Nicholas Sykes

Full Profile

Nicholas is a Partner in the firm's property, energy insurance and cyber practices, specialising in large scale losses.

Nicholas has been practising in Singapore for over twelve years and acts for [re]insurers across Asia Pacific, particularly those based in Singapore, S.E. Asia, Japan and South Korea. He also advises clients based in the London and European markets.

Nicholas advises clients on complex policy coverage issues and quantum, and acts for clients in negotiations, mediation, arbitration and commercial litigation. Another significant focus for Nicholas are subrogated recoveries for insurers. Nicholas' cases have involved him managing and conducting substantial litigation / arbitration on behalf of [re]insurers in several jurisdictions around the world.

Nicholas’ practice also covers cyber insurance and he has extensive expertise acting as a coverage counsel and breach response counsel. 

Nicholas is a commercially minded lawyer who provides expedient and strategic legal advice to clients and has benefited from an 18-month secondment to the claims team of a major insurer.

Nicholas is recognised as a leading insurance practitioner and is an acknowledged individual in the Chambers & Partners APAC Guide since 2020 and ranked Band 3 from 2021. He is also ranked as a Leading Individual for Insurance (Singapore) in the Legal 500 Asia Pacific guide. Nicholas' clients commented that he is an "excellent lawyer with clear goals in mind".

Experience

Energy

• Advising reinsurers on renewable energy projects and claims, including offshore and onshore wind, and PV claims in Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and Korea. 
• Advising international reinsurers in respect of a claim for damage to hub connections on a semi-submersible central processing facility built in Korea.
• Advising and acting for international reinsurers in respect of a claim for damage to an offshore construction project for subsea umbilical works in Australia and Indonesia.
• Advising international insurers in respect of a claim for damage to a floating, production, storage and offloading vessel.

Construction / Engineering

• Advising international reinsurers in respect of damage to a construction project in Oman relating to border control and security works.
• Advising and acting for reinsurers in respect of multiple steam turbine losses in Vietnam. 
• Advising and acting for international reinsurers in respect of a claim for damage to LNG tanks being constructed in Thailand.
• Advising and acting for international reinsurers in respect of a claim for damage to an operational turbine in a power plant in Sri Lanka.
• Advising and acting for reinsurers on a CAR project loss of a refinery in Vietnam. 
• Advising international reinsurers in respect of damage to boilers being installed in a power plant in Vietnam (and DSU) due to corrosion damage. 
• Advising insurers in respect of construction works of a coal-fired power plant in the Philippines.
• Advising international reinsurers in respect of a machinery breakdown claim arising from damage to a diesel powerhouse in the Philippines due to a fire. 
• Advising international reinsurers and the cedant in respect of machinery breakdown damage to a disc ring reactor in Malaysia.  
• Advising international reinsurers on general policy coverage issues regarding the application and/or interpretation of defects exclusions relating to the construction of a metro line in Seoul.
• Advising international reinsurers in respect of coverage issues arising from damage to a steam turbine being installed in South Korea.
• Advising international reinsurers on a claim for damage to a SNG plant in South Korea during its construction.

Property

• Appointed as regional counsel for leading global insurers and reinsurers to advise on coverage across Asia in respect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

BI & CBI

• Advising on potential contingency cover relating to financial losses due to the cancellation / postponement of worldwide events and entertainment productions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

DSU

• Advising and acting for reinsurers in respect of DSU claims resulting from a delayed refinery project in Vietnam. 
• Advising international reinsurers on potential DSU claims amounting to USD 50 million for delays to the construction of a power plant in Indonesia.

Cyber

• Advising a global leading marine services provider in relation to a large-scale ransomware incident, including providing regulatory advice and support across 68 jurisdictions (with 15 in the APAC region).
• Advising an agent search platform provider in Singapore in relation to its data breach in 2021, including the assessment of Singapore’s data protection laws and advise on potential breaches of such (including Singapore’s new mandatory notification regime).