The Policyholder Podcast: Presented by Fenchurch Law
The Policyholder Podcast, presented by Fenchurch Law, the podcast that aims to bring insights from a variety of guests with different perspectives on the insurance market, in a way that’s relevant to policyholders, and the brokers who represent them.
The Policyholder Podcast: Presented by Fenchurch Law
S1E5 - Meet The Team: Eugene Lee
Meet Eugene Lee, a Senior Associate at Fenchurch APAC. In this episode, Eugene shares his journey from studying history and completing military service to building a career in law. He reflects on his experiences within Singapore’s legal profession and reveals what excites him most about being part of Fenchurch Law’s dynamic and growing team.
Hello and welcome to a new podcast series hosted by Fenchurch Law. This series aims to introduce every member of our four offices in a short and formal podcast. Today, I'm delighted to be joined by Eugene Lee, who has been part of the Singapore office since it opened in 2024. A very warm welcome, eugene.
Speaker 2:Hi, happy to be here.
Speaker 1:Before we dive into the pod, let's start with some quickfire questions. So question number one are you an early bird or a night owl? Early bird, Spotify or Apple?
Speaker 2:Music. No, I didn't have to think about that one. I've never ever used Apple Music.
Speaker 1:Dogs or cats Dogs Good man, me too, and fiction or non-fiction.
Speaker 2:These days non-fiction.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've found that too. I found as I've grown older I've become more sort of I don't want to say boring, but perhaps serious. Anyway, well, eugene, you're an original employee of French Archelor Singapore and it's great to have you here For the benefit of the listeners. The Singapore office are over for kickoff day, which is a sort of off-site away day where we get the whole firm together. I guess for you it's been an opportunity to meet everyone in person, so a lot of names and a lot of faces to remember in the last couple of days. So you know actually, because obviously we don't actually know each other too well, can you just start by sharing a bit about your background and what led you to pursue a career in law?
Speaker 2:Right. So after I graduated from junior college and did my military service, I did a degree in history. Same, oh did you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my undergraduate was in history, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I did it because it was my favorite subject back when I was studying for my A levels. So I mean, in Singapore, like in the UK, we've also got the A-levels. But you know, as I was doing my history degree, I realized that I mean, in the long run, I wanted to have useful professional skill. I remember once when I was doing my history degree and I was visiting, the doctor was examining me. I thought, well, this, this guy has has something useful, but he knows something economically, economically useful which yes which I can't do yes, well, yeah, historians.
Speaker 2:Historians are professors, basically yeah, exactly so, um, and because I was, um, I was an art student, so so I, you know, in school I did stuff like, like history, um, rather than physics, or chemistry. The logical thing to do was become a lawyer. So one third of my classmates, who were also art students, became lawyers.
Speaker 1:Sure it's a natural progression. It's a natural progression, yeah, question how long is military? Because I actually forgot about the military service. How long is the military service in Singapore? Singapore, it's slightly less than two years, okay, and is it? Obviously everyone has to do it, right? Yeah, basically, is it kind of, is it enjoyable, like do you have friends from it, or was it sort of something you felt?
Speaker 2:that you had to do. Yeah, yeah, I mean I made friends from it. Um, it's, I mean, look, when I was 18 years old when I did it, I I can't say I loved it yeah sure yeah, but I mean now that I'm older. It's um life skills.
Speaker 1:Maybe did you learn some life skills, because I think a lot of people I have a lot of friends who've been in the in the British military- yeah and they say there are times which are obviously very tough, but they say that they learn a lot of skills like discipline yeah, you know you, you gain a better understanding of human nature.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which?
Speaker 1:probably helps in your law practice in a way. Obviously a lot of the time, whether it be understanding clients or understanding judges, you kind of need to get a sense of what's going on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I agree with that. The other useful thing is because I was raised in quite a sheltered, like a middle-class to upper-middle-class environment. So when you're in the military you're put into contact with people from outside that environment. It's a useful thing to have because when you enter the real world you have to interact with all sorts of people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a very fair point, Very wise and so, obviously, just for the benefit of the tape. You were born and raised in Singapore. Yeah, I am pure as it gets, and you went to university in Singapore as well, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I went to the National University of Singapore, then I did my law degree at the Singapore Management University.
Speaker 1:Right, and Singapore, it's a city-state, right, but it's not quite an island. No, it is an island, is it Okay? Well, this is now exposing me for my rubbish knowledge of your homeland. I'm very sorry, eugene, but what's the population of Singapore?
Speaker 2:I think right now it's around 6 million. Oh wow, Okay, yeah, but there is quite a large population of migrant like foreign workers. Yeah, sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course, and is there something, in your opinion at least, which is unique about practicing law in Singapore compared with other jurisdictions?
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, to make things simpler, I'll just compare Singapore with the UK.
Speaker 1:Yes, that would be great, because that's actually all I know.
Speaker 2:So on paper the differences aren't really that great. I suppose the most notable difference is that in Singapore it's a fused profession. There's no distinction between solicitors and barristers. So yeah, if you want to do disputes well, you've got to appear in court. So you've done a lot of advocacy, not a lot, not a lot. I've appeared in case management conferences.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I've never done an actual trial.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I mean, if you're a junior, you rarely get the opportunity to speak at trial.
Speaker 1:So is it more sort of the partners who have more experience there, the more natural people?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but even the partners who have more experience. They're the more natural people, yeah, but even the partners, uh. So I noticed that there is um like a gap in the standard of advocacy between singapore and the uk because you know barristers do it all the time, right so yeah, they're phenomenal, phenomenal yeah so it's actually terrifying to watch them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, well, that's a bit that reminds me of um. The singaporean situation is similar to Denmark. Oh, yes, because shout out Morton, for the benefit of listeners Morton is the managing partner of Fenchurch Law, scandinavia and he heads up our Copenhagen office. I didn't appreciate that. It's the same there, I think. Did David say he's appeared in the Supreme Court of Denmark 20 times? Yeah, that's what I remember, which is incredible. I mean, david made the point sorry, david, being managing partner. David, for the benefit of the listeners, made the point that that would basically make him a KC if he was in England. Yeah, that is very interesting. And was your legal background before Fenchurch Law? Was it always in insurance?
Speaker 2:Oh, I started off in Ellen and Gladhill, which is one of the bigger Singapore law firms, and I did a shipping litigation there. After a while I realised that I didn't like speaking in court that much, so I made the move. I did a short stint in financial regulation. Then I went to do insurance law at another rather big Singapore firm called Raja and Tan. So I was there for maybe two almost two and a half years and then I moved to Fan Church. When I was there I did all sorts of insurance related things. So there was insurance regulation where we would advise clients on regulatory issues.
Speaker 1:Yeah, fascinating stuff, that yeah.
Speaker 2:And then, when it came to the disputes, what we did. I did a bit of coverage, but there was also defense work and subrogation.
Speaker 1:Yes, of course Defense work is a big practice area in London as well. It's just not something we go there, yeah. So I think maybe sometimes.
Speaker 2:but sorry, I'm not actually sure I shouldn't say something so definitively. I think Toby has said that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, shout out Toby sort of I don't know. Is he what's?
Speaker 2:he's not the leader of the Singapore Fenceworks North Singapore, but he's, I know he's the director, um, and he's the one who knows what's going on, I mean he'll love that.
Speaker 1:He'll absolutely love it. Shout out, toby, for sure. Well, usually not. This is it's. I'm having such a great time talking to you, but we're gonna. It's meant to be a short and sharp pod, but this it's great because I feel like I'm actually getting to know you on the course of this podcast. So just towards the end of the questions now, because otherwise we'll be running and running and running. How many times have you been to the uk and do you enjoy it here?
Speaker 2:this is the second time I came here in 2013 for I think a week yeah okay, wow, yeah, I enjoy it because it's it's so different from singapore everything from it's freezing and wet yeah, there there's that. I mean the food is obviously quite different.
Speaker 1:What's a famous Singaporean dish? I don't know.
Speaker 2:Standard answer is chicken rice. Yeah, which actually comes from this region of China called Hainan Island.
Speaker 1:You've sort of co-opted it in Singapore, yeah basically, basically well, it sounds delicious and well, anyway, eugene, I'm I should probably end it there, but I don't want to. It's been, it's been great chatting to you and thank you so much. Thank you so much for coming in and, um, yeah, I mean, it must be quite exciting for you to be part of such a young, dynamic, fast-growing team out in fenchurch law, singapore yeah, I, I'm really enjoying it here brilliant, that's.
Speaker 1:That's what we want to hear. Anyway, eugene, thanks so much and safe travels back to Singapore. Thank you very much, drew.
