We are pleased to welcome The Honourable Dato’ Mary Lim Thiam Suan, Former Judge of the Federal Court of Malaysia to the Senior Mediator Panel.

Dato’ Mary Lim brings with her decades of distinguished legal and judicial experience across commercial, medical, local government, construction and appellate matters. A graduate of the University of Leeds with a LLB (Hons) degree and holder of a Master of Laws from the University of Western Australia, she was admitted to Lincoln’s Inn as a barrister-at-law. Prior to her elevation to the High Court of Malaya where she sat in the new Commercial Court, she served in various capacities at the Attorney General’s Chambers of Malaysia, including as Federal Counsel, Senior Federal Counsel, Senior Assistant Parliamentary Draftsman, Legal Advisor to the State of Negeri Sembilan, Deputy Head of Civil Division and Commissioner of Law Revision and Law Reform. Her work span from policy to execution the myriad of contracts involving governments, statutory bodies, GLCs and local authorities with private and corporate entities.

She was the first judge of the Construction Court at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, before subsequently serving on both the Court of Appeal and the Federal Court of Malaysia. At the Bench, she has mediated in numerous commercial, private wealth, matrimonial, construction, IP and land disputes, at both first instance and appellate levels.

Beyond the Bench, Dato’ Mary Lim continues to contribute actively to the legal and dispute resolution community, from the perspectives of the student, practitioner and the judge. She has written on and spoken about the law of arbitration and ADR judicially and academically, both nationally and internationally. She has trained extensively in criminal, civil and appellate advocacy — including at the Advanced Advocacy Course at Keble College, Oxford — and is a member of the international faculty of advocacy trainers under the International Advocacy Trainers Council. She also works with many judiciaries on integrity and dispute resolution. She serves as Secretary of the Lincoln’s Inn Malaysian Alumni Association, and has recently been appointed as an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn — a distinction recognising her outstanding contributions to the law and the Inn.

We are delighted to welcome Dato’ Mary Lim to SMC’s Senior Mediator Panel and look forward to the depth of expertise, leadership and regional perspective she brings to mediation and dispute resolution.