Our Firm
A Firm Built Around Fair Resolution
Batik Partners was established to offer Singapore's commercial community a dependable, neutral alternative to adversarial dispute proceedings.
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Where the Practice Began
Batik Partners was founded in Singapore by practitioners who saw, through years of working in commercial litigation, that the adversarial process often produced outcomes that served neither party's long-term interests. A court judgment resolves a legal question, but it rarely addresses the underlying commercial concern.
The founding team came from backgrounds spanning construction disputes, investment treaty arbitration, and corporate mediation. What united them was a belief that most commercial disagreements contain enough common ground to support a negotiated path — if the right conditions are created.
The name Batik Partners draws from the craft of batik: a deliberate, layered process where what appears complicated from a distance resolves into a coherent pattern when examined closely. This is what we aim to do with commercial disputes — bring structure and patience to what can feel like an intractable situation.
Based in the Cecil Street financial district, we work with businesses, partnerships, and individuals across Singapore and the wider region, handling matters administered by SIAC, ICC, and HKIAC, as well as bespoke mediation arrangements under the Singapore Convention on Mediation.
Our Mission
To provide structured, professionally facilitated dispute resolution that gives parties a genuine opportunity to reach their own workable outcomes — without the cost, delay, and public exposure of litigation.
Our Approach
We prepare thoroughly, remain scrupulously neutral where the role requires it, and maintain candour with all parties. We do not overstate the likelihood of any particular outcome, and we work at a pace that serves the matter rather than the billing cycle.
Our Values
- Neutrality maintained across all engagements
- Transparency on process, timelines, and costs
- Respect for the commercial interests of all parties
- Proportionate, practical resolutions over procedural formality
Our Practitioners
The Team
Each practitioner brings a distinct perspective shaped by years of handling complex commercial matters.
Rajan Krishnamurthy
Lead Mediator & Partner
Former senior counsel with twenty years of experience in commercial and construction mediation. Accredited by the Singapore Mediation Centre and the Law Society of Singapore.
Serena Choo
Arbitration Counsel
Specialist in international commercial arbitration with particular experience in SIAC and ICC proceedings. Managed matters across the Asia-Pacific, South Asia, and the Middle East.
David Lim
Negotiation Advisor
Background in commercial negotiation across the technology and financial services sectors. Focuses on early-stage dispute assessment and settlement facilitation for business clients.
Professional Standards
How We Maintain Quality
Our work is governed by professional codes, institutional rules, and internal protocols that we apply consistently across every engagement.
SMC Accreditation
Our mediators are accredited by the Singapore Mediation Centre and operate in accordance with its code of conduct and professional standards.
Confidentiality Protocols
All parties sign confidentiality agreements prior to the commencement of any session. Our internal data handling procedures comply with the PDPA (Singapore).
Neutrality Obligations
Mediators and facilitators are required to disclose any potential conflict of interest before accepting an appointment and to withdraw if impartiality cannot be maintained.
SIAC & ICC Compliance
Arbitration proceedings are conducted in strict compliance with the applicable institutional rules, including all procedural timelines and documentation requirements.
Continuing Development
Our practitioners participate in regular training and professional development programmes, including moot arbitrations, mediation skills courses, and institutional seminars.
Singapore Convention
Settlement agreements facilitated through our mediation process are drafted to meet the requirements of the Singapore Convention on Mediation for cross-border enforceability.
Commercial Dispute Resolution in Singapore
Singapore occupies a distinctive position in the landscape of international commercial dispute resolution. As a seat for arbitration, it benefits from a judiciary that is consistently supportive of arbitral processes, a legal framework aligned with the UNCITRAL Model Law, and institutional administrators of international standing.
Batik Partners works within this framework, drawing on its practitioners' familiarity with Singapore's procedural landscape and the practical expectations of both domestic and international parties. Our work spans industries including construction, financial services, technology, and distribution — wherever commercial relationships generate the kind of complexity that benefits from structured facilitation.
We believe that the most durable resolutions come from processes where parties feel heard and where the outcome is one they have shaped, not one that has been imposed. Our role, whether as mediator, arbitration counsel, or negotiation advisor, is to create the conditions for that kind of resolution.
Interested in Working With Us?
We welcome enquiries from parties at any stage of a dispute, as well as from legal professionals seeking to refer clients or co-counsel.
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