Shulin talks to award-winning author and litigator Adrian Tan about his journey in and outside of the legal profession. From seeing himself through law school with the royalties of his book, to starting his career as a “let’s bash the other side” lawyer, into becoming a “peace-maker” and how his ascent to be the future “King of Singapore” began.
Adrian has experienced a whirlwind career. He’s well known as the author of The Teenage Textbook, a book which was even made into a movie. He’s presently the Head of IP And Tech, and a litigation partner with TSMP law. As the newly elected President of the Law Society, he’s keen to make lawyering great again!
Believing that law is society’s operating system and that lawyers are your best friends, Adrian's social media posts often go viral– all generously dosed with his unique brand of humour. He touches on a wide range of topics impacting the larger community, Singapore’s history and his views on how as a society, we all can do and be better.
Adrian Tan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanadrian
What to listen for:
- 0:00 Intro
- 2:50 - The start of his Kingdom
- 6:41 - How the idea of writing the Teenage Textbook started!
- 11:00 - How he put himself through university, with royalties
- 12:00 - How he started his career as a conveyancing lawyer
- 18:00 - When he realized he was better suited to be a Litigator - “Let’s smash the other side!”
- 18:55 - His first taste of being an in-house lawyer
- 20:10 - When he moved from in-house back into practice
- 20:35 - Why he did his 2nd degree in computer science
- 22:35 - What’s the benefit in doing another degree or masters ?
- 24:14- How self-doubt is healthy
- 26:25 - Working within a Big Law U.S. firm
- 28:00 - How Singapore firms can compete with international firms ?
- 32:10 - Giving back to the migrant workers - ItsRainingRaincoats
- 33:40 - Business Times article - making lawyering great again!
- 37:47 - Philosophy of a litigation lawyer
- 44:44 - How to go about building your client base as a junior lawyer
- 46:27 - How he became the “King of Singapore” and his social media experiment
- 52:40 - How the legal market is evolving
Link to the ItsRainingRaincoats video for migrant workers : https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu3yki9wtQbN9WKj21B465we2xPA5zdt9
People mentioned on the show:
Goh Eck Kheng - https://www.linkedin.com/in/eck-kheng-goh-386b93106/?originalSubdomain=sg
Gregory Vijayendran - https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregory-vijayendran-31089744
Melody Chen - https://www.instagram.com/melodychen_/?hl=en
Thio Shen Yi - https://www.tsmplaw.com/lawyer/thio-shen-yi-sc/
Stefanie Yuen - https://www.tsmplaw.com/lawyer/stefanie-yuen-thio/
Watch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXXoiyB4hJo
Connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/shulinlee/
