The family of American engineer Shane Todd, whose apparent suicide in Singapore has led to diplomatic pressure on Singapore, will attend a public coroner's inquiry into his death, a local television channel reported on Tuesday.

Their family, who said they believe that the 31-year-old was murdered over research he had done while working for the Institute of Microelectronics (IME), also engaged a lawyer in Singapore to represent them, Channel NewsAsia reported.

Lawyer Gloria James-Civetta said she received an email on April 1 from Todd's father Rick Todd requesting for her assistance. She has offered to act for the family on a pro-bono basis even though they were willing to pay her.

The family has indicated that they will be present during the inquiry, which starts on May 13, she said.

She has asked them to come to Singapore a week before the inquiry starts to go through some documents.

Todd was found hanging in his apartment last June in an apparent suicide. His family, however, suspected foul play in the death of the 31-year-old engineer.

Todd's family had sought the help of US lawmakers, who subsequently tried to block US funding to IME, a unit of the official Agency for Science, Technology and Researchto to put pressure on Singapore.

Singapore authorities have said that they adopted standards that were among the highest in the world in handling Todd's case.