International QC Salim Moollan to join Brick Court Chambers

International QC Salim Moollan to join Brick Court Chambers

Moolan is the second international QC from rival Essex Court in wake of China sanctions to switch to Brick Court

Brick Court Chambers has managed to secure services of the international arbitration counsel Salim Moolan QC from its rival London set Essex Court Chambers.

Singapore-based Moollan is set to leave Essex Court after a 23-year long association with it. He would join Vernon Flynn QC at Brick Court. Flynn had quit Essex Court to join Brick Court in April this year.

Moollan, who practises as a registered foreign lawyer in Singapore, will join Brick Court from 1 September 2021.

Moollan happens to be the fourth QC to leave Essex Court, and the second to move over to the rival Brick Court, following the March sanction on Essex Court after four tenants wrote a legal opinion on the treatment of the Uighurs, much to China's chagrin.

Moollan, dual-qualified in Mauritius and London, is renowned for his international arbitration practice and works in the higher and appellate courts. He has managed to maintain active links with Mauritius during his long association with Essex Court. He had chaired the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) Congress in Mauritius in 2016.

In July, Moollan appeared in the Privy Council in the Betamax appeal from Mauritius, which considered the relationship between enforcement of international arbitration awards and conflicts with public policy.

Moollan specialises in investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) work and chairs the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law's arbitration working group, which is currently considering reforms to ISDS rules.

He has also held senior roles with the London Court of International Arbitration and is a past vice president of the ICC Court of Arbitration, representing Mauritius.

Besides Flynn and Moollan, two other Singapore-based silks to have quit Essex Court following the contentious Chinese sanction include arbitration specialist Toby Landau QC, who now practices independently in London and Singapore, and Jern-Fei Ng QC who left Essex Court for 7 Bedford Row in London.