Kendall Tan is a Partner at Rajah & Tann Singapore and serves as Practice Leader for the Shipping Regional Practice Group across the Rajah & Tann Asia network. He additionally leads the firm's Brunei Desk Practice and Europe Focus Group, bringing to each mandate a trifecta of admissions — as an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore, of the Bar of Brunei Darussalam, and as a practising Solicitor on the Roll of Solicitors of England and Wales.
Kendall's core areas of expertise encompass marine casualties, pollution incidents and complex offshore situations — including mooring and berthing accidents, collisions and allisions with bridge and sub-sea structures, heavy weather damage, explosions, fires and rig or drillship incidents. He advises shipowners, hull underwriters, P&I clubs and cargo interests across virtually all major casualties involving Singapore-flagged tonnage in recent years. His expertise extends equally to chain-charter and alliance agreement disputes, complex cargo and bill of lading fraud, specialised carriage — including containerised, combi-transport, refrigerated, dangerous goods, gas carrier and tanker shipping — as well as hull and machinery policies and specialist cargo and energy package insurance.
On the energy and commodities front, Kendall is counsel of choice to two national oil companies, leading global traders in crude and fuel products, and the world's foremost privately held tanker fleets. He advises on oil trading arrangements, LNG long-term supply and transportation contracts, and has acted in high-value arbitrations involving rig conversions and newbuild LNG carriers. His geographic reach is similarly expansive: with fluency in Mandarin, he is regularly engaged in disputes before the Chinese courts and across North Asian jurisdictions, while also appearing as counsel in substantial maritime and trading arbitrations in Singapore and London. He acts in international sale and trading arbitrations under the auspices of the SIAC, LCIA, SCMA, LMAA, ICC and GAFTA, and accepts appointment as arbitrator in shipping and commodities disputes.
Kendall's case record reflects some of the industry's most consequential proceedings. He was lead counsel in the Singapore Court of Appeal decision in BWG v BWF [2020] SGCA 36 — heard before a coram of five judges — which resolved a complex bill of lading dispute on a suspected carousel oil-trading arrangement. He led the Singapore phase of Enemalta Plc v The Standard Club Asia [2021] EWHC 1215 (Comm), arising from a high-stakes sub-sea cable snagging incident in the Straits of Sicily, and in the London arbitration phase of Times Trading Corporation v National Bank of Fujairah [2020] EWHC 1078 (Comm), a seminal anti-suit injunction decision. Expert evidence on maritime law that Kendall has provided has been endorsed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.
Beyond practice, Kendall serves as an Adjunct Professor in Shipping and Admiralty Law at Singapore Management University, contributing to the development of the next generation of maritime lawyers. He sits on the Board of the Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration (SCMA) and chairs its Members' Consultative Council. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and a member of the Law Society of England and Wales.