Vanessa is a Director in Legal Clinic LLC with more than 15 years’ litigation experience.

Vanessa started her litigation practice with Rodyk & Davidson LLP (now Dentons Rodyk & Davidson LLP) in 2007 and was made partner in 2013. During her time in Rodyk, Vanessa’s main areas of practice encompassed civil litigation and arbitration. She handled a diverse range of disputes in the areas of contract, employment, insurance, trusts, shipping and international trade.

Since joining Legal Clinic LLC in 2016, she now specialises in medical and healthcare law. Her practice involves the full spectrum of medico-legal work in the healthcare field from advising healthcare institutions on their internal processes and protocols, to acting for healthcare institutions and healthcare professionals in legal actions as well as disciplinary proceedings. She has appeared before all levels of the Singapore Courts and is familiar with Coroner’s Inquiry in medical cases as well as various alternative dispute resolution processes.  

Vanessa speaks regularly on topics relating to healthcare law, and is a member of the Teaching Faculty of the Singapore Medical Association’s Centre for Medical Ethics & Professionalism (CMEP). She is also a legal trainer for the Medical Expert Witness Training course, jointly organised by the Academy of Medicine Singapore, The Law Society of Singapore, Singapore Academy of Law and Singapore Medical Association.

Experience

Some of the contentious matters Vanessa has handled include:

• Successfully defended a healthcare institution against allegations of negligence in relation to the medical management of a neurosurgery patient – Goh Guan Sin (by her litigation representative Chiam Yu Zhu) v Yeo Tseng Tsai and another [2019] SGHC 274
• Successfully acted for the estate and dependants of a deceased patient in proceedings against a doctor who was found to have breached his duty of care – Seto Wei Meng (suing as the administrator of the estate and on behalf of the dependants of Yeong Soek Mun, deceased) and another v Foo Chee Boon Edward and others (Singapore General Hospital Pte Ltd, third party) [2020] SGHC 26. Successfully defended the doctor’s appeal on liability before the Court of Appeal and obtained judgment in favour of the deceased’s estate and dependants for damages in the sum of S$3.7 million – Foo Chee Boon Edward v Seto Wei Meng (suing as the administrator of the estate and on behalf of the dependants of Yeong Soek Mun, deceased) and another [2021] SGCA 92
• Acted for a healthcare institution to resist and resolve a claim brought by a patient who sustained a fall in an isolation ward – Pappa w/o Veeramuthu v National University Health Services Group Pte Ltd [2023] SGHC 70
• Successfully defended a public healthcare cluster in a claim brought by an ex-employee alleging wrongful dismissal as well as breach of contract and negligence – Tan Tung Wee Eddie v Singapore Health Services Pte Ltd [2025] SGHC 10. The Appellate Division of the High Court of the Republic of Singapore dismissed the ex-employee’s appeal with costs – Eddie Tan Tung Wee v Singapore Health Services Pte Ltd [2025] SGHC(A) 12
• Successfully defended a healthcare institution against allegations of negligence and breaches of duties in relation to the medical management of a patient who required an above-knee amputation – Parvaty d/o Raju and another v National University Hospital (S) Pte Ltd and another [2026] SGHC 7