Featuring: Allen & Gledhill

“The sleuthing aspect of disputes work – assembling the evidence, interviewing witnesses and determining the facts – also intrigued me and is a big part of the job.”

- Jonathan Tan, Senior Associate at Allen & Gledhill

I graduated from the National University of Singapore with an LLB in 2020. I graduated the same year from Kings College London with an LLM under the NUS-King's College London LLB-LLM exchange plus programme. After graduating, I started out as a Deputy Public Prosecutor with the Attorney-General’s Chambers for several months while sitting for the Part B examinations. I then moved to the Supreme Court for 2 years to clerk for Judges of the High Court and Appellate Division and Justices of the Court of Appeal. At the end of my clerkship, I joined Allen & Gledhill’s litigation and international arbitration department. My practice is focused on commercial disputes including contractual, shareholder, property and employment matters. Recently, I have also worked on a number of technology and internet platform-related disputes. These disputes are resolved through various forums including litigation, arbitration and mediation.

What initially sparked your interest in pursuing a career in law, and what attracted you to work at Allen & Gledhill?

I enjoyed studying the law but wanted to see how it was applied in a commercial setting. The sleuthing aspect of disputes work – assembling the evidence, interviewing witnesses and determining the facts – also intrigued me and is a big part of the job. So a disputes-centric practice was the natural starting point.

Allen & Gledhill was the right fit because of the variety of cases its litigation and arbitration department sees and the range of clients we service. As a junior, while commercial matters form the bulk of my caseload, I am also involved in criminal, intellectual property and family disputes. We work with clients from all parts of the globe, including the US, Europe and APAC. It is interesting to learn about how businesses are managed in different cultures and industries. In this way, no case is the same. I like the holistic exposure and often take away different learning points from each area and apply them across my practice. The breadth of my practice is a corollary of the pool-based system in our department. We get to work for different partners and learn from multiple mentors and cases. Of course, if you have a keen interest in a specific area and wish to specialise early on, that is also possible. The range of options available to me was a major selling point.

It helps that there are good support systems in the department. I can always rely on peers and seniors for guidance. Colleagues are happy to help, even if we don’t know each other personally. There will inevitably be a subject-matter expert I can turn to given the size of the firm. And we pay it forward when new juniors join the team.

What surprised you about the reality of practice as compared to your expectations as a student?

The pace. When a dispute erupts, or an issue arises in the day-to-day management of a business, clients need quick, actionable advice. The academic foundations of the law are important for you to identify the issues and articulate a strategy to steer the client through the problem. But I took a while to learn not to get bogged down by theoretical issues and to focus on delivering a solution that is simple and practical.

In your experience, how does A&G support continuing education and professional development?

In terms of professional development, juniors are expected to take ownership of a file and engage with clients from an early stage. On top of covering the basics, like preparing the necessary documents and filings, juniors are expected to anticipate steps that the client needs to take in the coming weeks or months and to make adequate preparations (e.g. catering time for witness interviews before affidavits are filed, arranging for interpreters and reaching out to third parties for documents / information that the client needs to make its case). This trains us to be pro-active and to think long-term. Juniors are also given advocacy opportunities, such as for interlocutory applications like applications for discovery, further and better particulars, and even applications for default or summary judgment and winding up. It is always exciting to be on your feet in Court. The firm also has an active pro bono practice and there are ample opportunities to get involved in a contentious and non-contentious role. As for client management, juniors are often the first point of contact for the client on a day-to-day basis and quickly learn to be on top of the details and to confidently take on front-facing roles.

In terms of continuing education, the firm’s Knowledge Management department organises numerous seminars and training sessions for lawyers throughout the year. These include updates on landmark cases, developments in key market sectors, workshops on legal analysis and writing, and exploratory sessions on technologies that can assist lawyers in their day-to-day work. I found a recent training session on legal writing in dispute resolution a useful reminder on the importance of having structure in my drafting process and writing with my audience in mind. The litigation department also organises lunch sessions where colleagues share key learnings points from files they have worked on.

With the rise of AI in the legal industry, what role do you see technology playing in the future of your firm?

AI will be an accelerator for lawyers to understand new markets quickly and identify risks for clients. Disputes are becoming more complex. Many businesses have an international presence, operate through different entities, employ overlapping technologies and deal with sophisticated services/products. To advise the client legally, we need to understand the ins and outs of their business.

For the litigation department, we are exploring the use of AI in document management during discovery. The volume of documentary evidence in disputes nowadays is ballooning. To assist lawyers, A&G has a fully on-premise GenAI solution, A&GEL, which can summarise documents, generate chronologies of events and has a machine translation function that is useful for understanding documents in foreign languages. I sometimes use AI as a starting point to get a bird’s-eye view of the problem, make sense of market jargon, industry trends, and the commercial thinking behind complex instruments. Armed with that context, we can tailor our advice / strategy to the client’s specific needs.

What advice would you give to students who are interested in applying to your firm?

Come and experience the firm for yourself. This will allow you to learn more about the types of work the various departments or teams take on. Everyone has different interests, so this will help you to obtain a better understanding of the many specialised practice areas in the firm, and allow you to decide on the area of practice you would like to explore further.

The best way to do so will be through our structured internship programmes. During your time with us, speak to and observe as many people as possible, including your buddies and mentors, to soak in what practice is like on a day-to-day basis. Short of that, reach out to seniors or contacts practising in the areas/departments that interest you. Ask them about their experience in the firm, what their practice is like and what they find most rewarding about their roles.

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To find out more about Allen & Gledhill, you may visit their website here or contact the firm via their website if you have any queries. We hope you have enjoyed this edition featuring Allen & Gledhill and gained new insights into the firm!

United Kingdom Singapore Law Students Society 2025-2026