Withers LLP

Litigation and arbitration

Partner, Litigation and arbitration

Shaun Leong, FCIArb, is an international arbitration specialist with more than a decade of experience in complex cross border commercial disputes across a myriad of sectors including technology, life sciences, infrastructure and energy sectors. He focuses on developing and employing successful strategies to achieve clients’ objectives in cross jurisdictional disputes, and is ranked as Singapore’s most influential, youngest international arbitration specialist from an international firm, by the Singapore Business Review.

Upon graduating with First Class Honours from the National University of Singapore, Shaun served in a judicial capacity as a Magistrate and Assistant Registrar of the Supreme Court for five years, where he published several notable written judgments on international arbitration law. The decisions include Firstlink Investments v GT Payment on the applicable law governing an arbitration agreement as endorsed by the English Court of Appeal, and Titan Unity, endorsed by the Singapore Court of Appeal, on the threshold to determine the existence of a valid arbitration agreement. He was the Head of the Court of Appeal Section of the Supreme Court Registry, and was involved in the establishment of the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) as Secretariat of the SICC committee.

Shaun is the first Singaporean to be appointed an Arbitrator of the Tashkent International Arbitration Centre, a strategic Belt & Road pivot, and holds other Arbitrator appointments with premier international arbitration centres in India, China and ASEAN.

Shaun also helps organisations develops and implements an effective crisis management program. His defining experience in this area was in his representation of a global healthcare company in a crisis management case in South Korea, where he was substantially engaged in all aspects of legal and strategic work around the case; including work on mass class action civil claims filed by victims, mediation, settlement and compensation, forensic investigations work in cooperation with Korean authorities, criminal defence work in relation to charged individuals, and strategic, legal advice regarding communications with media and political stakeholders.

English, Mandarin

Member, Singapore Academy of LawMember, Singapore Law Society

First Class Honours, National University of Singapore, Bachelor of Laws