The awards celebrate the lawyers working on the most important transactions and the cases involving the most complex and outstanding legal work in Asia.

The judging panel recognised Cooke for his strategic acumen and legal expertise, citing his sustained track record for navigating complex multi-jurisdictional disputes with finesse.

Cooke is an international arbitration barrister. He represents clients in a wide range of disputes related to jurisdictions across Asia including India, China, Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

He has particular experience in complex joint venture and shareholder disputes, cases involving energy and natural resources, entertainment and media, and transportation. Cooke is also frequently appointed as arbitrator.

He is consistently recognised as a leading individual, most recently by Chambers Asia-Pacific (2024) for Dispute Resolution: Arbitration – Singapore and by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2024) for International Arbitration. He has been recognised as a Litigation Star for International Arbitration and Dispute Resolution by Benchmark Litigation every year since 2017.

Cooke is also the author of the leading Singapore arbitration book, International Arbitration in Singapore: Legislation and Materials (Sweet & Maxwell, 2018), which has been cited with approval by the Singapore Courts and is independently reviewed as “an impressive comprehensive guide to the law and practice of international arbitration in Singapore”, “learned, succinct, and absolutely to the point” and “an invaluable resource” whose “breadth of coverage is truly remarkable”.