With over a decade of experience as a barrister in the UK, Louise Azmi brings a wealth of international legal expertise to her practice. Dual-qualified as a Barrister (England and Wales, 2004) and Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya (2019), she is able to offer a sophisticated understanding of both common law systems. This allows a broad perspective and enables her to effectively advise on complex, international legal issues. Throughout her career, Louise has been recognized for her exceptional advocacy skills. She was cited in the Legal 500 UK edition as "having achieved some frankly astonishing results." She remains a Door Tenant at 2 King's Bench Walk (2KBW), Inner Temple, London.
Louise regularly appears before the High Court and Court of Appeal, handling complex cases across diverse practice areas, including fraud and asset recovery, maritime and shipping law, and civil and commercial litigation. She has extensive experience cross-examining experts including pathologists, chemists, and quantum experts.
Louise has been engaged in several high- profile cases, including representing the family in the inquest into the death of Nora Quoirin, who vanished in the Malaysian jungle. She is also part of the legal team acting for a sovereign wealth fund in its claim against a former public official in Malaysia. The case is widely recognised as the one of the largest ever fraud recovery actions in Malaysia’s history.
Fellow of CIArb, her arbitration experience encompasses acting both as counsel and as arbitrator in numerous high-value disputes. Additionally, she is well-versed in arbitral-related court proceedings, including applications to set aside and enforce arbitral awards.
Key Practice Areas
- Fraud and Asset Recovery
- Maritime and Shipping
- Civil and Commercial Litigation
- Counsel successfully obtaining Mareva freezing orders and interim preservation of property orders against 11 defendants in a high-value, multi-party fraud case.
- Member of the legal team in one of Malaysia's largest fraud recovery actions, involving extensive asset tracing and cross-border enforcement.
- Counsel for a major international insurance company in a conspiracy to defraud claim involving 83 defendants.
- Counsel in multiple actions for a leading insurance company brought by former agents for unlawful contract terminations, with claims valued in the billions of ringgit.
- Acting to recover funds and assets for a foreign company in a large scale and complex fraud involving breach of director’s duties and misappropriation of funds.
- Acted in a claim with a monetary value of approximately US$4.75 million against charterers of the vessel arising out of a repudiatory breach of a time charter. Matter involved complex argument on point of UK law, namely whether possession and control must be vested in the owner of the Vessel for termination of a demise charter to be effective.
- Acting for Defendant in an application to set aside arbitration award on grounds of purported breach of natural justice and allegations of fraud. The value of the claim which relates to commodity supply contracts is USD 17,421,750.00.
- Acted for registered owner of a vessel in relation to breach of bareboat charter and breach of a ship management agreement in concurrent litigation and arbitration proceedings.
- Acted in ship arrests and setting aside orders for ship arrests in Malaysian ports.
- Acted for cargo owner in multi-million dollar cross-border cargo damage claim.
- Trial Counsel in a case against an international Islamic finance institution involving complex and novel issues of Islamic banking law and Bank Negara regulations.
- Appellate Counsel in the Court of Appeal, successfully opposing an application to amend an Erinford injunction.
- Advisory Counsel to an oil and gas company on all aspects of a potential international arbitration claim valued at USD 100 million.
- Trial counsel for a foreign company in a case of breach of contract and tort of conversion. Successfully applied for an injunction to protect the key asset pending the disposal of the case.
- Trial counsel for a multi – national company in a claim involving breach of fiduciary duties.
- Counsel for the family in inquest of Nora Quoirin, an Irish teenager who disappeared in the Malaysian jungle. Successfully conducted the High Court Application for Revision where the verdict was changed to an open verdict.
- Acting for one of the largest port operators worldwide in a high value arbitration.
- Acting for foreign entity in a US$46 million claim against a Malaysian security company.
- Co-author of Practice and Procedure of Mediation, published by Thomson Reuters in 2020.
- Contributor Law and Practice of Construction Law in Malaysia, published by Sweet and Maxwell in 2021
- Contributor to CIDB Legal Commentary
- Contributor to The Law Review
Qualifications:
- Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya - 2019
- Barrister at Law Lincoln’s Inn - 2004
- Bar Vocational Course – Inns of Court School of Law, London
- CPE Law – City University, London
- BA Hons English and Related Literature – University of York
Professional Affiliations:
- Member of Lincoln’s Inn
- Committee Member Lincoln’s Inn Malaysia
- Fellow CIArb
- Panel Member SIAC
- Panel Member AIAC
- Panel Member THAC
- Panel Member BICAM
- Panel Member SIDREC
- Trainer – Malaysian Bar Council Advocacy Training Course