Dan Tan has sat as chair, sole, party-appointed, and emergency arbitrator in more than 50 international arbitrations across every major institution and in major seats. He is adept at hearing cases layered with multiple foreign-law issues, and those involving technical issues.
Chambers Global and Chambers USA separately rank Dan as a leading arbitrator — distinct from his ranking as a leading arbitration counsel. Chambers commends his “experience sitting as arbitrator in complex disputes.” Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration has recognized him every year since 2018.
Dan brings to the tribunal what few arbitrators can offer in combination: 25 years of front-line advocacy in the highest-stakes international disputes, 17 years teaching international arbitration at Harvard Law School, 10 years between 2013–2025 teaching at Stanford Law School, two years teaching English contract law at Oxford University, and qualifications at five bars across three legal traditions — common law (US, England, Singapore) and civil law influences acquired through ICC, Swiss, and BANI proceedings.
50+
INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATIONS
12
APPOINTMENTS AS CHAIR
11
APPOINTMENTS AS PARTY-APPOINTED ARBITRATOR
29y
AGGREGATE YEARS TEACHING AT HARVARD, STANFORD AND OXFORD (INCLUDING OVERLAPPING APPOINTMENTS)
The strongest arbitrators are practitioners whose work as counsel teaches them what a tribunal needs, scholars whose academic discipline teaches them how to reason, and commercial lawyers whose breadth lets them see the dispute from every angle.
Seventeen years at Harvard Law School teaching International Commercial Arbitration. Ten years between 2013–2025 at Stanford Law School teaching arbitration and investment law. Lecturer at Oxford in English Contract Law. Adjunct at Singapore Management University.
Dan Tan's scholarship has been excerpted in casebooks, cited in textbooks, and cited by US Federal courts - called "ground-breaking thinking."
Twenty-five years acting in arbitrations under ICC, LCIA, AAA/ICDR, SIAC, HKIAC, UNCITRAL, Swiss Rules, and BANI - including matters where over US$2.4 billion was at stake.
Dan has cross-examined the witnesses, briefed the points, and seen which arguments persuade tribunals and which do not. That perspective sharpens every procedural and substantive call he makes as a sitting arbitrator.
Qualified at five bars - New York, California, DC, England and Wales, and Singapore - and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Master Mediator with the AAA, and member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration.
Fluent across common-law procedure, English commercial principle, and the institutional rules that govern international practice. Speaks Mandarin Chinese.
| ROLE | DESCRIPTION | FORUM · SEAT · LAW | VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHAIR | ICC arbitration over major construction dispute. | ICC · Los Angeles seat · New York law | US$90M+ |
| PARTY-APPOINTED | Series of construction projects in Asia. | ICC · San Francisco seat · New York law | US$100M+ |
| CHAIR | Construction project with delay and defect claims in Guam. | AAA/ICDR · Los Angeles seat · Guam law | -- |
| PARTY-APPOINTED | Sale and delivery of equipment for major construction project with suspension issues. | ICDR / CIAR · New York seat · New York law | US$20M+ |
| PARTY-APPOINTED | Construction dispute in Thailand. | SIAC · Singapore seat · Singapore law | $34M |
| CHAIR | Highly complex dispute over an undersea cable system, consolidating seven separate actions across multiple courts and arbitrations. | AAA · Hawaii seat · California law | -- |
| SOLE | Construction project between US and Canadian entities. | ICC · New York seat · New York law | -- |
| CHAIR | Construction and operation of a power facility. | ICC · Seoul seat · New York law | -- |
| CHAIR | Dispute between English and Asian companies over a power project in South East Asia. | ICC · London seat · Indonesian law | -- |
| ROLE | DESCRIPTION | FORUM · SEAT · LAW | VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|
| PARTY-APPOINTED | Household-name technology company against Russian parties — among the highest-value international arbitrations in the world. | AAA/ICDR • San Francisco seat • California law | -- |
| PARTY-APPOINTED | Major technology company against Asian partners. | AAA/ICDR • San Francisco seat • California law | US$400m+ |
| PARTY-APPOINTED | Licensing of technology dispute with patent infringement and validity issues. | HKIAC • Hong Kong seat • Chinese, Indian & California law | -- |
| PARTY-APPOINTED | Dispute over website and underlying sales technology in the travel industry. | AAA/ICDR • San Francisco seat • California law | US$200M+ |
| CO-ARBITRATOR | IP issues over manufacture and distribution of specialist equipment in US and Canada. | AAA • California seat • California & Canadian law | -- |
| EMERGENCY | Acquisition of Latin American technology company by European technology company. | ICC • New York seat • New York law | -- |
| SOLE | Dispute in the computer gaming industry. | SIAC • Singapore seat • Delaware law | -- |
| SOLE | Telecoms dispute. | AAA Commercial Rules • Los Angeles seat • California law | -- |
| ROLE | DESCRIPTION | FORUM · SEAT · LAW | VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|
| PARTY-APPOINTED | Pharmaceutical dispute. | ICC • Delaware seat • Delaware law | US$37M+ |
| CO-ARBITRATOR | Two leading household-name pharmaceutical companies — accounting and tax disputes. | AAA • New Jersey seat • New Jersey law | US$50M |
| PARTY-APPOINTED | Joint venture and distributorship disputes in South East Asia. | SIAC • Jakarta seat • Indonesian law | -- |
| SOLE | Pharmaceutical industry dispute. | HKIAC • Hong Kong seat • New York law | -- |
| EMERGENCY | Pharmaceutical and life sciences industry dispute. | ICC • New York seat • New York law | -- |
| EMERGENCY | Biotech and life sciences industry dispute. | ICC • Singapore seat • New York law | -- |
| ROLE | DESCRIPTION | FORUM · SEAT · LAW | VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHAIR | Aircraft outfitting and modification agreement between Asian and US parties. | AAA/ICDR • Seattle seat • New York law | US$45M+ |
| SOLE | Breach of contract claims between North American and South East Asian entities in the aviation industry. | ICC • New York seat • New York law | -- |
| SOLE | Sale and purchase of helicopters between a Chinese buyer and US manufacturer. | HKIAC • Portland (OR) seat • Oregon law | -- |
| ROLE | DESCRIPTION | FORUM · SEAT · LAW | VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHAIR | Construction and operation of a power facility. | AAA/ICDR • Seattle seat • New York law | -- |
| CHAIR | Power project in South East Asia between English and Asian companies. | ICC • London seat • Indonesian law | -- |
| SOLE | Product defect and indemnity claims involving materials used to manufacture drilling equipment for oil wells. | ICC • Singapore seat • New York law | -- |
| ROLE | DESCRIPTION | FORUM · SEAT · LAW | VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHAIR | Alleged breaches of Share Purchase Agreement and Shareholder’s Agreement. | HKIAC • Hong Kong seat • Hong Kong law | US$70M+ |
| CHAIR | Shareholder dispute arising out of share purchase agreement. | HKIAC-administered • Hong Kong seat • New York law | -- |
| CHAIR | Household-name Asian manufacturer in dispute with European company. | ICC • Maui seat • New York law | -- |
| SOLE | Share buy-back and corporate disputes involving US and Chinese companies. | HKIAC • Hong Kong seat • New York law | -- |
| SOLE | Asian parties in dispute with related bankruptcy proceedings. | SIAC • Singapore seat • Singapore law | -- |
| ROLE | DESCRIPTION | FORUM · SEAT · LAW | VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|
| PARTY-APPOINTED | Sales of goods dispute between US and European companies. | ICC • Singapore seat • English law | -- |
| CO-ARBITRATOR | Shareholder dispute arising out of share purchase agreement. | AAA/ICDR • New York seat • New York law | -- |
| SOLE | Breach of licensing agreement of products manufactured and distributed in China and Hong Kong. | AAA/ICDR • New York seat • New York law | -- |
| SOLE | Dispute between US and Asian entity over joint venture agreement. | ICDR • California seat • California law | -- |
| SOLE | Sale of goods between US and Chinese parties. | AAA/ICDR • San Jose seat • California law | -- |
| SOLE | Sales of goods dispute. | AAA • Sacramento seat • California law | -- |
| SOLE | American company against Brazilian company for breach of contract. | AAA/ICDR • New York seat • New York law | -- |
| SOLE | US and Canadian companies. | ICC • Albany (NY) seat • New York law | US$10M+ |
| SOLE | Chinese and US parties — commissions and royalties from investment contract. | UNCITRAL • Hong Kong seat • California law | -- |
| EMERGENCY | Distribution agreement dispute. | AAA/ICDR • Texas seat • Texas law | -- |
| CO-ARBITRATOR | US-Chinese investor JV — medical industry. | AAA/ICDR • Nevada seat • governing law TBD | -- |
| PARTY-APPOINTED | Dispute over sales contract and subsequent settlement agreement between US and Chinese parties. | HKIAC • Hong Kong seat • Hong Kong law | -- |
| ROLE | DESCRIPTION | FORUM · SEAT · LAW | VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|
| CHAIR | Joint venture agreement in the live entertainment industry. | ICC • London seat • Delaware & New York law | -- |
| ROLE | DESCRIPTION | FORUM · SEAT · LAW | VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|
| CO-ARBITRATOR | Ship and container leasing agreement dispute. | AAA • San Francisco seat • California law | US$60M+ |
| ROLE | DESCRIPTION | FORUM · SEAT · LAW | VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|
| SOLE | Real estate investment contracts in New York. | HKIAC • Hong Kong seat • New York law | -- |
| SOLE | High-value employment and corporate dispute involving a US company’s activities in the Asia Pacific region. | AAA • Utah seat • Utah law | -- |
| SOLE | Contractual dispute brought by chief executive officer against country club. | SIAC • Singapore seat • Singapore law | -- |
LL.M., Harvard Law School. B.C.L., Oxford University. LL.B., National University of Singapore. Trained across the leading common-law academic traditions on three continents.
Seventeen years teaching International Commercial Arbitration to the next generation of practitioners.
Ten years between 2013–2025 teaching International Arbitration and International Investment Law — the latter focusing on disputes touching state-investor and treaty issues.
Two years teaching English Contract Law at Oxford — the body of law that governs more international commercial contracts than any other.
Also Master Mediator with the American Arbitration Association. Member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ICC Task Force on Arbitration Involving States or State Entities.
Admitted in New York, California, the District of Columbia, England and Wales, and Singapore. Fluent across US state law, US federal procedure, English commercial law, and Singapore law.
Has sat in arbitrations administered under ICC, AAA/ICDR, HKIAC, SIAC, UNCITRAL, and ad-hoc rules — including emergency arbitrator and sole arbitrator appointments. Seats include New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Albany, Sacramento, San Jose, Nevada, Hawaii, Guam, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Jakarta, London, and Maui.
25 years as front-line counsel in disputes valued from millions to billions — including the Three Arrows Capital crypto matter (US$2.4B), an investor-state ICSID matter against the UAE, and a US$500M+ oil and gas pipeline arbitration.
Authored articles in leading academic journals, excerpted in casebooks, and cited in textbooks and US Federal court decisions. Called “ground-breaking thinking.” Wrote the US Supreme Court amicus brief in Hall Street Associates v. Mattel on judicial review of arbitral awards.
“Experience sitting as arbitrator in complex disputes.”
Chambers Global, on Dan Tan
