Shaun Lee

As a partner in our Dispute Resolution Group in Singapore, I act regularly for our private sector and governmental clients in high-value complex transnational commercial and regulatory disputes across the TMT and financial sectors, as well as in the infrastructure, energy & utilities space.

As a dual-qualified lawyer, I am uniquely placed to provide advice that goes beyond the narrow scope of the dispute, to address the regulatory and compliance exposure that clients might face. I am able to draw on my significant experience with cross-border restructuring and insolvency, compliance and investigatory exercises involving foreign anti-corruption legislation, data protection, cybersecurity and anti-money laundering and terrorism financing regulations.

I act regularly lead or instructed counsel in many complex transnational commercial disputes before the Singapore Courts (including the Singapore International Commercial Court) and in international arbitrations. I have successfully represented our clients in SIAC, LCIA and ICC international arbitration proceedings. As a specialist mediator with the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC), I appear in mediation proceedings as mediator or mediation counsel.

I am also a CIArb Fellow and sit on the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) Reserve Panel of Arbitrators, as well as the Asian International Arbitration Centre's (AIAC) Panel for Arbitrators and for Domain Name Dispute Resolution. I have written extensively on international arbitration, Singapore employment and data privacy law. I have been interviewed and quoted on arbitration, insolvency, data protection and employments matters in the media, and speak regularly at conferences on dispute resolution, cybersecurity as well as compliance & investigations.

In recent years, I have been recognised by directories for Dispute Resolution, International Arbitration and Construction. I was named as one of Singapore's 21 most influential lawyers aged 40 and under by Singapore Business Review (2020) as well as listed in ALB Asia Rising Star - Singapore 2022.

• Lead counsel representing multinational clients at all levels of the Singapore court (including the Singapore International Commercial Court) on complex transnational high-value commercial disputes across the Tech, Media, Telecommunications (TMT), financial services (Funds, FinTech and payment platforms), and infrastructure & utilities sectors.
• Lead counsel representing and acting for and against governmental entities in commercial & regulatory disputes and investigations before regulatory tribunals and in international arbitration.
• Instructed counsel for commercial, intellectual property, restructuring exercises and regulatory disputes before regulatory & arbitral tribunals as well as the Singapore courts.

• Lead counsel successfully representing diversified energy and commodities trading conglomerate in various disputes in a series of cross-appeals before the Singapore Court of Appeal (SGCA). In Sun Electric Power Pte Ltd v RCMA Asia Pte Ltd [2021] SGCA 2021, the SGCA overturned over 3 decades of insolvency law amongst other novel points of law which were determined.
• Acted for the Energy Market Authority in Market Surveillance & Compliance Panel (MSCP) hearing against Genco for breach of PSO's directions. Resulted in second largest reported financial penalty meted out.
• Lead counsel successfully representing client in the first reported case on the taxability of 'golden handshakes' and in IRAS' appeal in the Singapore courts. GCT v Comptroller of Income Tax [2020] SGITBR 3 and Comptroller of Income Tax v Forsyth, John Russell [2020] SGHC 258 has been described as a 'landmark case' by PwC and 'landmark case law' by EY. Successfully resisted appeal by the tax authorities before the Singapore courts in Comptroller of Income Tax v Forsyth, John Russell [2020] SGHC 258.
• Acted for a European EPC contractor (Tozzi Srl) in a dispute with a prominent global listed maritime company (Bumi Armada) before the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) and Court of Appeal. The dispute involved desulphurisation modules aboard an FPSO gas rig. The reported decisions involved novel and important points of law regarding the right of first refusal, as well as the immunity shareholders entitled to against claims for inducement of breach of contract by the subsidiary company.
• Sole counsel in Singapore High Court matter HC/OS 1104 of 2016: successfully defended against setting aside proceedings of 3 SIAC arbitration awards. The applicant was represented by a Senior Counsel (Singapore equivalent of King's Counsel) led team. The application involved novel points of law regarding the public policy of Singapore.
• Lead or instructed counsel representing listed tech titans in ICC, SIAC and ad-hoc arbitration proceedings involving diverse commercial disputes including franchise agreements, video-games, Web3, crypto currencies/exchanges, software integration issues, software development and Bluetooth certification.