About Dawn

Dawn graduated with First Class Honours from the National University of Law School in 1997. In 2002 she took a Master of Laws degree from the Harvard Law School where she again achieved academic distinction. Dawn completed her pupilage under Mr Michael Hwang, S.C. at Allen & Gledhill (now Allen & Gledhill LLP) and was admitted as an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore in May 1998. Dawn is also admitted as a Solicitor in England and Dawn Tan Ly-Ru Wales and an Attorney and Counselor-at-Law of the State of New York. Between 1998 and 1999, Dawn was a Justices’ Law Clerk in the Chambers of the former Chief Justice, Mr . She then served as an Assistant Registrar at the Supreme Court Contact Details Registry and concurrently took up teaching appointments at the National University of Singapore Law School and the then T: 656.225.3819 Department of Law of the Singapore Management University. F: 656.224.1891 Between 2004 and 2006, Dawn was Deputy Director Trade at the Ministry of Trade and Industry where she was involved in the E: [email protected] formulation and implementation of Singapore’s foreign trade policy. She negotiated the Trade in Goods, Rules of Origin and Qualifications Trade Remedies Chapters of Singapore’s Free Trade Agreements with India, Panama, Chile, New Zealand and Brunei (known as LL.B. (Hons), National University of the “Pacific 4”), Kuwait and Pakistan. She also advised on the Singapore (1997) legality of actions taken by other countries, such as anti-dumping LL.M., Harvard Law School (2002) measures, against Singapore companies.

Advocate and Solicitor of the Dawn joined Rajah & Tann LLP as a Partner in 2006. During her Supreme Court of Singapore (1998) time in Rajah & Tann, Dawn was involved in several complex and high profile commercial disputes. These included the largest Solicitor, England and Wales (2002) commercial dispute by value in recent times involving a claim by Attorney and Counselor-at-Law, the Indonesian client of a bank with respect to the sale by the State of New York (2003) bank of certain shares pledged to it an undervalue, a claim exceeding SGD200 million. She was involved in an arbitration under the SIAC Rules concerning the construction of an all risks policy in the context of a multi-million dollar claim for business interruption loss caused by the tsunami of December 2004. She was Singapore co-counsel acting for a government in an ICC arbitration on a contractual dispute arising out of a bid for a complex and large-scale construction project, in which the claim was valued at more than USD500 million and the counterclaims USD1 billion. She acted as co-counsel for the owners of two steel plants in an SIAC arbitration in respect of their claim against various parties for breaches of their obligations under certain agreements in relation to the sale and purchase of the plants, in which the claim is valued at more than USD800 million.

Areas of Practice

Dawn has a diverse general commercial practice. In addition to international arbitration, she has handled a wide range of complex commercial litigation, including complex banking, company and property disputes (including several of the most contentious and highly-publicised collective sale disputes), corporate insolvency and restructuring (both advisory and litigation) and more generally

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Experience

Some of the clients Dawn has advised and represented include:

• an international bank in its claim against the directors and controlling shareholders of a company listed on the Singapore stock exchange in relation to losses incurred by the company pursuant to the close-out of foreign exchange transactions, in which the claim was valued at more than SGD38 million; • a telecommunications company in relation to its claim for the recovery of telecommunication cables valued in excess of SGD5 million; • a government-linked entity in relation to allegations of misrepresentation made against it by a company listed on the Singapore stock exchange; • the owner of a plot of land in a prime residential area in Singapore in relation to the attempted unilateral realignment of a right of way over an adjacent plot owned by a major property developer; • the owner of a group of shipping publications in relation to a defamation claim brought by the former employees of a major foreign shipping company; • a major supplier of ready-mixed concrete in relation to claims brought against it arising from the ban of sand exports from Indonesia; • the shareholders of a private holding company in relation to their respective rights arising out of the redevelopment of a commercial building in the central business district in Singapore; • a group of foreign funds in relation to a highly-structured and privately-placed financing transaction put in place for the acquisition of a substantial stake in a foreign company then listed on the Norwegian stock exchange; • a group of subsidiary proprietors in the contentious and highly-publicised appeal to the High Court from the decision of the Strata Titles Board dismissing the application for a collective sale order for the Horizon Towers condominium; • the purchaser in the contentious and highly-publicised appeal to the High Court and thereafter, the Court of Appeal from the decision of the Strata Titles Board allowing the application for a collective sale order for the Gillman Heights condominium; • the majority subsidiary proprietors in the appeal to the High Court from the decision of the Strata Titles Board allowing the application for a collective sale order for the Minton Rise condominium; and • a Singapore-based exporter on various aspects of the free trade agreement between Singapore and India, known as the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.

Page 2 of 3 Appointments / Memberships Dawn is a member of the Inquiry Panel of the .

Reported Judgments • Sin Lian Heng Construction Pte Ltd v Singapore Telecommunications Ltd and Another Suit [ judgment pending ] • Yickvi Realty Pte Ltd v Pacific Rover Pte Ltd [2009] SGCA 44 • AAR and another v AAS (liquidator and trustee of B and others) and others [2009] SGHC 139 • Kok Chong Weng and others v Wiener Robert Lorenz and others [2009] SGCA 7 • Chang Mei Wah Selena and others v Wiener Robert Lorenz and others and other matters [2008] SGHC 97 • Siow Doreen and Others v Lo Pui Sang and Others (Horizon Partners Pte Ltd, first interveners and Reghenzani Claude Augustus, second interveners) [2007] SGHC 167; [2007] SGHC 174 • Sin Lian Heng Construction Pte Ltd v Singapore Telecommunications Ltd and Another Suit [2007] SGHC 22; [2007] 2 SLR 433 • Creative Technology Ltd v Cosmos Trade-Nology Pte Ltd and Another [2004] SGHC 5 • Tao Commodity Trader Inc v Fortis Bank (Nederland) N.V. [2004] SGHC 30 • Beng Tiong Trading, Import and Export (1988) Pte Ltd v Maria Janda Achmad Bin Abdullah Wachdin Basharahil alias Maria and Others [2003] SGHC 232

Publications / Conferences

• “Advocacy in Interlocutory Applications” (with , S.C. ) in Modern Advocacy: Perspectives from Singapore (Academy Publishing, 2008) • “Minimising Loss with Effective Contractual Risk Management” Law Gazette, December 2007 (2) • Singapore and International Law (2000) 4 SJICL 530 • Impact of the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement on Merchandise Trade, 16 September 2005

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