Adrian Tan

Tan was born in Singapore to a Hainanese family. His parents were both teachers, and he grew up in a Housing Development Board (HDB) flat.[2]

As a child, Tan attended the Anglo-Chinese School and Hwa Chong Junior College. Tan was later conscripted into the army as a writer for Pioneer, the MINDEF magazine.[3] After his A-levels, he was offered a teaching scholarship to study English at the University of East Anglia. He turned down the scholarship to study law at the National University of Singapore (NUS).[2] While in university, Tan represented NUS as a debater in international competitions and televised debates in Singapore.[4] He later completed a second, joint-honours degree in computer science and psychology from the Open University in 2004, while working as a lawyer.[5]

While an undergraduate law student at NUS, Tan wrote the novels The Teenage Textbook (1988) and The Teenage Workbook (1989), which became bestsellers that sold over 50,000 copies.[6] The Teenage Textbook was also made into a stage play by The Necessary Stage in 1997;[7] a film in 1998, which topped the box office in Singapore for four weeks;[8] a 2017 musical titled The Teenage Textbook Musical;[9] and a 2021 TV series on Channel 5.[10] In 2015, The Teenage Textbook was listed by The Business Times as one of the top 10 English Singapore books from 1965–2015.[11] Tan also was a consultant for the Channel 5 television legal drama, The Pupil.[12]

After graduating from NUS with a Bachelor of Laws degree, Tan began his legal career in 1991 at Drew and Napier, a large Singaporean firm. He initially practiced conveyancing law, but switched over to litigation thereafter, where he worked under Davinder Singh.[2][13] In 1999, Tan left Drew for a two-year stint as general counsel of a technology firm, following which he returned to Drew.[13] Eventually, after 22 years at Drew, Tan left to work for Stamford Law (now Morgan Lewis Stamford) in 2013. In 2018, Tan resigned from Stamford to work at TSMP Law.[2][14] Tan practices litigation, and specialises in intellectual property, information technology, real estate, and shareholder oppression disputes.[15] He is also the honorary counsel of the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped,[16][17] a member of the boards of the Law Society Pro Bono Services,[18] Maxwell Chambers,[19] and Arts House Limited,[20] and was previously a member of the Speak Good English Movement committee.[21]

From 2013 to 2021, Tan was a member of the Law Society Council, serving as treasurer in 2016 and vice president in 2017.[22][23][24] In 2022, he was appointed president.[2] As president of the law society, he is known for his public outreach on legal issues, such as the HDB's ban on cats,[25] the 2022 bar exam cheating scandal,[2] and Richard Branson's comments on the death penalty in Singapore.[26]

Tan is married and has no children.[33] In March 2022, he was diagnosed with cancer.[34]

• "Dear Adam, Help!" (1988, Hotspot Books) ISBN 9813002352
• The Teenage Textbook (1988, Hotspot Books) ISBN 9813002212
• The Teenage Workbook (1989, Hotspot Books) ISBN 981300228X

• Adrian Tan at TSMP Law Corporation
• Internet Movie Database profile of The Teenage Textbook Movie
• The World According to Adrian Tan - Inkpot Interview