Dan Tan Law

The US boutique opened in Singapore and lodged an ICSID claim against the United Arab Emirates

Singaporean Dan Tan launched Dan Tan Law in 2011 and operates it from New York and San Francisco, as well as a recently opened Singapore office.

A member of the bars of New York, California, the District of Columbia, Singapore and England and Wales, Tan has a decade of arbitration experience at three leading firms: Latham & Watkins and O’Melveny & Myers in New York, and Lovells in London.

In addition, he teaches international arbitration at Harvard Law School and international investment law at Stanford Law School, having also been on the adjunct faculty at the Singapore Management University School of Law. He is also a lecturer in law at Oxford, and an associate member of 36 Stone (formerly Stone Chambers).

In 2018, the firm added Paul Barker, an English barrister with Doughty Street, in San Francisco. More recently, Jean Ho of the National University of Singapore has joined its Singapore office. The firm is also affiliated with independent counsel Mark Beckett, the former head of international arbitration at US firm Cooley.

Those who have worked with Tan pay tribute to his impressive attention to detail and strategy and “easy to work with” approach. “Clients love him,” one former Latham partner told GAR.

Network

As mentioned, the firm has offices in New York and San Francisco. In 2020, it opened its Singapore office, which is licensed to undertake Singapore litigation and arbitration.

Who uses it?

One of the world’s largest electronics companies, Future Electronics, is a client. Affle, a global technology company, has also instructed the firm on multiple matters ranging from arbitration proceedings to Singapore court actions. The firm also acts for companies from Canada and the US, Singapore and Hong Kong, Central Europe, Russia and China in arbitrations under ICDR, ICC and LCIA rules.

It has acted for the Palestinian Water Authority in an UNCITRAL case where the other side was represented by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Track record

The firm previously won the liability phase in an UNCITRAL arbitration against a South East Asian state-owned entity represented by White & Case. The contractual claims alone were in excess of US$500 million.

In addition, Dan Tan Law has successfully defended listed US and Canadian companies in an ICDR arbitration seated in New York. Claims by Singaporean parties for more than US$35 million were fully dismissed.

It has also won an ICC arbitration, based on an environmental indemnity claim, on behalf of a Brazilian company against a US entity and hedge fund.

Recent events

Dan Tan has been instructed by a Turkish construction company in an ICSID arbitration worth over US$65 million against the United Arab Emirates, relating to work on a land reclamation project and road construction.

It is also representing a major Indonesian contractor in two separate SIAC arbitrations together worth over US$200 million arising out of major plant construction project; and is acting in a dispute over a New York trust spanning the Americas.

The firm is helping a Finnish businessman enforce a US$115 million treaty award against Egypt in the US. It also acts for private investment firm Schooner Capital in US enforcement proceedings brought by Poland.

Affle is using it in arbitration and Singapore court proceedings related to a corporate takeover of a technology company, with tens of millions of dollars in dispute.

Dan Tan has also a busy arbitrator practice, having been appointed to 20 arbitrations in the past two years as chair, party-appointed and sole arbitrator under the ICC Rules, AAA and ICDR Rules and HKIAC rules.

Client comment

A board member at the Turkish company Dan Tan is acting for in the ICSID claim against the UAE says the firm has shown a “highly professional” approach to the case.