Paul Tan is a partner in the Singapore office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He leads the arbitration practice for the firm in Asia. Paul specializes in international arbitration (both commercial and investor state), international litigation and arbitration-related litigation. His practice focuses on managing complex, high-value disputes across Asia, involving issues of public and private international law. He acts for leading corporations, global insurers, financial institutions, funds and Asian governments across a range of industries and concerns, including telecoms, natural resources, technology and media, oil and gas, construction and real estate, private equity, banking and financial institutions and environmental, social and corporate governance. Paul is an appointed expert on Singapore law, and sits as an arbitrator in Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) cases.
Paul is regularly ranked and recognized as a leading lawyer in the arbitration and litigation field by all major legal publications, including Chambers Global, Chambers Asia Pacific, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, Benchmark Litigation, Who’s Who Legal, AsiaLaw and Best Lawyers. In the Chambers Asia Pacific 2023 edition, Paul is highly ranked in Dispute Resolution: Arbitration and Dispute Resolution: Litigation for Singapore. Clients have noted that Paul “is incredibly impressive and a stellar name for arbitration work in Singapore” and “has a very sharp mind and holds a good reputation”. Others have praised that he is “a standout and gifted advocate”; has the “ability to think tactically and anticipate the moves of the opposing party”; is “responsive and a very serious intellectual lawyer known for dealing with difficult problems”; “combines a thorough approach to legal analysis with practical arbitration know-how”; and “a well-regarded adviser in international matter.” In The Legal 500 Asia Pacific guide, clients have praised Paul as “one of the best lawyers in Singapore and the best candidate whom you can entrust the most critical cases to”; “known outside Asia as a first–rate lawyer in investor-state disputes right through to construction cases”; “has the ear of the tribunal and clients”; and “accessible, thoughtful, legally creative while being commercially sensitive.” He has also been listed in The Legal 500 Powerlist for Southeast Asia, AsiaLaw’s Disputes Star of the Year – Singapore, and Who’s Who Legal – Future Leaders. Paul was also previously listed in Top 40 Most Influential Lawyers under 40 by Singapore Business Review, Top 40 Singaporeans under 40 by Prestige Magazine and Top 40 under 40 by Asian Legal Business Asia and named Outstanding Young Person of the Year in the Law and Government category by Junior Chamber International. He has been featured in The Straits Times, The Peak Magazine, and Vogue Singapore.
Paul teaches international arbitration and speaks internationally on the subject. He was recently invited to lecture for the Vietnamese Judicial Training Academy. He has also been appointed an expert to the Singapore delegation to the UNCITRAL’s Working Group on Arbitration. Paul is the co-author of three books on international arbitration: The Law and Theory of International Commercial Arbitration in Singapore (Academy Publishing, 2022), A Commentary on the Singapore International Arbitration Act (Oxford University Press, 2023) and the forthcoming edition of the world-renowned Mustill & Boyd’s treatise on commercial and investment arbitration. He also co-wrote and co-edited Singapore Law: 50 Years in the Making (2017), an empirical account of the development of all facets of Singapore law including its commercial and arbitration laws.
He also holds or has held numerous committee appointments, including the Government-appointed committee to review the Singapore Legal Services Sector, the Costs Panel (an appointment by the Supreme Court), Arbitration and Public International Law Committee of the Law Society of Singapore, the International Law Association (Singapore), co-chair of the Asia-Pacific and Australasian region for the London Court of International Arbitration’s Young International Arbitration Group, the regional co-leader of the Association Suisse de l’Arbitrage (Southeast Asia), a committee member of Young Singapore International Arbitration Centre, a member of the ICC Commission for the Belt and Road Initiative and a member of the Thought-Leadership Committee of ICC Singapore, an executive committee member of the Rising Arbitrators Initiative and a committee member of the Professional Affairs Committee (Singapore Academy of Law). He is an elected member of the Council of the Law Society of Singapore and its Treasurer.
Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Paul was a partner at a major Singapore firm and a Magic Circle firm in Singapore, completed a two-year placement with Essex Court Chambers in London (as a Singapore Academy of Law scholar), and was a foreign stagiaire with LALIVE in Geneva. He was also a judicial law clerk for two former Chief Justices and a judge who is the current Chief Justice of Singapore, and has also sat as an assistant registrar of the Supreme Court of Singapore.
Capabilities
Credentials
Education:
- University of Oxford - 2011 Bachelor of Civil Law
- National University of Singapore - 2005 LL.B. (First Class Hons)
Admissions:
- Singapore – Advocate and Solicitor