TAN Chee Meng, Senior Counsel, is Deputy Chairman of WongPartnership. His main areas of practice are general civil litigation, construction and engineering dispute resolution, criminal law, insurance, professional indemnity and disciplinary proceedings.

Prior to reading law, Chee Meng was a civil engineer and has extensive experience as an arbitrator, a mediator as well as counsel in construction law.

Appointed Senior Counsel in 2006, he is the first Specialist Judge appointed in Singapore in 2006 for a period of two years under a scheme where senior lawyers were invited to lend their expertise to the State Courts.

Before joining private practice in 1993, Chee Meng spent six years in the Singapore Legal Service where he served as Deputy Public Prosecutor, Deputy Senior State Counsel and Deputy Director of the Commercial Affairs Department.

Chee Meng is a member of numerous arbitration panels in Singapore and overseas. He is the Alternate Chairperson of the Criminal Law Advisory Committee. He is also on the Panel of Presidents for Law Society's Disciplinary Tribunal, and the Clinical Ethics Subcommittee of Thomson Medical Centre. He is an accredited Adjudicator appointed under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act (Cap 30B).

Chee Meng is currently a Board member of Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited. He had previously served as a Board member of Urban Redevelopment Authority, Jurong Town Corporation and Singapore Power Ltd.

Matters of significance in which Chee Meng has been involved in include the following:

  • Counsel for OCBC in defending a claim by Winson Oil Trading Pte Ltd under a letter of credit. This is one of a series of transactions arising from the Hin Leong fallout. The claim was dismissed on ground of fraud.
  • Counsel for Low Siang Piow in an appeal against conviction involving an allegation of molest. The conviction was overturned.
  • Counsel for Christopher de Souza in disciplinary proceedings by the Law Society of Singapore alleging professional misconduct. Charges of misconduct were dismissed by the Court of 3 Judges.
  • Co-counsel in a commercial dispute between a multi-national corporation and a major retail chain in India. The dispute involves complex issues of law and the remedies include, amongst other things, a claim for specific performance and damages for breach of contract.
  • Counsel for Danieli & C.Officine Meccaniche S.P.A., a public-listed European company with revenue above EUR2.5 billion against a subsidiary of a public-listed South East Asian steelmaker, in substantially setting aside an arbitral award rendered in an ICC arbitration involving claims in excess of £280 million.
  • Counsel in an SIAC arbitration involving a US$100m dispute between an OEM Solar PV module manufacturer in China and its Japanese buyer.

Related Practices

  • Corporate & Regulatory Investigations
  • White Collar & Enforcement
  • Special Situations Advisory
  • Halsbury's Law of Singapore – Volume 18 (2012 Reissue): Tort chapter
  • Atkin's Court Forms – Singapore: Defamation chapter
  • Modern Advocacy: Perspectives from Singapore
  • One of the consultants for the 2006 edition of the Singapore Court Practice

Chee Meng was awarded the Public Service Medal (Pingat Bakti Masyarakat) in 2021. He is recognised as a leading practitioner in numerous legal publications including, The Benchmark Asia Pacific – The Definitive Guide to the Leading Disputes Firms and Lawyers in the Region; The Chambers Asia-Pacific – Asia Pacific's Leading Lawyers for Business; The Legal 500: Asia Pacific – The Client's Guide to the Asia Pacific Legal; Expert Guides' Guide to the World's Leading Construction Lawyers; Asialaw Leading Lawyers and Best Lawyers. He is also recognised in a number of guides by Who's Who Legal some of which are The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers, The International Who's Who of Construction Lawyers and the Commercial Litigation guide.

Contact Details

Qualifications

University of Cambridge (LL.M.) 
National University of Singapore (LL.B., Hons.)
University of Canterbury of New Zealand (BE., Hons.)

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