PRACTICE AREAS
- General Litigation and Dispute Resolution
- Commercial and Civil Disputes
- Family
- Private Client
CAREER
Ezane is an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya and a Barrister-at-Law (England & Wales) and has over 20 years of post-qualifying experience.
Before she joined Ariff Rozhan & Co (ARC) in April 2016, she was a partner at Skrine, one of Malaysia’s largest law firms, where’s she trained as a pupil and where she practiced for 14 years.
Ezane focuses largely on civil and commercial litigation and specialises in family law and private client work. She has represented clients in a variety of industries at all levels of the judicial process and has accumulated a number of reported cases in the Malaysian and English law journals.
In 2016, Ezane was elected as a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers, a worldwide association of practicing lawyers who are recognised by their peers as the most experienced and skilled family law specialists in their respective countries. Fellowship of the Academy is by-invitation only. She has also given evidence as an expert on Malaysian Family law for English and US courts on a number of occasions.
Ezane has authored several articles on family law and is a contributor to the International Comparative Legal Guide to: Family Law 2020 & 2021 (Malaysian Chapter) and has in previous years been interviewed by the Malaysian press on issues pertaining to family law.
Ezane was the exclusive (Malaysian) recipient of an International Client Choice Award for Litigation in Malaysia (2015). Client Choice recognises lawyers from around the world that stand apart for the excellent client care they provide and the quality of their service. She was named by Benchmark Litigation Asia as a “Rising Star” (2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022) and a “Dispute Resolution Star” (2019). She is also ranked in Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2021, 2022, 2023). In 2019, ARC won the Asian Legal Business Matrimonial and Family Law Firm of the Year Award (Malaysia) and was shortlisted for the same award in 2020.
Examples of a few quotes from clients about Ezane are set out below:
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“Ezane Chong is absolutely brilliant. Her clients adore her and she provides sound, sensible and pragmatic advice.”
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“Ezane Chong is an excellent lawyer. There is no one better than her at handling clients and delivering on the required services. She is very intelligent and has the ability to digest large amounts of information at speed and cut through it to identify the key issues that need to be dealt with.”
- “Ezane Chong – She is incredibly bright. She knows how to best utilise the strengths of her team to get the best out of them and deliver for the client.”
- “Ezane is one of the best lawyers I have ever dealt with. She is highly professional, empathic, accountable, ethical and a subject matter expert.”
- “Ezane Chong provided expert advice on the applicability of the adoption law in Malaysia to assist my High Court proceedings in the High Court of England & Wales. Ezane was swift to provide responses to any queries and the quality of her expert evidence was crucial to the case.”
- “Ezane would go the extra mile and think outside the box regarding the various issues surrounding the case she is handling and provides recommendations for actions that cover different possible outcomes or changes in circumstance.”
- “Her advice is to the point; she does not digress or confuse her clients.”
- “She protects her clients’ best interests and can do so because she understands her clients’ businesses.”
- “We were highly impressed with the professional expertise she showed by handling the matter successfully within a short period of time.”
- “She is very quick to respond and ensures that she never misses any of our deadlines.”
- “Ms Ezane demonstrates at all times that she is fully aware and in control of the status of our cases.”
- “We can be assured that she will act in our best interest with integrity, and in respect of our requests/instructions; she does not simply brush them aside but gives due consideration if they are legally permissible or possible.”
- “She was very articulate, precise and well-focused in our discussions displaying a high level of self-esteem and integrity.”
- “Ezane possesses a courteous and good demeanour and is well-liked by my fellow colleagues.”
Ezane is also a qualified advocacy trainer having been trained and selected by the Advocacy Traning Council of England and Wales to teach advocacy to pupils and young lawyers.
She also provides legal advice and representation, pro-bono, to those who qualify for legal aid, through the Bar Council Legal Aid Centre.
PUBLICATIONS
- Contributor to International Comparative Legal Guide, Family Law Chapter, Malaysia (2020 & 2021).
- Interview by “Malaysia Now” (21 March 2021); “Is Divorce Inevitable Now That Social Media Rules?”
- “Division of Matrimonial Assets”; Legal Insights Issue 1/2015, March 2015.
- Contributor to Personal Money, the Edge Weekly (week of 9-15 February 2015) under column “Ask the Experts” on managing inherited wealth.
- Interview by “Personal Money” (The Edge) April 2013 Issue, on how women can protect themselves financially in the event of divorce.
- “The Final Word”: Effectiveness of postnuptial agreements; Legal Insights Issue 3/2014, December 2013.
- “Breaking-Up is Hard to Do”: Ways in which couples may seek to dissolve their marriage”; Legal Insights Issue 4/2013, December 2013.
- “Court Adoptions in West Malaysia”: Legal Insights Issue 3/2013, September 2013.
- “Rights of Biological Parents vs Adoptive Parents”: Legal Insights Issue 3/2011, September 2011.
- “UK Supreme Court Upholds Prenuptial Agreement”: Legal Insights Issue 4/2010, December 2010.
- “Prenuptial Agreements”: Legal Insights Issue 1/2008, March 2008.
- “The Great Eastern Life Assurance Co. Ltd. v. Indra Janardhana Menon [2005] 4 CLJ 717, Federal Court Reaffirms Existing Law of Limitations for Actions Founded on Contract”: Legal Insights Issue 1/2006, March 2006.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
- Fellow, the International Academy of Family Lawyers
- Committee Member, Bar Council Family Law Committee, Rules Sub-Committee, a committee set-up to review the existing Divorce and Matrimonial Proceedings Rules 1980
- Member, Malaysia Inner Temple Alumni Association (former Assistant Honorary Secretary, subsequently Honorary Secretary (2009 – 2015)
- Member, Association of Women Lawyers, Malaysia
Education & QualifIcations
- LLB (Hons), University of Leeds, United Kingdom
- Barrister-at-law (England & Wales), the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple
- Advocate and Solicitor, High Court Malaya
Languages
- English
- Bahasa Malaysia (Malay)
