Carissa How ACIArb

Partner

CV
PRACTICE AREAS
  • Arbitration
  • Construction, Infrastructure & Projects
  • Corporate Litigation & Risk Management
  • Insolvency & Restructuring
  • Regulatory Compliance
ADMISSION
  • Barrister-at-law, The Honourable Society of Middle Temple
  • Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya
MEMBERSHIP
  • Associate, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), United Kingdom
QUALIFICATION
  • LL.B (First Class Honours), Queen’s University of Belfast
LANGUAGES
  • Bahasa Malaysia
  • English

Profile

Carissa graduated with First Class Honours from the University of Queen’s Belfast, United Kingdom. Thereafter she was called to the Bar of England and Wales by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. Carissa was admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 2019 after serving her pupillage with the firm, and was recently admitted as a partner of the firm in 2025.

Carissa practises in the field of general dispute resolution with a focus in construction and commercial disputes in Court and in arbitrations. Her practice includes mostly handling high value and complex arbitrations both on a domestic and international scale, often involving niche areas of disputes involving contractors’ claims for time, and loss and expense, and geotechnical and structural issues.

Her other active works include advising on various areas of contractual management and negotiations. Recently, she has advised on several multi-billion-ringgit national, transnational and international projects including the construction of a hydroelectric power plant, the construction of a transnational railway project between Malaysia and Singapore, and the construction of Singapore’s longest underground railway line. One of her notable works in her earlier years of practice include forming part of the defence team in one of the first few challenges to the adjudication regime in Malaysia.

Over the course of her practice, Carissa has acted for and advised several industry-leading financial institutions and conglomerates including one of the world’s ten largest semiconductor manufacturers, an Australian multinational construction and real estate company, and a Japanese joint venture construction company. Her experience involves advising and acting for parties across the entire chain of any one given construction project from developers to contractors to consultants.

Carissa also contributed to the firm’s recent publications “Manoeuvring Corporate Governance in Malaysia: Litigation Perspectives”, published by Lexis Nexis Malaysia in March 2021 and “Construction Law – Time in Construction”, published by CLJ Malaysia in July 2023.

 

Among her other related experience, Carissa has acted in the following reported decisions:

  • Acted for the sub-contractor in successfully resisting the main contractor’s setting aside application, and applying for an enforcement application of an adjudication decision in Dekinjaya Builder Sdn Bhd v Chong Lek Engineering Works Sdn Bhd and another case [2020] MLJU 2455.
  • Acted for the developer in a suit brought against it under negligence and nuisance in Industrial Property Management Sdn Bhd v Forebase Property Sdn Bhd & Ors [2023] MLJU 3248.
  • Acted for the developer in a direct payment claims brought against it pursuant to S.30 of the Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012 in Fulloop Sdn Bhd v Seal Properties (KL) Sdn Bhd [2023] MLJU 1861 and LDE Project Sdn Bhd v Seal Properties (KL) Sdn Bhd [2023] MLJU 2227.
  • Acted for an individual in successfully defending against a defamation action in Ng Chia Wei v Loh Eng Chuan & Ors [2022] MLJU 1714.
  • Acted in one of the first few challenges to the adjudication regime in an action brought against the estate of the former director of the Asian International Arbitration Centre in Prestij Mega Construction Sdn Bhd v Personal Representative of Estate of Vinayak Pradhan Prabhakar (deceased) & Ors and other cases [2021] 11 MLJ 581.

 

Carissa has co-authored various publications including:

  • CLJ Malaysia in July 2023 – “Construction Law – Time in Construction”
  • Lexis Nexis Malaysia in March 2021 – “Manoeuvring Corporate Governance in Malaysia: Litigation Perspectives”