Wendy Tan focuses her practice on disputes and transactional matters. She is the leader of the firm’s Singapore litigation practice. Wendy counsels clients on a broad range of cross-border business disputes and international arbitration disputes with a focus on the energy, maritime, commodities and international trade, insurance, securities, and logistics sectors. She regularly advises on restructuring and insolvency issues and employment matters. On transactional matters, she has managed corporate transactions including vessel and rig acquisitions, charter and financing, oil and gas transactions, supply chain contracts, bunkering agreements, shares acquisition, and joint venture agreements.
Wendy’s experience in commercial disputes spans more than two decades and extends to representing clients on high-value matters before the Singapore International Commercial Court as well as the High Court and the Court of Appeal of the Republic of Singapore.
She is regularly retained as counsel in international arbitrations seated in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, and London managed by arbitral rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration (SCMA), Asian International Arbitration Centre (Malaysia) (AIAC), Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA), Grain and Feed Trade Association (GAFTA), and United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL).
Wendy has also been appointed to serve as arbitrator under the Singapore International Arbitration Act and in arbitrations administered by the SIAC and the AIAC.
Wendy is fluent in Chinese and frequently acts in matters involving corporations from the People’s Republic of China.
Wendy is the appointed legal counsel of the Singapore Logistics Association. She is a fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators (SiARB) and a member of the SCMA and the Maritime Law Association of Singapore (MLAS), as well as a supporting member of LMAA.
Wendy’s work has won her various recognitions from the industry. She was awarded Litigator of the Year, Southeast Asia by Asian Legal Business at its 2023 Women in Law Awards; and in 2024, she was recognized among the Top 100 Women in Litigation in the categories of International Arbitration and Shipping by Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific for the fifth consecutive year. Both publications recognize leading female litigators in the Asia-Pacific region who have participated in the most impactful litigation matters in recent history and earned the hard-won respect of their peers and clients as top players in their respective fields.
Wendy was also named in the first-ever Who’s Who Legal: Southeast Asia in the area of Transport – Shipping, and she continues to be recognized by the publication for the third consecutive year in 2023. She is also recognized as a Litigation Star in international arbitration and shipping by Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific and in Best Lawyers in Singapore for shipping and maritime law and trade law. Her experience in commercial arbitration was consistently mentioned in her third consecutive recognition in the 2023 edition of Global Arbitration Review (GAR) 100, a guide to the leading international arbitration firms.
Chambers Global has commended Wendy for demonstrating “clarity, intellect and commerciality” with clients noting: “What distinguishes her from others is that she is really tenacious and fights hard for clients. She is really admirable.” In Chambers Asia-Pacific, Wendy was also praised by clients as “a shipping specialist, she is used to working on cross-border disputes and has an international outlook," noting that she is “well versed in restructuring and liquidation matters, as well as bill of lading and contractual disputes.” She is also described as “knowledgeable and responsive, and has a good team working with her.” Another client commented that Wendy is “ever ready with a clear and accurate analysis of the dispute, [and] provides sharp insights into the case and offers practical solutions.”
Client Choice—International Law Office credited Wendy for having “an excellent commercial mind-set to advise clients” and her “tenacity in litigation while also displaying a sense of fair play to her opponents.”
Litigator of the Year, Southeast Asia, Asian Legal Business Women in Law Awards (2023)
Ranked, Shipping: Domestic: Litigation, Singapore, Chambers Asia-Pacific (2011–2024)
Ranked, Shipping: Domestic: Litigation, Singapore, Chambers Global (2012–2024)
Nominated, Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year, Asia Legal Business South East Asia Law Awards (2019, 2023)
Winner, Best in Shipping, Asia Women in Business Law Awards, Euromoney Legal Media Group (2018)
Nominated, Best in Shipping, Asia Women in Business Law Awards, Euromoney Legal Media Group (2013–2017, 2019–2021, 2023)
Top 100 Women in Litigation, International Arbitration and Shipping, Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific (2020–2024)
Litigation Star, Dispute Resolution, International Arbitration, and Shipping, Singapore, Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific (2020–2024)
Disputes Resolution Star in International Arbitration and Shipping, Singapore, Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific (2018, 2019)
Local Disputes Star in General Commercial, Insurance, and Arbitration, Singapore, Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific (2013, 2014)
Recommended, Labor and Employment: Local Firms, Singapore, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2020–2024)
Recommended, Restructuring and Insolvency: Local Firms, Singapore, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (20200–2024)
Recommended, Dispute Resolution: Local Firms, Singapore, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2019–2024)
Recommended, International Arbitration, Singapore, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2018–2024)
Recommended, Shipping: Local Firms, Singapore, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2010–2024)
Recognized, Transport-Shipping, Who’s Who Legal (2021–2023)
Recognized, Transport-Shipping, Who’s Who Legal: Southeast Asia (2021–2023)
Recognized, Shipping and Maritime, Expert Guides’ Women in Business Law (2021, 2022)
Recognized, Shipping and Maritime Law; Trade Law, The Best Lawyers in Singapore (2022)
Recognized, Maritime Law and Trade Law, Best Lawyers in Singapore (2014–2020)
Award in Shipping and Transport, Client Choice – International Law Office (2014)
Member, International Arbitration Editorial Advisory Board, Law360 (2019)