About Shaun
Shaun Leong, FCIArb, is an international arbitration specialist with close to seventeen years of experience in complex cross border commercial disputes. He focuses on developing successful strategies to achieve clients’ objectives in cross jurisdictional disputes. Shaun is an internationally recognised leading practitioner at the forefront of emerging and revolutionary technologies including artificial intelligence (A.I.), agentic AI liability, and blockchain.
He is a two-time International Arbitration Lawyer of the Year nominee (Law.com International Asia Legal Awards 2024, Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific Awards 2022), with accolades including:
- Highly Recommended Contentious Artificial Intelligence practitioner globally, Lexology 2026 (Who’s Who Legal)
- Recognized practitioner in International Arbitration with HFW Singapore as a Tier 2 practice, Benchmark Litigation 2026
- Recommended Fintech & Blockchain practitioner in Southeast Asia, Lexology 2026
- Ranked “Future Star”, Benchmark Litigation 2026
- Leading practitioner in Blockchain, Lexology 2024
- Digital Assets Lawyer of the Year nominee (Law.com International’s Asia Legal Awards 2023).
Legal 500, 2025 describes Shaun Leong as drawing “considerable praise from clients, who praise him for his ability to offer a ‘masterclass’ in deploying commercially minded and effective cross border strategies in complex matters“. He is described as “an outstanding lawyer in the field of cross-border commercial disputes and international arbitration and a top name for cutting-edge international work. He has a razor-sharp mind and is incredibly impressive when it comes to navigating complex points of law” (Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific).
Client testimonials for his work in A.I. includes, “Shaun Leong is fast becoming the go to lawyer for emerging tech disputes including novel challenges arising from mistakes made by artificial intelligence, or the abusive use of artificial intelligence in finance and trading related disputes. He has an impressive depth of knowledge in the AI development lifecycle and with that was able to adopt a problem-solving strategy effectively” (Legal 500, 2025).
Shaun is actively involved in A.I. disputes, with experience including the following:
- acted for a tech company in Singapore’s first A.I. dispute before the Singapore International Commercial Court, on alleged misappropriation of data to train and develop AI models,
- acted for a digital assets exchange in a high value dispute on liability arising from errors made by trading systems powered by AI algorithmic-decision making models,
- acted in A.I. data centres disputes,
- acted for clients across the semiconductor ecosystem, including foundries, A.I. chip manufacturers, and AI infrastructure companies,
- cross border investigations around supply of AI computer chips,
- advised on cross border AI copyright infringement disputes,
- advised on ascertaining where liability lies across the AI development lifecycle,
- acted for inventor of an agentic A.I. technology and founder in a shareholder dispute, and
- advised a leading global A.I. company on cross border investment disputes and acted as its relationship partner for projects in the Middle East.
Shaun is a Davos speaker, having been invited to speak in Switzerland on strategic management of A.I risks during the World Economic Forum week under the auspices of the House of Pioneers in January 2026. He was also invited to speak at the UNCITRAL Colloquium at the UN headquarters in New York on digital trade and finance.
Shaun is recognised for his “particular expertise in cryptocurrency, A.I. and blockchain disputes” (Legal 500). Shaun’s experience in digital assets, blockchain and ‘Web 3.0’ related disputes include becoming the first lawyer in the world to successfully obtain a worldwide proprietary injunction to freeze a non-fungible token on the blockchain in a commercial dispute, from the exclusive Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT series. Shaun represented investors in all three major collapses in the 2023 crypto winter, in particular the Terraform Luna involving the collapse of one of the world’s largest algorithmic stablecoins, the collapse of Three Arrows Capital and the world’s second largest crypto exchange, FTX.
Upon graduating with First Class Honours from the National University of Singapore, Shaun served in a judicial capacity as a Magistrate and Assistant Registrar of the Supreme Court for five years, where he published several notable written judgments on international arbitration law. Shaun serves on the Inquiry Panel of the Law Society of Singapore. Shaun serves on the Inquiry Panel of the Law Society of Singapore. In 2026, he was invited by Justice Hri Kumar Nair and Justice Valerie Thean, co-chairs of the Future of the Legal Profession Committee, to serve on the Organising Committee for the Legal Profession Symposium 2026, convened by the Singapore Academy of Law.
Shaun is a panel arbitrator with the following arbitral institutions:
- Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC),
- Korean Commercial Arbitration Board International,
- Japan Commercial Arbitration Association,
- Thailand Arbitration Centre (THAC), where Shaun serves as Head of Academy,
- Bali International Arbitration and Mediation Center,
- Center for International Investment and Commercial Arbitration,
- Tashkent International Arbitration Centre (TIAC),
- BeiHai Asia International Arbitration Centre, and Bangalore International Mediation, Arbitration and Conciliation Centre.
Shaun is a specialist mediator with the Singapore International Mediation Centre.