Thian Seng Oon

Practice Areas

Corporate, Mergers & Acquisitions, Shipping, Employment, Banking & Finance, International Trade, Insurance & Reinsurance, Oil & Gas

Career

Thian Seng is qualified as an advocate and solicitor in both Singapore and in Malaysia. In addition to being a partner at Oon & Bazul, he is also the Managing Partner at the firm’s associated Malaysian office T S Oon & Partners in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is also an appointed Commissioner for Oaths and Notary Public.

Thian Seng is noted for his ability to handle transactions involving highly technical issues and is regularly instructed by clients in the banking, oil & gas, international trade, insurance, shipping, and construction industries.

Thian Seng acts for shipowners, P&I Clubs and marine insurers in both Singapore and in Malaysia on a range of shipping matters including charterparty disputes, cargo claims and casualties (particularly those arising in Malaysia) and shipbuilding/shiprepair disputes involving allegations of defective construction, defective design and delays.

He is also experienced in banking advisory and transactional work, structured trade, trade finance and project finance. He has experience in restructuring inward acquisitions, investment and joint ventures in Singapore, Malaysia and around the region. He regularly acts for commodities traders and banks in disputes involving letters of credit, bills of exchange and other financial instruments.

He also has extensive experience appearing as counsel in trials and appeals in the superior courts in Singapore and Malaysia as well as in international arbitrations.

He is praised by clients as a “thorough, practical and accessible” practitioner. Clients also praised TS Oon & Partners Malaysia as “commercially grounded and definitely know their stuff” and admired “their responsiveness and the options that they provide“.

Awards & Accolades:

• Chambers & Partners Asia Pacific recommends Thian Seng under “Leaders in Their Field”.

• Legal 500 Asia Pacific recommends Thian Seng as a “Leading Individual” and has commended his advice as “practical, commercial and delivers value“.

• Benchmark Litigation Asia Pacific recommends him as a Dispute Resolution Star for his work in Shipping (Malaysia).

• Asia Business Law Journal ranks Thian Seng as one of Singapore’s top 100 lawyers.

• Best Lawyers recognizes Thian Seng as one of the “Best Lawyers in Singapore” for his work in Shipping & Maritime Law.

• Asialaw Leading Lawyers recognizes Thian Seng as a Distinguished Practitioner for his work in Shipping (Malaysia). The title is defined by the publication as lawyers who are highly regarded by their peers and possess a strong record and positive client feedback.

Professional Memberships

Singapore Academy of Law

Singapore Shipping Association

Singapore Institute of Arbitrators

Maritime Law Association of Singapore (MLAS)

Shiparrested.com

First Law International SPRL (FLI)

International Malaysian Society of Maritime Law

Work Highlights

• Acted in a US$150 million claim involving water ingress into a submarine pipeline advising on liability issues and on insurance and reinsurance aspects of the claim.

• Acted for property and liability insurers defending policy liability arising from an explosion at a tank farm for sums payable under the policy and other business losses valued at US$50 million.

• Acted for Insurers in a claim under a fire policy arising from a oil tank explosion at Tanjung Langsat at an Oil Tank Farm destroying one tank and causing considerable damage to several others in a dispute involving the construction and commissioning of the internal flexible diaphragm floating roof of the Storage tank.

• Acted for two large Japanese shipowners and operators in joint venture and lease negotiations with local authorities to establish a ro-ro port terminal.

• Acted for a major Japanese shipowner and operator in joint venture with a large Indian corporate to establish a bulk carrier ship owning and operating company for mainly coal and steel cargoes.

• Acted in tonnage liability actions on several occasions:

o Acted for claimants in loss and damage to a methanol cargo on board the vessel “Bunga Alpinia” which exploded in Labuan.

o Acted for Owners in establishing the right to limitation in an allision between a bulk carrier and a cargo unloader in which claims for damage and loss of business exceeded US$70 million.

o Acted for claimants in relation to the theft of oil cargo due to piracy on board tankers in the South China Sea.

• Acted for an Irish MNC in the acquisition of a regional building material supply company with offices in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam and India.

• Acting for Main contractor Taisei Corporation. A claim by owners of Komtar in Johor for extensive property damage allegedly caused by piling works carried out at City Square Johore, then the deepest recorded excavation in the Johor Bahru City area. The piling works led to excessive ground settlement and caused the floor of the shopping centre to buckle.

• A claim against sub-contractors for defective works in one of the largest earth-filling projects in South East Asia. The project involved the filling in of a disused stone quarry in a specially designed manner to allow construction of a large residential estate. The earth filling works were performed negligently and this led to excessive ground subsidence and significant losses to the developer.

Education

Languages Spoken

English, Malay