Peng Lim

Peng is Kennedys’ Global Head of Aviation. She has been advising clients for 28 years. Qualified in England and Wales as a solicitor, she is also admitted to practice at the Malaysian Bar. She specialises in high profile, complex and multi-jurisdictional disputes.

Peng’s career in aviation began with the fatal accident enquiry in Scotland arising from the Pan Am Flight 103 accident over Lockerbie. Since then, she has built a prominent practice acting for international insurance and reinsurance institutions specialising in the airline and aerospace sectors.

Her airline clients includes Singapore Airlines, AirAsia, Lion Air Group, Garuda Indonesia and China Airlines to name but a few. Since relocating from London to Singapore, she has been retained by insurance markets around the world to represent their interests in many aviation losses in Asia.

She is known for her pre-eminent practice handling major losses in Asia. She leads our team working on a string of high-profile losses notably the Sriwijaya Flight 182 accident in January 2020, Lion Air Flight 610 accident in October 2018 and AirAsia Flight 8501 accident in December 2014. She also has an established track record managing claims in North Asia and is lead counsel in two major losses involving TransAsia Airways in Taiwan. She has recently helped an airline and its insurers close a sensitive environmental pollution litigation in the South Pacific.

One of Peng’s memorable work highlights is representing Singapore Airlines and China Airlines in the UK Court of Appeal and thereafter the House of Lords in a group litigation against various carriers known as the UK Deep Vein Thrombosis and Air Travel Group Litigation. She was also the instructing solicitor in McDonald v Korean Air decided by the Ontario Court of Appeal in Canada. These are some of the leading judgments relating to the Warsaw Convention.

Peng has extensive claims-handling experience in many Asian jurisdictions. She has experience of multi-district litigation in the US arising from catastrophic losses and has handled cases in Europe, the Middle East as well as the African continent including product liability claims. She has been involved in mediations in the US and Canada. She also has experience litigating in China where she and her team secured a multi-million dollar award for insurers in a subrogation action against a Chinese company before the Shanghai High People’s Court which was then affirmed on appeal by China’s Supreme Court.

Aside from her involvement in complex and high-profile cases, Peng also advises clients on contractual and regulatory matters and supervises the defence of claims for a number of Asian carriers.

Peng is recognised for her outstanding aviation experience and regularly contributes thought leadership pieces on many aviation topics.

Clients say she is: "very calm and measured adviser in a crisis, she is absolutely outstanding." (Chambers and Partners 2020).

In a previous Gracechurch survey, this is what clients have to say: "She is by far the best senior partner out there. She is absolutely superb. She knows what I want and she gives it to me. She is very, very good at past case history and just is excellent at what she does. She gets good results and is well respected."

In Chambers Asia Pacific 2018, Peng is noted for "a wealth of knowledge and experience in a crisis event and has a good understanding of doing business around the region."

She regularly conducts training for her clients and participates as a speaker at conferences and seminars. Peng is a contributor to the 4th edition of Margo on Aviation Insurance. Peng is recognised as a thought leader in Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders - Global Elite 2019-2021 and Expert Guides, Best of the Best for Aviation. She has also been recognised as one of Singapore’s leading practitioners in Who’s Who Legal since 2008 as well as a leader in her field in the Guide to the World’s Leading Aviation Lawyers and Chambers Asia Pacific 2021. Peng has been recognised as one of the top Aviation practitioners in Singapore by Best Lawyers 2021 and Euromoney’s Expert Guides in the Women in Business Law Expert Guide (2020 Edition).