Tan Chee Meng, Senior Counsel is the Head of International Projects at WongPartnership LLP. His main areas of practice are general civil litigation, construction and engineering dispute resolution, criminal law and disciplinary proceedings.

Having spent the early years of his career as a Civil Engineer, Chee Meng has special interest and expertise in construction disputes, and has acted for major construction firms and developers in respect of projects in Singapore and Vietnam. He has extensive experience as an Arbitrator, a Mediator as well as Counsel in construction law.

Chee Meng was appointed Senior Counsel in 2006. He was 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 Subordinate Courts. As a Specialist Judge, Chee Meng presided over a prosecution arising from a construction accident at the Fusionpolis project.

Notable matters that Chee Meng has been involved in include representing Shimizu Corporation and Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co. Ltd in a number of multi-million dollar arbitrations. The projects concerned include commercial buildings, an airport terminal, and underground tunneling works for the Mass Rapid Transit System; and acting for Aviva, the project insurers in the 89-day Committee of Inquiry arising from the collapse of the MRT Circle Line tunnel construction at Nicoll Highway in 2004. The collapse arose from open cut and cover excavation works to a depth of 30 metres. In the course of the Inquiry, Chee Meng had to address complex geotechnical issues (his experience as a Civil Engineer put him in good stead when he had to work with various experts on the cause of the collapse).

Chee Meng has also acted for the owner and developer of a hotel in a dispute in Vietnam against an Australian main contractor. The quantum of the dispute was in excess of US$15 million, involving issues such as acceleration, variations and prolongation claims. Defamation suits he has worked on include acting for Singapore Press Holdings in numerous prominent defamation suits including Oei Hong Leong in 2004; the Central Christian Church in 1997 and the House of Israel in 1995.

Chee Meng graduated from University of Canterbury of New Zealand with First Class Honours in Engineering under a Colombo Plan scholarship in 1979. He was awarded a Singapore Government Legal Scholarship to read law at National University of Singapore and subsequently obtained his Master of Law at the University of Cambridge where he also attained a First Class Honours.

Chee Meng served as Deputy Senior State Counsel in the Attorney-General’s Chambers and as Deputy Director at the Commercial Affairs Department. Prior to joining WongPartnership LLP, he spent 14 years in another law firm in Singapore and was its Managing Partner since 2004.

Chee Meng is a member of the Senate of the Singapore Academy of Law. He is also a member of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre and a Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators ("SIARB"), and is on both their Main Panels of Arbitrators. Chee Meng is also on the SIARB Panel of Arbitrators for Sports Arbitrations in Singapore and is a registered Arbitrator with the Abu Dhabi Commercial Conciliation & Arbitration Center.

He is an accredited Adjudicator appointed under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2004, and was one of the consultants for the 2006 Edition of the Singapore Court Practice.

Chee Meng authored the chapter on "Defamation" in Atkin's Court Forms - Singapore published by LexisNexis in February 2008, and is one of the contributing authors for “Modern Advocacy: Perspectives from Singapore”, published by the Singapore Academy of Law in July 2008.

Law Business Research Who’s Who Legal: Construction 2008 ranks Chee Meng as a leader in the field of Construction and Who's Who Legal: Singapore 2008 writes that Chee Meng is commended for his "outstanding work" in the construction sector, and is particularly well known for his disputes work. Chee Meng is also recognised as a leading individual in Dispute Resolution by The Asia Pacific Legal 500, 2007/2008 edition.

You can contact Chee Meng at cheemeng.tan@wongpartnership.com.sg.

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WongPartnership LLP (Registration No. LL0800003D) is a limited liability law partnership registered in Singapore under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act (Chapter 163A). On 1 January 2008, it was converted from a firm to a limited liability partnership.