Biography

Dato’ Stephen Quah graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1984 with a LL.B (Hons). Subsequent to completing his tertiary education, he was called to the Singapore Bar and admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore in February 1985.

He commenced practice in Singapore with the firm of Messrs. Goh Aik Chew & Co. from February 1985 to November 1985, where he garnered the requisite experiences in both litigation and conveyancing practice. Most notable, was his pivotal involvement in representing a client accused of abetting the main accused in a tax evasion case which was the first of its kind in Singapore at that time.

Having obtained the necessary exposure and experiences, he thereafter returned to Malaysia and was admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in April, 1986. Dato’ Stephen Quah then commenced practice with Messrs. Albar Zulkifly & Yap (which later became known as Messrs. Albar & Partners), primarily focusing on civil litigation and was made partner of the firm in July 1989.

One of Dato Quah’s earliest memorable and notable case back in Malaysia was where he acted for Bank Negara Malaysia to obtain a summary judgment pertaining to a matter on the Exchange Control Act, 1953. Effective on 1st January 1990, Dato’ Quah ceased as a partner with Messrs. Albar Zulkifly & Yap and ventured on his own to established and cofound Messrs. Kumar Jaspal & Quah (which today is better known as Messrs. Kumar Jaspal Quah & Aishah). He became the Managing Partner of the firm up until towards the end of 2005, after which, he elected to retire from the legal scene and ceased practice when he began active involvement in a corporate takeover exercise on behalf of certain groups of shareholders, comprising of an institutional group.

Throughout his legal practice, Dato’ Quah’s regular Court appearances in the High Courts in Peninsular Malaysia on litigious and highly contentious matters related to corporate, banking and finance aspects have not gone unnoticed and as a result, he is much sought after by foreign lawyers abroad seeking his expertise and consultations to tackle and address such similar disputes revolving around the corporate, banking and finance aspect in Malaysia.

Apart from the above, Dato’ Stephen Quah also has vast conveyancing corporate regulatory exposures in matters relating to joint ventures, corporate investments and land dealings in Malaysia, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Singapore as well as other countries and had previously rendered legal consultations and advise on several joint venture development projects carried out by the Malaysian Central Bank or Bank Negara Malaysia in their building and construction development schemes under their TPU and TPPT schemes. Taking into account his flair for corporate restructuring, Dato’ Stephen Quah had, during his practice with Messrs. Kumar Jaspal Quah & Aishah, led and undertaken the loan recoveries and loan restructuring portfolio involving the Cooperative Central Bank.

Since his retirement and cessation of practice from the legal scene towards the end of 2005, he has been actively involved in various business ventures including managing an industrial, manufacturing, marketing and construction conglomerate from the end of 2005 until 2019 and also managing private corporations which are in the business of property investment holdings, development planning and general investment holding, mergers, acquisition and disposal activities. Having noted his extensive experience in corporate restructuring exercises, Dato’ Stephen Quah was also formerly appointed as an independent director of a foreign incorporated public company which was listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia and was involved in its reorganization exercise to have the said company relisted as a Malaysian incorporated company.