Rajasingam Gothandapani

Rajasingam Gothandapani is a Partner at Shearn Delamore & Co., heading the Shipping & Maritime, Investigation & Crisis Management, and Regulatory, Compliance, Enforcement & Investigations practices. He specialises in Maritime Law, encompassing contentious litigation and arbitration as well as transactional shipping matters, and also handles dispute resolution, criminal defence, land acquisition, environmental law, and energy-related matters.

Rajasingam has advised on a wide range of maritime disputes, including acting for a major global carrier in a bunker dispute and advising on agreements for the construction of a maritime port in Sarawak. He appeared as co‑counsel with an English Silk in an international arbitration in Paris involving a luxury yacht. He also represents clients in compulsory land acquisition references, judicial review applications, and planning appeals under the Land Acquisition Act and town planning legislation. In criminal and regulatory matters, he has defended clients under the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Act, resisted asset forfeiture proceedings under anti‑money laundering laws, and represented employers in occupational safety prosecutions. He advises on environmental liability, including oil spill and pollution claims under the Environmental Quality Act, and has represented clients in strict liability offences.

Rajasingam holds an LL.B (Hons) with First Class Honours from the International Islamic University of Malaysia (1995), where he was the Top Law Graduate and awarded the Royal Gold Medal for Excellence. He also holds an LL.M (Hons, 2nd Class Upper) and an M.A. from the University of Cambridge, where he was a British High Commissioner's Chevening Scholar and Cambridge Commonwealth Trust Scholar. He was called to the Malaysian Bar in 1996 and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, a member of the London Court of International Arbitration, and a member of the Bar Council's Shipping and Admiralty Law Committee.

He has represented the State Authority and private entities in compulsory acquisitions, and provides advisory on native customary rights, anti‑corruption, and securities law. He also serves as Legal Advisor to Pure Life Society Malaysia.