Our people

Danna Er

Partner, Construction & Engineering
Singapore

Expertise

Danna is recognised as one of the leading construction and commercial disputes lawyers in Singapore. She has been ranked as a leading construction and commercial disputes lawyer by legal directories including Legal 500, Lexology Index (previously Who’s Who Legal), Benchmark Litigation, Asialaw, Asian Legal Business, Doyle’s Guide, JCI, Singapore Business Review and Lawyer Monthly.

Danna is admitted to practise law in New York, USA and Singapore and specialises in disputes prevention and dispute resolution, with a particular emphasis on international and domestic commercial and construction disputes.

Danna's experience spans Infrastructure, Energy and Utilities, Industrial, Commercial and Residential Construction across projects in Asia and commercial disputes including trade, funds and hospitality disputes. She has represented clients in high value, complex international arbitrations under major institutional rules (SIAC, ICC, LCIA, ICDR etc) and ad hoc proceedings, court proceedings, mediations and adjudications under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act. Her non-contentious work experience includes drafting, reviewing and advising on contract documentation for high-value construction projects including data centre projects and arbitration agreements for international transactions to eliminate disputes risks for clients.

Danna received her Master of Laws from Columbia Law School in New York, USA. She was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar for her superior academic performance and was recipient of the Parker School Award for her achievement in international and comparative law. She graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Laws and was placed on the Dean’s List for her outstanding academic performance.

Danna is also a qualified construction disputes adjudicator and was conferred a Citation in recognition of her top performance at the adjudicators accreditation exams.

Experience

Danna has extensive experience advising and representing clients in high-value, complex international construction and commercial disputes across Asia. Selected experience includes:

Represented a Korean entity against a Singapore entity in an ad hoc arbitration for claims in excess of SGD 100 million arising out of a transportation infrastructure project in Asia, successfully obtaining an award in the Korean entity's favour.
Represented a Korean entity against a Southeast Asian entity in an SIAC arbitration for claims in excess of SGD 100 million arising out of one of the largest power projects in Asia.
Acted for a North American entity against a contractor in disputes in excess of SGD 20 million arising out of a manufacturing plant in Asia, successfully defending the North American entity against the claims.
Acted for a European entity against a contractor in disputes in excess of SGD 20 million arising out of a storage facility in Asia, achieving a significant recovery of the claim.
Represented one of Malaysia's largest prefabricated concrete suppliers in a cross-border adjudication against a Singapore contractor, resulting in a full award in the Malaysian supplier's favour.
Advised a North American waste-to-energy technology provider on its contracts in relation to a state-of-the-art food waste treatment facility.
Represented a Chinese technology company against a North American technology company in a dispute arising from termination of a service agreement, achieving a favourable settlement.

Recognition

Ranked a leading construction lawyer on Legal 500, Lexology Index (previously Who’s Who Legal), Asialaw, Benchmark Litigation, Doyle's Guide
Recognised as Asian Legal Business Singapore Rising Stars (2023)
Recognised by Singapore Business Review 20 under 40 most influential legals minds in Singapore (2019)
Awarded the Lawyer Monthly "Women in Law Award" for outstanding dispute resolution lawyer (2018)

Testimonials

‘Danna Er is an absolute pleasure to work with. She punches above her weight and spends a lot of time and detail on the matter. She is always ready and available for her clients.’ Legal 500
“She is a very devoted lawyer and a true expert in construction projects. She is also pleasant to work with and is open to different strategies and problem-solving ideas. She is also extremely detailed.” Asialaw
“Danna Er gives sound and practical feedback and advice. She was also available around the clock for us.” Asialaw
"Danna is hard-working and is able to understand complicated technical matters.” Asialaw

Education