Clement is a Partner in our Family and Divorce Practice Group. He specialises in contested matrimonial litigation regarding custody/care & control, relocation, division of matrimonial assets, maintenance, and conflicts of law. He has acted as lead counsel in the Family Justice Court, Supreme Court and Syariah Court. He is also in charge of adoption matters in the Family and Divorce Practice Group.
Clement holds the concurrent appointment of Assistant Professor (Adjunct) at the National University of Singapore’s (‘NUS’) Faculty of Law.
In 2023 Clement was recognised by Singapore Business Review as one of Singapore’s 30 Most Influential Lawyers Under 40. Clement is also the youngest Recommended lawyer listed in the 2023 edition of Doyle’s Guide: Leading Family & Divorce Lawyers – Singapore.
Clement has been involved in many notable decisions, such as:-
1. VIG v VIH [2020] SGHCF 16
Clement acted for the Husband in this case which involved matrimonial assets exceeding SGD 35 million in value. The High Court found for the Husband and divided the matrimonial assets 70% (Husband): 30% (Wife) even though the Wife had sought 50%. This case involved a novel point of law regarding the treatment of performance bonuses as matrimonial assets.
2. UTL v UTM [2019] SGHCF 10
Clement acted for the Husband in this case involving the division of matrimonial assets exceeding SGD 10 million in value. This case was unique in that the Wife claimed she lost large sums of monies through bad investments and/or loans. The Court subsequently reinstated some of the ‘lost’ sums back into the pool for division.
3. UQN v UQO [2018] SGFC 107
Clement acted for a Wife who sought to relocate from Singapore to the USA with her three young children, against the Husband’s objections. The Court’s permission was successfully obtained and the Wife was able to leave Singapore with the children.
4. BZD v BZE [2020] SGCA 1
Clement successfully resisted an ex-wife’s appeal to increase the spousal maintenance payable by her ex-spouse almost a decade after the end of the marriage.
5. UGH v UQO [2020] SGFC 86
Clement successfully argued a novel point of law regarding the jurisdiction of the Family Justice Court and the interaction with foreign Courts that have concurrent jurisdiction.
In addition to his practice, Clement designs and teaches the Specialised Topics in Family Law module. This module covers cutting-edge family law issues such as international child abduction, adoption in non-traditional family units, conflicts of law, and financial relief consequent on foreign divorces.
From 2018 to 2022 Clement held the appointment of Instructor for the Legal Analysis and Communication Module at NUS’ Faculty of Law, a compulsory course for law students covering legal analysis, research skills as well as written and oral advocacy.
Clement also co-authored commentary for the Family Justice Act 2014 for LexisNexis’ Annotated Laws of Singapore series.
Finally, Clement is keenly aware that not all disputes are best resolved in a Courtroom. Clement is sensitive towards how parties’ personalities affect the resolution of a case, particularly where one spouse exhibits narcissistic traits, and adapts his approach accordingly.
