Partners

Tan Yuan Kheng

Director, Dispute Resolution

Key Practices

Qualifications

  • LL.B (Hons) National University of Singapore (2013)
  • Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore (2014)

Yuan Kheng has an active practice in complex litigation and arbitration. She has handled a diverse range of matters relating to commercial contracts, corporate disputes, director / shareholder fights, tortious claims, competition law issues, probate and administration, infrastructure projects, trusts, investor-state disputes, banking and finance and regulatory actions.

She has acted for high-profile clients and high net worth individuals at all levels of the Singapore Courts as well as in both international and domestic arbitrations.

Yuan Kheng graduated from the National University of Singapore with an LLB (Hons) degree in 2013, and was placed on the Dean’s List during her time in law school. During her time on exchange, she represented Instituto de Empresa, a top graduate school located in Spain, in the prestigious 2011 Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot in Vienna, Austria.

Yuan Kheng tutors students in the Preparatory Course leading to Part B of the Singapore Bar Examinations.

She is also proficient in Mandarin Chinese.

Some of the notable matters which Yuan Kheng has handled include:

Trust, Inheritance and Private Banking Disputes

  • Successfully acted for members of the De La Sala family in the largest trust case ever heard in Singapore, involving disputed assets estimated to be worth between US$600 and US$800 million. The matter involved complex corporate trust structures based in multiple jurisdictions, including Singapore, Panama, the BVI, Liberia and Hong Kong. The High Court’s judgment was a landmark decision setting out guidance on what constitutes impermissible witness coaching.
  • Acting for Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former Prime Minister of Georgia, and his family in a claim against Credit Suisse Trust (“CST”) for breach of trust leading to losses in an investment portfolio worth over US$1 billion. CST had successfully obtained a stay of proceedings in favour of Switzerland in the High Court, following which the Ivanishvili family instructed Drew & Napier LLC to take over the case. Yuan Kheng, who was part of the team which advised a change of strategy, succeeded in the appeal before the Court of Appeal which lifted the stay of proceedings. The matter is now being heard in Singapore as the Ivanishvili family wanted.

International Commercial Arbitrations and Cross-border Litigation

  • Acting in a complex ICC arbitration, as well as in parallel setting aside applications before the Singapore International Commercial Court, concerning a wildly popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game involving multiple contracts and novel legal issues under Singapore law, Korean law and PRC law. The claimants have valued their alleged losses approximately US$1 billion.

Investor-State Disputes / Investment Treaty Arbitrations

  • Successfully acted for the Government of Laos to resist the setting aside of two Bilateral Investment Treaty awards before the Singapore Courts. The arbitrations were the first known investor-state arbitrations ever commenced against the Lao Government and involve a long-running and high-profile dispute between the Lao Government and two investors in its gaming and casino industry. The claimants have valued their alleged investment losses as between US$690 million to US$1 billion.
  • Acting for the Republic of India in relation to one of the most publicised tax disputes involving tax assessment orders issued by the Indian Government on US$3.8 billion capital gains arising from a complex restructuring exercise involving the Cairn and Vedanta Groups’ Indian oil and gas assets.

The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific

Dispute Resolution 2022 – Recommended Lawyer

International Arbitration 2024 – Recommended Lawyer for 2 consecutive years

Sources say, "Yuan Kheng Tan is quick in response and understands the client’s demands." 

  • Member, Singapore Academy of Law
  • Member, Law Society of Singapore
  • Young MCIA Steering Committee
  • Tutor for the Preparatory Course leading to Part B of the Singapore Bar Examinations