Adrian Chan, PBM

About Adrian

Adrian joined Lee & Lee in 1989.

He serves on the Legal Service Commission, which is constituted under the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, as the nominee of the Prime Minister. He is currently the Vice-Chairman of the Singapore Institute of Directors.  He has also served over two terms on the board of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore (ACRA). He has also served on the Council of the Law Society of Singapore and the Corporate Governance Regulations Interest Group of the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce.

He has served as an independent director on the boards of various companies listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) for over 20 years. In addition, the SGX has appointed him to its Catalist Advisory Panel to review Catalist Sponsor and Registered Professional applications.

For the Singapore Institute of Legal Education, he continues to lecture on “Corporate Governance”, is an Examiner for the Corporate and Commercial Practice paper for the Bar Admissions and Examinations for Singapore lawyers, and is the Principal Examiner for Company Law for the Foreign Practitioner Examinations for foreign lawyers wishing to practice in Singapore.   

He previously served on the Pro-Enterprise Panel, chaired by the Head of Civil Service and supported by the Ministry of Trade & Industry, which looks into government rules that hinder businesses and stifle entrepreneurship with a view to eliminating red-tape.  

He regularly teaches Corporate Governance and Director Duties & Responsibilities for the Singapore Management University-SID Executive Certificate in Directorship and has been awarded the Excellence in Teaching Award by SMU for his work in this area.

He has been appointed to the Corporate Governance and Directors’ Duties Working Group of the Steering Committee that was established by the Ministry of Finance to review and rewrite the Companies Act of Singapore. He has also co-authored Singapore’s first “Annotated Code of Corporate Governance” for Lexis-Nexis that is published in Woon’s Corporations Law. He was appointed to the Audit Committee Guidance Committee, established by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), ACRA and the SGX to develop practical guidance for audit committees of listed companies, and was appointed by the Corporate Governance Oversight Committee (comprising MAS, ACRA, SGX and CAD) to the Working Group to review and update the Guidebook for Audit Committees.

Case Highlights

• Acted for Sherman Kwek, the CEO of City Developments Limited, and 6 independent directors in their boardroom disputes and lawsuit with the Chairman, Kwek Leng Beng, and 3 other directors, amidst corporate governance concerns 

• Acted in various delisting and privatisation exercises from the Singapore Stock Exchange, including the privatisation of Isetan (Singapore) Ltd by its Japan parent company, Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd., through a scheme of arrangement and the voluntary conditional takeover offer for Dyna-Mac Holdings Ltd. by Hanwha Ocean SG Holdings Pte. Ltd. 

• Acted for CLA Global TS, an Asia-centric business advisory firm, in its partnership with and investments by Dymon Asia Private Equity

Awards & Recognitions

• Recommended and ranked as a Leading Individual for Corporate/M&A in Singapore by Chambers Global in The Client’s Guide to the World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, which has described him as a “wonderful lawyer”, “a heavyweight [who is] a great favourite with his many corporate clients”, “calm and composed [while] managing his team efficiently, listening well and staying on top of matters” and who is “a serious lawyer doing an excellent job”. 

• Chambers Asia Pacific in its Guide to Asia’s Leading Lawyers for Business classified him as a Leading Individual who is “excellent and experienced”, “very technical and certainly hands on”, “very well regarded in the field of corporate governance”, “commercial, effective, knowledgeable, very fast on his feet but with that gentle demeanour while still being very firm” and is “solution-oriented, receiving praise from both clients and peers, who highlight his commercial awareness”. 

• Recommended as a Leading Lawyer (Highly Regarded) in the IFLR1000 – Guide to the World’s Leading Financial Law Firms.  

• Profiled by Asialaw as a “market-leading lawyer” and an “elite practitioner” in the area of Corporate/M&A.  

• Described by The Asia Pacific Legal 500 in its Guide to Asia’s Commercial Law Firms as “a terrific corporate lawyer with an impressive track record in the market” and has been recommended in the same publication as a Leading Individual in the field of Capital Markets.  

• Who’s Who Legal has described him as “a first-class corporate lawyer” who is “serious and respected”.  

• Named by Asia Business Law Journal over multiple years as one of Singapore’s Top 100 lawyers.

• Cited by the World Legal Forum in its Guide to Law Firms Around the Globe as part of the “impressive next generation” of top corporate lawyers in Singapore 

• Cited over multiple years in the Singapore edition of Best Lawyers.

• Honours: Public Service Medal (Pingat Bakti Masyarakat) 2022

Memberships & Directorships

• Member, Law Society of Singapore

• Member, Singapore Academy of Law

• Member, Legal Service Commission

• Vice-Chairman, Singapore Institute of Directors

• Chairman, Hong Fok Corporation

• Lead Independent Director, First REIT 

• Independent Director, Food Empire Holdings 

• Independent Director, Keppel Infrastructure Trust 

• Independent Director, TeleChoice International 

• Member, SGX Catalist Advisory Panel

• Member, Requisition of Resources Compensation Board

• Member, Singapore Management University’s Enterprise Board 

• Director, Hogan Lovells Lee & Lee

• Director, Shared Services for Charities Limited

• Director, aLife Limited

• Member, Institutional Review Board of Singapore Polytechnic.  

• Honorary Secretary, Executive Council of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises