OUR STORYGet to know us better

As years passed, we grew from a purely litigation firm into a full-service firm. 2016 was the year we celebrated a milestone – our 20th anniversary.

OUR ORIGINS

GTRZ was founded in 1996 by Gideon Tan, who was shortly thereafter joined by two partners, Razali Ibrahim and Mohamed Zaini Mazlan. All three started their legal careers together at a prominent commercial firm in Kuala Lumpur. Razali Ibrahim has since gone on to a career in politics and was serving as former deputy minister in the Malaysian government. Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, on the other hand, has become a Malaysian High Court judge.

Since its inception, GTRZ has been based in Kelana Jaya, one of Klang Valley’s most central and convenient locations.

Making A Mark

Soon after we started, the Asian financial crisis hit the region. Instead of being a setback, it became a catalyst that launched the firm into prominence, as Gideon and GTRZ made a name advising on cases related to the stockbroking industry, GTRZ emerging as an extremely competent niche law firm in commercial litigation.

2001 was a big year for us. We handled an intense, widely publicised shareholder dispute between a government-linked company and a Singapore company, and represented a Japanese multinational company in a commercial fraud recovery case. In the same year, Gideon generated massive media attention handling a case that involved the Chinese community in the southern state of Johor.

Deepening Our Roots

Throughout the 2000s, GTRZ continued to prove itself as an expert in company disputes, acting in high-profile battles for control of listed companies. Two such cases stood out: in 2004, one of Malaysia’s few successful hostile takeovers of a public listed company, and in 2005, a case involving a holding company operating a well-known international restaurant chain.

As the years passed, we grew in stature, evolving from a purely litigation firm into a full-service firm. This was fuelled by our corporate conveyancing practice in the late 2000s, led by senior partners Ma Pin Yen and Kooi Tock Ken. In 2007, GTRZ’s foreign law practice in Singapore began.

2016 was the year we celebrated a milestone – our 20th anniversary. With increasing globalisation, we also became a member of LawExchange International (LEI) towards the end of 2016.

WHAT WE DO

Our lawyers are known as competent and aggressive counsel in civil commercial litigation and arbitration in Malaysia and internationally. The corporate conveyancing department’s trustworthiness and honesty is also well-established in the industry.

Because of the firm’s experience in commercial litigation, we have a knack for advising corporate clients to pre-empt problems and disputes, and if litigation cannot be avoided, strategically position for clients to have the best chance of winning. In short, we can anticipate risks and potential trouble long before they surface.

Our insight is also reflected in the corporate agreements we draft, as we are able to identify the fault lines in various situations. Having outlined these issues, we then engineer agreements and solutions that give our clients the advantage they need.

OUR AREAS OF PRACTICE
For Companies
For Individuals