Montague Choy
Corporate
Family Law
General Litigation
Private Clients & Estate & Trust Work
Credit & Risk Management
Montague Himself
Monty is passionate about working with people. Apart from the office, Monty devotes his time to helping people via his pro bono legal clinic sessions at Henderson Community Centre. Monty also conducts a commercial legal clinic at Economic Development Centre @ ASME at Bukit Merah. By engaging in these activities, he finds that he is able to keep his ear to the ground and a hand on his heart to better understand the needs of his clients. Though Monty does not have any children he loves to spend time with his nieces Samantha and Emma and nephew, Timothy.
Monty's Idea of Enjoyment
"I have just wrapped up some final matters at the office, turned off the lights and computer terminal, and am heading off … after a short drive, I arrive at my favourite cigar lounge. The soothing vocals of Lily singing "just the two of us" is heard as I enter the divan, the guys high five me, asking if I had a good day. I reply saying "alls good!" I sit in my favourite chair, and Josh asks, "your box?" - I nod, and very shortly am greeted with the familiar scent of the rich smell of the Havana leaf. Taking my time to pick a ripe stick, "Snip", and "Click", I take a full hearted puff on a Lanceros Limitada 2006… legs cross, relaxed… I think to myself, " the night could not be better." "Josh… can I have a Disarono with that?"
Qualifications
Monty graduated from the University of Liverpool in 1994 and proceeded to get called to the London Bar in 1996 (Lincoln’s Inn). Monty returned to Singapore and was called to the Bar in Singapore in 1998. He served on the Council of the Law Society of Singapore for two terms (4 years) , was co-chairperson of the Young Lawyers Committee and also became vice –chairman of the Sports Committees during his term in Council. Today he continues to serve the fraternity on the membership committee of the Academy of Law, Singapore (8 years running) headed by the Honourable Justice Lai Siu Chu.
Areas of Practice
Monty has three diverse yet related areas of practice. Monty serves the needs of numerous companies as legal counsel and advisor, and has also been appointed as independant director on several of these companies. His work centres around commercial and corporate areas of law. His work with these companies, expands into intellectual property, restructuring work, mergers and acquisitions, fund raising activities and transactional matters. His clients include onshore entities as well as offshore entities.
Monty also practices family law, prescribing a holistic approach to this traditional area of the law, he encompasses numerous private client measures and solutions to individuals facing domestic issues and conflict. Needless to say, private client work like trust and estate planning (onshore and offshore) are a main stay in this area of his work.
The third area of Monty’s practice centres around Risk and Credit management of companies and financial institutions alike. As they say, a company is only as strong as its cash flow, Monty assists numerous clients to manage their accounts receivables and the issues related to debt servicing. The firm has a team of more than 5 staff who span the island locating debtors for clients. Some areas include hire purchase agreements, personal loans, credit card debt and typical payment for services rendered.
Prior to setting up Clifford Law, he held a double portfolio of Head of Risk and Credit Management and Corporate Affairs manager of a large local law firm and one of the pioneer entities who had a joint venture alliance with a New York "Wall Street" firm.
