsuit brought by 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to recover funds misappropriated from it. The claim against our client was premised on alleged dishonest assistance in relation to multiple transactions that were alleged to have been fraudulently transferred out of 1MDB by its directors to third parties. Raja Eileen and her team successfully argued for the case against our client to be dismissed. The High Court held that in the circumstances of the claim, the High Court had no jurisdiction over our client and that Malaysia is not the proper forum for the claim.

Raja Eileen is seasoned in media law and is regularly consulted for legal advice on crisis management and reputation management. She has contributed to the Malaysian Annotated Statutes on the Defamation Act 1957 and the Sedition Act 1948 published by LexisNexis and to the Defamation chapter of the Malaysian Atkin’s Court Forms. The work done by Raja Eileen and her team caused the international publication Media Law International to rank the firm as the market leader in media law in Malaysia every year since 2016. 

Raja Eileen currently leads the Healthcare Practice Group of the firm. Her long-standing court experience and dealings with healthcare regulators have enabled her to provide litigation support and strategic legal advisory to healthcare providers and healthcare entities including for matters connected with the innovation and digitalisation of healthcare services. She is a past President of the Medico-Legal Society of Malaysia. 

Sharing her considerable expertise, Raja Eileen has been a speaker at various local and international legal conferences. She serves the local legal profession as a member of the Malaysian Bar Council Advocacy Training Executive Committee.

TERTIARY QUALIFICATION

• Bachelor of Laws (Hons) (London School of Economics and Political Science)

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION & MEMBERSHIP

• Barrister-at-Law (called by the Honourable Society of Inner Temple)
• Called to the Bar of England and Wales: 1994
• Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya
• Admitted to the Malaysian Bar: 10th January 1997
• Member of the Malaysian Bar Council Advocacy Training Executive Committee
• Member of the Malaysian Bar Council Legal Profession Committee