Associate Director
Specialisations: Civil Litigation, Family & Matrimonial
Isabel Chew-Lau is an Associate Director at OTP Law Corporation, where she practises in civil litigation, family and matrimonial law. With nearly a decade of experience, she is well regarded for her work on complex and highly contentious disputes involving significant assets, sensitive family dynamics, and cross-border considerations.
Isabel’s matrimonial practice frequently involves high net-worth clients and disputes marked by extensive discovery, financial investigations, and competing narratives around asset ownership and control. She works closely with forensic accountants and other professionals to analyse complex financial structures, trace assets, and address issues such as commingling, trust arrangements, and alleged dissipation. Her broader litigation experience also includes shareholder and trust disputes, as well as contested wills and probate matters.
In parallel, Isabel advises on estate planning, particularly where assets span different classes and jurisdictions. This allows her to bring a preventative lens to her dispute work, helping clients understand how planning decisions made earlier can significantly affect outcomes if relationships later break down.
Isabel is recognised for her attentive and pragmatic approach. She combines robust advocacy with a clear understanding of the emotional and relational dimensions of family disputes, particularly where children are involved. In highly contentious proceedings concerning care, control, and relocation, she remains firmly focused on safeguarding children’s interests while ensuring that her clients’ positions are clearly and effectively advanced.
Although fully prepared to litigate when necessary, Isabel believes that better and more sustainable outcomes are often achieved outside the courtroom. She takes an approachable and compassionate stance with clients, investing time to understand their longer-term goals and proactively anticipating legal and practical obstacles. This perspective informs her strong interest in negotiated and mediated resolutions where appropriate.
As a PracticeForte speaker, Isabel draws on real-life cases and established jurisprudence to unpack critical issues in protecting financial assets and planning estates in the context of matrimonial disputes. Her sessions provide practical guidance on concepts such as conditional gifts, the matrimonial pool, trusts, and the risks of asset commingling, equipping participants with strategies to mitigate risk and make informed decisions in times of conflict.
