TAN Kah Wai was admitted to the Singapore Bar in 2020. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and a Master of Laws (International Business Law) from King’s College London. As one of the top students in his cohort at NUS, he was placed on the Overall Dean’s List and received 12 academic prizes and scholarships, including the M Karthigesu Memorial Gold Medal and Prize for Shipping Law and the Maritime Law Association of Singapore Prize for Carriage of Goods by Sea.

Kah Wai is developing a broad commercial practice with a core focus on international trade and shipping disputes. He regularly acts for commodity traders and cargo insurers in court as well as international arbitrations governed by the SIAC and SCMA Rules. He is part of a team of instructed counsel representing a state-owned Chinese oil trader in five ongoing major interpleader actions before the Singapore High Court that arose out of the USD 3.5 billion collapse of Hin Leong Trading (Pte) Ltd.

Separately, Kah Wai possesses specialist expertise in mental capacity and private wealth disputes. Kah Wai has also contributed multiple academic articles on Singapore’s mental capacity law, which are often cited in medico-legal journals including the Medical Law Review. He has served as a member of the Law Society of Singapore’s Probate Practice Committee since 2021.

Kah Wai also has significant experience in other areas of litigation such as insolvency, intellectual property, trusts, white-collar crime and shareholder disputes.  Prior to joining the Firm, he was in one of Singapore’s leading insolvency practices where he acted for the liquidators of the Envy Companies in pursuing clawback actions arising out of a USD 1.1 billion nickel trading scheme, which is Singapore’s first Ponzi scheme to reach the billion-dollar mark.

Kah Wai has also been emplaced on the Supreme Court’s Young Independent Counsel Scheme 2024 which presents aspiring young advocates with opportunities to assist the Singapore courts in cases involving novel or cutting-edge issues of law.

Kah Wai regularly publishes articles in local and international academic journals, one of which was cited in Palmer’s Company Law which is the authoritative looseleaf commentary on English Company Law. Kah Wai has also been a contributing editor of the Singapore Civil Procedure (commonly known as the White Book) since 2024.

As a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Book Prize, Kah Wai has a strong command of the Chinese language.  Outside of his legal practice, he is an award-winning Chinese short story writer whose works are featured in local and international magazines. He recently published his debut short story collection with a publication grant from the Singapore National Arts Council.