Partner
Muhendaran Suppiah (he/him)
Partner | Employment Law Specialist | Industrial Relations Specialist | Sports Arbitrator | Notary Public
ms.muhensri@gmail.com
Muhendaran Suppiah is a partner at Muhendaran Sri in Kuala Lumpur. A graduate of the University of Lancaster, England, he was admitted to the Malaysian Bar in 1991. Over more than 35 years of practice, he has established himself as a leading employment lawyer in Malaysia, with extensive experience in employment law, industrial relations and litigation concerning workplace rights.
Much of Muhendaran’s work involves representing individuals whose livelihoods are at stake. He advises and acts for employees and trade unions in unfair dismissal claims, retrenchment matters and other workplace disputes. His clients include migrant workers, employees across different occupations and corporate leaders. He also represents non-profit organisations.
Muhendaran takes on cases that matter to the people bringing them, including difficult claims and disputes that attract little public attention. He understands that a case concerning one person’s dismissal can have lasting consequences for their family, financial security and future employment. That understanding informs the attention he gives to each matter.
Known for his fearlessness, he brings a firm and strategic approach to litigation, drawing on years of experience in developing arguments and pursuing claims through the courts. His practice includes cases before the Court of Appeal and Federal Court. He works with clients to assess the strengths and difficulties of their case and decide how to proceed.
His work also extends to advising employers on their responsibilities in the workplace. He develops employment frameworks and codes of conduct, including policies addressing sexual harassment and workplace ethics. He conducts domestic inquiries and sexual harassment investigations, drawing on his experience of workplace disputes from both the employee’s and employer’s perspectives.
Alongside his employment and industrial relations practice, Muhendaran is a registered sports arbitrator, and has in the past, been appointed by the Asian International Arbitration Centre (AIAC) as an Emergency Sole Arbitrator. He is also a Notary Public in Kuala Lumpur.
Muhendaran has been widely quoted in the media and regularly delivers talks on labour law reform and workplace rights. He has contributed to policy discussions with the Human Resources Ministry and the Bar Council, bringing the experience of representing people in workplace disputes to those discussions.
His practice reflects a commitment to making legal representation available to people facing problems at work. For Muhendaran, the importance of a case lies in what it means to the client, whether it concerns an individual employee or raises a question of law with wider implications.
Partner
Srividhya Ganapathy (she/her)
Partner | Litigation and Family Law | Child Law Specialist | Collaborative Law Practitioner
muhendaran.sri@gmail.com
Srividhya Ganapathy, known as Sri, is a partner at Muhendaran Sri with three decades of legal experience. She represents clients in civil, commercial and constitutional litigation, matrimonial disputes and construction arbitrations.
Sri brings bold strategy and creative thinking to legal problems, grounded in legal analysis and an understanding of what is at stake for her clients. She works with them to identify their options and decide how to move forward. In family matters, her experience in litigation and child protection informs her approach to disputes affecting children and their families.
Registered with the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP) as a Collaborative Law Practitioner, Sri believes collaborative practice offers families facing divorce a better way to resolve their differences. Her approach emphasises working towards an agreed resolution and considering the family’s needs beyond the immediate dispute, particularly where children are involved.
Alongside her legal practice, Sri works on improving the laws and procedures that protect children. She has been widely quoted in the media on children’s rights and child protection since 2016. She co-founded CRIB Foundation (Child Rights Innovation & Betterment), which she co-chairs, and the Talisman Project. Both organisations advance children’s rights through law and education.
From February to September 2025, she served on the National Technical Committee evaluating the Special Guidelines for the Handling of Sexual Offences Against Children in Malaysia. In 2024, she represented the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in conducting research for its Child Sexual Exploitation Global Platform in Malaysia.
Sri serves on the Steering Committee of the Child Rights Coalition of Malaysia and the Policy & Advocacy Committee of the National Council of Women’s Organisations. She has contributed to governmental task forces on child protection laws and child marriage. In 2022, she was part of a reporting team for the Malaysian Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Women and Children, focusing on justice system support for child victims and witnesses. She also co-founded the Malaysian Bar Council’s Child Rights Committee in 2016 and served as its Co-Chairperson until 2019.
Her advisory work includes arts and entertainment, media, e-sports and technology law. She advises on contracts, intellectual property and regulatory compliance, including matters involving Malaysia’s creative industries. She also writes and speaks on legal issues, children’s rights and ethical advocacy in national and international media and at conferences.
Sri holds an LL.B (Hons) from the University of Glamorgan, now the University of South Wales, and a Certificate of Legal Practice. She participated in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Study Conference in Canada in 2023 and the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program in 2021. She has also undertaken specialised training with UNICEF and the Canadian Bar Association.
Associate
Eisyarmily Akhtar
Associate | Employment and Industrial Relations | Civil and Family Litigation
mily.muhensri@gmail.com
Eisyarmily Akhtar (she/her), known to many as Mily, is an associate at Muhendaran Sri. She graduated from the International Islamic University Malaysia, completed her pupillage under the mentorship of Muhendaran Suppiah, and was admitted to the Malaysian Bar in January 2024.
Since joining the firm, Mily has built a litigation practice centred primarily on employment and industrial relations, an area in which she has steadily taken on greater responsibility. Her experience spans matters before the Labour Court and Industrial Court through to the High Court, Court of Appeal and Federal Court.
She handles Labour Court claims involving unpaid wages, benefits and other employment-related monetary entitlements. At the Industrial Court, she regularly acts in unfair dismissal and other employment disputes, and has conducted trials as lead counsel in cases involving misconduct, poor performance, retrenchment, constructive dismissal, medical incapacity and frustration of contract. Her Industrial Court experience also includes applications concerning joinder, non-compliance and the enforcement of Industrial Court awards.
As those matters progress beyond the Industrial Court, Mily continues to be involved at the judicial review and appellate stages. She assists in proceedings before the High Court, Court of Appeal and Federal Court, where her work includes legal research, reviewing the evidential record, drafting pleadings and affidavits, preparing written and reply submissions, and assisting with appellate strategy and preparation for oral submissions. She has followed disputes from their factual and evidential beginnings through to the legal issues that emerge on review and appeal.
Beyond employment law, Mily assists in a range of civil and family disputes, including divorce, child custody and access proceedings, contempt applications, contractual and commercial disputes, and other contentious proceedings. Her civil litigation experience extends across the Malaysian court hierarchy, including matters before the Federal Court. She has also gained experience in criminal defence and serves as a volunteer lawyer under Yayasan Bantuan Guaman Kebangsaan (YBGK), through which she contributes to the provision of legal representation and assistance to individuals in criminal matters.
Across these areas of practice, Mily is particularly drawn to the evidential and strategic aspects of litigation. She enjoys working through the factual record, identifying inconsistencies in the evidence and developing a case from its underlying documents and witness testimony through to trial or appeal. She remains conscious that litigation often involves difficult and highly personal circumstances for the people involved, and approaches each matter with both care and attention to detail.
Outside legal practice, Mily maintains a strong interest in music and the arts, which continues to shape her engagement with Malaysia’s broader creative community.
Associate
How Yan Li
Associate | Employment, Family and Civil Litigation
yanli.muhensri@gmail.com
How Yan Li (she/her) is an associate at Muhendaran Sri. A graduate of the University of London, she completed her pupillage under the mentorship of Muhendaran Suppiah and was admitted to the Malaysian Bar in April 2026.
Yan Li works across the firm’s employment, family and civil litigation practice, assisting on matters before the Industrial Court and the civil courts.
Yan Li came to the law by a path that asked a great deal of her, and the hurdles she overcame along the way have shaped how she practises. She is tenacious and analytical, and approaches each matter with the mindset of a problem solver: curious about how a dispute came about, careful with the facts, and never one to step away from a challenge.
She brings to her work the firm’s core philosophy: people first, always.
