Clement Yap

Clement Yap is a Partner in Harry Elias Partnership’s Family and Divorce Practice Group, focusing on Family Law. He specialises in complex and cross-border matrimonial litigation, including disputes concerning jurisdiction and conflicts of law, parallel or related foreign proceedings, overseas assets, international relocation of children and other family disputes involving connections to more than one country. He has served as an expert witness on Singapore matrimonial law in foreign divorce proceedings.

He frequently represents clients in high-conflict divorce and parenting disputes involving one party exhibiting narcissistic, controlling, manipulative or coercive patterns of behaviour.

His practice encompasses the entire spectrum of matrimonial proceedings, from high-value matrimonial asset disputes to contested matters involving custody, care and control, access, maintenance and adoption. Clement regularly acts as lead counsel before the Family Justice Courts and the Supreme Court of Singapore, and has also appeared in the Syariah Court.

His reported matters include a successful appeal before the Appellate Division concerning the treatment and division of substantial pre-marriage wealth; asset division exceeding S$35 million; jurisdiction and forum disputes involving foreign proceedings; the successful relocation of three children from Singapore to the United States; and maintenance proceedings involving an expatriate standard of living.

Alongside practice, Clement is an Assistant Professor (Adjunct) at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law, where he has taught since 2018 and has served as course convenor for Specialised Topics in Family Law since 2022, covering cross-border divorce, conflict of laws and international child abduction. Since 2025, he has also served as a lecturer and assessor for the Singapore Academy of Law’s Family Law Masterclass for the Advanced Practitioner.

Clement was recognised as a Leading Lawyer in Doyle’s Guide’s 2026 ranking of Singapore family and divorce lawyers, following recognition as a Recommended Lawyer from 2023 to 2025. He was named by Singapore Business Review as one of Singapore’s 30 Most Influential Lawyers Under 40 in 2022, has served on the Family Justice Courts’ Therapeutic Justice Consultative Committee since 2024, and co-authored the commentary on the Family Justice Act 2014 for LexisNexis’ Annotated Laws of Singapore series.

His key capabilities include cross-border divorce and forum disputes, parallel proceedings and conflicts of law, foreign matrimonial assets and complex asset tracing, financial relief following foreign divorces, international relocation and child abduction, high-value matrimonial asset litigation, appellate matrimonial advocacy, complex maintenance disputes, parentage and paternity disputes, custody and maintenance matters, and adoption including same-sex parent adoptions. He holds an LLB from the National University of Singapore.