Erlene Tan
Partner | Singapore
Secretary Vanessa Tan
Operating as Withers KhattarWong LLP in Singapore.
Erlene is a partner in our corporate team.
She is a trusted advisor to a group of private clients, family offices and owner-managed businesses whose business and personal interests span from the traditional (real estate, manufacturing and mining) to the new economy (tech-enabled and service-based businesses). Having assisted her clients with a wide spectrum of transactional, corporate, commercial and advisory work, Erlene effectively serves as the external in-house counsel for her clients. Most recently, she has assisted her family office and other clients with direct investments as well as insolvency and restructuring matters across various sectors including technology. Erlene takes a keen interest in her clients and their business and is able to cater her advice to address their specific needs and concerns.Erlene previously headed the Singapore corporate practice of a London city firm and has developed a reputation as a highly responsive commercial business lawyer. Her training as a transactional lawyer also puts her in a good position to handle the often fast-paced and demanding nature of a private client focused practice.
Erlene also has valuable in-house experience, having spent time at one of the largest "pure play" retail developers in Asia where she interfaced directly with its C-suite. She is as such well-placed to work with the client's management and in-house teams to achieve the client's objectives.

Me in a minute
I grew up as a transactional lawyer and I am an absolute transaction junkie.
I especially enjoy the intensity of negotiations and the rush of closing a deal. I find that I work best when I know the "story" behind the deal and can internalise the motivations and objectives of the clients. I am very much vested in my clients which is why I often talk in terms of what "we" want to do and what "we" want to achieve in the transaction. This is even though I know full well I will not be making the same multiple on the transaction.
If I were not a lawyer, I would have loved to become a professional triathlete or something equally punishing.