Tan Cheow Hung
Director
LLB (Hons) National University of Singapore
Advocate & Solicitor
Cheow Hung has more than two decades of experience in private legal practice. The greater part of his experience has been in Dispute Resolution. He has represented clients in a diverse range of civil and commercial disputes; including shareholders' and partnership disputes, employment disputes, defamation proceedings, construction disputes, banking disputes and tortious claims. In recent years, drawing from his rich experience in dispute resolution in different areas of law, he has been building a very spiritually rewarding alternative practice area, recently coined "Dispute Avoidance" by some; where he works with clients to set up and structure the foundations of their businesses with a view to avoiding disputes as well as to ensure regulatory compliance, in effect, a Corporate Law practice geared towards Dispute Avoidance and prevention.
For the past decade, Cheow Hung has also built a niche Real Estate practice focusing on sale and purchase and financing of private residential properties and commercial properties. He also advises regularly on landlord and tenant issues.
An area of law that Cheow Hung is particularly passionate about is Criminal Law; as he believes every man, woman, transgender person, girl or boy deserves representation when accused of a crime; one of the fundamental principles that is the bedrock of the Rule of Law. As such, many of his criminal law cases have been undertaken on a pro bono basis; through referrals from the Pro Bono Services Office under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme (CLAS) or the ADHOC Pro Bono Scheme, or from NGOs like the Humanitarian Organisation for Migrant Economics (HOME). One of the CLAS trials where he successfully argued for an acquittal was made into an episode of a MediaCorp Channel 5 docu-drama titled, "Verdict".
In the last few years, he has shifted the firm's pro bono focus to assist a particularly vulnerable group of people - migrant workers; both in criminal defence and in making civil claims for compensation. Two of the cases he has worked on with our Associate, Felicia, have been featured in an episode of "A Fighting Chance", a Channel News Asia documentary on the work of pro bono lawyers in Asia. Both features can still be viewed on Mediacorp's toggle.sg website.
Last but not least, Cheow Hung also has considerable experience in Family Law, dealing with issues of divorce, custody and guardianship as well as care & control of children, maintenance and personal protection orders. He has also taught Family Law and Procedure as an adjunct lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic.
When not engaging in legal work, Cheow Hung spends most of his time together with Pro Bono Partners on activities to promote social justice and help the under-privileged. Occasionally, he performs as a vocalist with the band Chain ReAction at private, public or charity events. In the rare moments when he is free, he whips up meals for family and friends, indulges in a good book or movie or shoots a game of pool. He is a member of the Law Society of Singapore pool team and pool is a game that has taught him both lessons in legal practice and life; in particular, that one must think a few steps ahead and have an end game in mind. It has also taught him not to be discouraged by temporary setbacks and that one never really loses, you either win or you learn.
HOME
Cheow Hung was also honoured by the Law Society of Singapore with the Pro Bono Ambassador 2016/2017 Award in recognition of his humble contributions to the pro bono cause. He is also honoured to sit on the Board of the Law Society Pro Bono Services Office, a registered charity and Institution of Public Character (IPC) with the mission to help bring free legal assistance to those in need in our community; as well as the Board of Lions Home for The Elders, another registered charity and IPC with the mission to promote and employ best practices in providing services and programmes for the aging community.