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Band 2
Provided by Yong Seng Tay
International Arbitration; Litigation; Employment, Health and Safety
Yong Seng acts as lead counsel in a broad spectrum of commercial disputes, in both litigation and arbitration. His clients include global financial institutions, leading multinational companies and government bodies. Yong Seng is recognised as a leading lawyer by various top-tier international publications in the fields of commercial litigation, international arbitration and employment.
In the High Court, he has particular expertise in commercial, banking, real estate and employment litigation. He has acted for top-tier financial institutions and trading companies like BGC Partners (global financial and commodities brokerage headquartered in New York and London), Itochu (one of Japan’s largest trading conglomerates) and Maersk (Danish shipping and logistics conglomerate) in complex litigation that pushed the boundaries of Singapore law. He has also successfully represented banks, real estate developers and engineering companies, in complex Court claims.
In the Court of Appeal (Singapore’s highest Court), his experience lies in arguing novel and difficult points of law. His successful cases as lead advocate include a landmark 5-Judge decision on defamation, and various leading decisions on company/insolvency law and tort law. He successfully argued Singapore’s first civil action under the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 in a ground-breaking decision that recognised emotional distress as being part of “loss or damage” actionable under the Act for the first time.
Yong Seng has a busy international arbitration practice, spanning the fields of heavy industries, power generation (both conventional and renewable), commodities trading, chemicals, private equity, real estate and fast-moving consumer goods. He has acted for top-tier Japanese heavy engineering MNCs and trading companies (sogo sosha), as well as leading US and European manufacturers in international arbitrations. In this regard, he has extensive experience in handling large-scale industrial accidents and complex product liability cases, having defended leading manufacturers in the heavy engineering, power-generation, renewable energy, automotive and chemical industries, and represented leading trading companies in complex commodities trading disputes. He also has significant experience in defending arbitration awards in the Singapore Courts against setting-aside challenges.
Yong Seng has prior Government experience as an Assistant Director in the Ministry of Law. He is also active in academia. At Singapore Management University (SMU), he teaches as Adjunct Faculty on Commercial Remedies in Litigation and has served on the Practice Advisory Committee.
Subject Editor, SAL (Singapore Academy of Law) Practitioner (Employment Law).
Co-Editor, SAL Annual Review of Singapore Cases (Equity and Trusts).
Singapore chapters of Enforcing Arbitration Awards in Singapore 2025 and Enforcement of Judgment: Overview 2025 by Practical Law.
Enforcement – committal / contempt of court in Civil Litigation 2025 by Practical Law.
Honorary Legal Adviser, Singapore Table Tennis Association.
Adjunct Faculty, Singapore Management University (Commercial Remedies in Litigation).
English; Mandarin
Provided by Chambers
Tay Yong Seng is an established employment lawyer in Singapore with expertise in wrongful dismissals and employee misconduct investigations.
Provided by Chambers
He's a top-notch lawyer who we keep going back to for his pragmatic advice. He gets it immediately and is always available for any urgent advice.
Yong Seng will always be our go-to partner for employment-related matters. He is always responsive and eager to assist, and his advice is commercial and practical. He is also a pleasure to work with.
He's a top-notch lawyer who we keep going back to for his pragmatic advice. He gets it immediately and is always available for any urgent advice.
Yong Seng will always be our go-to partner for employment-related matters. He is always responsive and eager to assist, and his advice is commercial and practical. He is also a pleasure to work with.