E X P E R T I S E

Commercial & Civil
Litigation in Singapore

Shareholder deadlock, contractual failure, suspected fraud, a partner acting against the company. We act for founders, directors, shareholders and businesses in disputes before the Singapore courts — and where those disputes carry criminal or regulatory exposure at the same time.

IN SHORT

Commercial and civil litigation is the resolution of business and private disputes through the Singapore courts. Jerrie Tan LLC acts in shareholder and joint-venture disputes, contractual claims, fraud and asset-tracing matters, and cross-border claims — including matters with a China or Greater China nexus, handled in Mandarin where required.

WHAT WE ACT ON

The disputes we are most often instructed on

Commercial disputes rarely arrive alone. A shareholder falling out with the board, a business venture gone wrong, an oppressed minority shareholder, a counterparty that has stopped paying in breach of the contract — each of these tends to give rise to a civil claim, and sometimes a regulatory or police dimension on the same day.

01 Shareholder & joint-venture disputes

Minority oppression, board deadlock, exit and valuation disputes, breaches of shareholders’agreements.

02 Contractual & commercial claims

Breach of contract, supply and distribution failures, guarantees, and disputes over the terms of a deal that has gone wrong.

03 Director & officer liability

Breach of fiduciary duty, conflicts of interest, and claims brought by or against directors in their personal capacity.

04 Fraud, asset tracing & urgent relief

Injunctions, freezing and disclosure applications, and recovery where money or assets have been moved.

05 Cryptocurrency & digital assets

Civil claims over digital assets, exchanges and token transactions — including matters running alongside an authority’s nterest.

06 Property & investment claims

Real estate investment losses, professional negligence, and claims against agents and intermediaries.

07 Cross-border & China-nexus disputes

Claims involving parties in China, Greater China and the region, conducted in Mandarin where that is what the client needs.

08 Debt recovery & enforcement

Recovery of sums owed, and enforcement of Singapore and foreign judgments against assets here.

09 Civil claims with criminal exposure

Where the same facts create both a claim and a police, CAD or regulatory interest, and the two strategies must be run together.

HOW AS IAC ARBITRATION RUNS

Which track your dispute falls into

The Singapore International Arbitration Centre operates more than one procedure, and which one applies is largely a function of the amount in dispute. The 7th edition of the SIAC Rules, in force from 2025, introduced a streamlined track for smaller claims.

SIAC arbitration tracks by amount in dispute
Track	Amount in dispute	Timetable	In practice
Streamlined Procedure	SGD 1,000,000 or below	Award within three months of the tribunal's constitution	Introduced by the SIAC Rules 2025. Built for speed and proportionality on smaller commercial claims, where a full evidentiary process would cost more than the dispute is worth.
Expedited Procedure	More than SGD 1,000,000, up to SGD 10,000,000	Compressed timetable set by the tribunal and Registrar	The threshold was raised from SGD 6 million under the previous rules. A sole arbitrator and a shortened process, without abandoning oral evidence where it matters.
Standard Procedure	No monetary limit	Set by the tribunal in consultation with the parties	The full process — pleadings, document production, witness and expert evidence and a hearing. Used where the amounts or the issues justify it.

Thresholds as set out in the SIAC Rules 2025 (7th edition). The applicable track and timetable should be confirmed against the rules in force when the notice of arbitration is filed.

HOW WE WORK

We start with your exposure, not with the claim

“Most people treat a commercial dispute and a criminal investigation as two separate problems for two separate lawyers. In practice they are usually the same problem arriving in two forms.”

An employee who has been defrauding a company creates a civil claim, a police report, a regulatory exposure and a reputational problem on the same day. Where civil counsel and criminal counsel are not the same person, or at least in the same room, the strategy in one will often undermine the other. Jerrie Tan LLC is built for that overlap. It is a founder-led Singapore disputes practice, and the person you meet is the person who runs your file.

01

Map the exposure first

Before advising on merits we map every direction the matter can travel — civil liability, criminal or regulatory exposure, employment consequences, reputational risk, and the effect on your business or licence.

02

Preserve what matters, early

Evidence is lost and positions are taken in the first week. Speaking to a counterparty, an employer or an authority before taking advice is the most common and most expensive mistake we see.

03

Set a realistic range, not a promise

At the first meeting you should expect a candid view of the realistic range of outcomes, what evidence would move you within it, and what

04

Decide what to file — and what not to

Only then do we decide what to commence, what to negotiate, and where saying nothing is the stronger position.

REPORTED JUDGMENTS

Matters taken to judgment and reported in the law reports

COURT OF APPEAL · 2015

Chan Siew Lee v TYC Investment Pte Ltd and others and another appeal [2015] 5 SLR 409

A shareholder dispute in which the board of directors had reached a deadlock, leaving the company unable to act. The appeal addressed a question Singapore law had not squarely answered: whether shareholders hold reserve management powers when the board cannot function.

STATE COURTS · 2023

Lim Chong Teck v Wendy Kwek [2023] SGDC 222

A cross-border claim brought on behalf of Singapore investors who bought units in a United Kingdom hotel at property exhibitions held here. The claim, including breach of duty of care, was brought against the agent who introduced the opportunity.

YOUR COUNSEL

Jerrie Tan
Founding Director

Jerrie Tan is the Founding Director of Jerrie Tan LLC, a Singapore disputes practice acting where commercial risk, regulatory scrutiny and personal liability intersect. She has been in practice since 2013 and spent almost a decade at an international law firm working alongside leading Senior Counsel, developing a commercial disputes and corporate investigations practice with a particular focus on Mandarin-speaking and China-based clients.

She has more than 40 reported judgments and has appeared across the State Courts, the Supreme Court and the Singapore International Commercial Court. She teaches Advocacy to law graduates preparing for call to the Singapore Bar and serves as an Adjunct Fellow at the NUS Centre for Pro Bono and Clinical Legal
Education.

In a time when disputes lawyers become more and more specialised, not just in areas of practice but right down to specific roles and tasks, Jerrie’s exposure and width of practice makes her a ‘complete’ lawyer, who understands the full legal and commercial concerns of clients, and provides clients with holistic and well considered advice.

NARAYANAN SREENIVASAN S . C . · MANAGING DIRECTOR , SREENIVASAN CHAMBERS LLC

COMMON QUESTIONS

Commercial litigation, answered plainly

How long does a commercial litigation case take in Singapore?

Most contested commercial claims in Singapore are measured in months to years rather than weeks. A matter that runs from the filing of an originating claim or application through pleadings, witness statements and trial in the General Division of the High Court commonly takes well over a year, and an appeal adds further time; simpler State Courts claims and matters that settle can conclude considerably sooner. The Singapore Courts publish their procedural timelines and practice directions, and the Rules of Court 2021 place an active duty on the court to manage cases proportionately. What actually drives the timeline in practice is the volume of documents, whether foreign parties or evidence are involved, and how early both sides are willing to have a realistic conversation about settlement.

What is minority oppression, and can I bring a claim as a minority shareholder in Singapore?

Minority oppression is where the affairs of a company are conducted in a manner oppressive to, or in disregard of the interests of, a shareholder — and Singapore law gives that shareholder a personal remedy. The statutory route is section 216 of the Companies Act 1967, under which the court has a broad discretion to make orders, including requiring the majority to buy out the minority’s shares or, in the extreme, winding the company up. In our experience the difficulty is rarely the legal test; it is the evidence. Exclusion from management, diverted opportunities and unexplained related-party payments have to be documented before positions harden, which is why early advice matters more than a strongly worded letter.

Should I go to litigation or arbitration for a commercial dispute in Singapore?

The starting point is usually not preference but the contract — if there is a valid arbitration clause, that is generally where the dispute goes. Where you have a genuine choice, arbitration before a body such as the Singapore International Arbitration Centre offers confidentiality, a tribunal you help choose and international enforceability under the New York Convention; the Singapore courts offer a public, precedent-setting judgment, established interim relief and, often, lower cost in smaller matters. Cross-border parties with assets outside Singapore frequently favour arbitration for enforcement reasons alone. We advise on that choice as part of the first exposure assessment, not after proceedings have started.

What should I do first if I suspect fraud by an employee or a business partner?

Take advice before you confront anyone. The instinct is to call the person in and ask for an explanation, and it is the single most expensive step we see: devices are wiped, funds move, and an admission you hoped for becomes a warning shot. Practically, preserve access logs, accounting records, email and messaging data as they stand, restrict system access quietly where you lawfully can, and get a view on whether this is a civil recovery matter, a police or Commercial Affairs Department matter, an employment matter, or all three. Those routes interact — an ill-timed police report can complicate a civil freezing application, and a badly handled dismissal can hand the employee a claim of its own.

RELATED EXPERTISE

Where a commercial dispute often leads next

Employment Disputes & Investigations

Personal & Corporate Insolvency

Arbitration Lawyer Singapore

White Collar Defence & Investigations

Criminal Defence

Speak to Jerrie before the position hardens

Consultations are by appointment and treated in confidence. Tell us what has happened and what you are worried about — you will get a straight view of your exposure and your options.

This page is general information only and does not constitute legal advice. It does not create a solicitor–client relationship. Outcomes depend on the specific facts of each matter. Case references are described only as far as they appear in publicly reported judgments. Please seek advice on your own circumstances.