Tai-Heng Cheng

TAI-HENG CHENG is a U.S. trial lawyer, international arbitration practitioner, and legal advisor to C-suites, boards, and governments. He is the co-leader of Sidley’s Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy practice. He also formerly served as co-managing partner of the firm’s Singapore office.

Tai has the rare distinction of being recognized on multiple continents as a preeminent disputes lawyer. In 2023, he received the highest award in the U.S. for international arbitration, Law360’s “MVP.” He was concurrently selected by Asia Legal Business as a finalist for “Disputes Lawyer of the Year” in that region, and has been identified by the Legal 500 as a leading lawyer in Latin America from 2023–2025. Who’s Who Legal recognizes Tai as a “U.S. Thought Leader.”

Virtually unique in Chambers, Tai is recognized in all three categories for International Arbitration: Counsel, Arbitrators, and Enforcement (2024–2025).

He has won and collected nine figure awards in North and South America and Europe. He also won the first investor-state arbitration under a Singapore treaty and collected that award against Mexico. He defeated a nine-figure claim in a life sciences arbitration even though the client was found to have breached its contract. He currently serves as president of a tribunal deciding whether or not China violated a treaty, and is a member of another tribunal hearing a treaty claim brought against Ethiopia. No court has ever set aside an award by Tai.

Tai’s track record of success includes U.S. litigation. He dismissed a U.S. federal lawsuit concerning the largest cyber-heist of the New York Federal Reserve by North Korean hackers, earning him American Lawyer’s “Litigator of the Week” award. He was the first attorney to defeat a motion to dismiss a defamation claim against short sellers in New York. He swiftly parlayed that unprecedented win into a payment to his client under a settlement. For two decades, he has also successfully defended clients before the U.S. regulators, including the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Beyond disputes, Tai is sought out by C-suites to solve complex international problems. Tai delivers results by tapping into his global network, and devising novel strategies that leverage the entire Sidley platform. In 2022, after bankers failed to sell a global energy company’s unbankable coal assets, Tai helped that company sell its coal for US$1 billion dollars to Middle East entities that did not require financing. This in turn allowed the buyers to supply energy to Europe when the war in Ukraine extended into winter.

Tai also selectively represents governments. He negotiated with the National Rifle Association to restore a rare World War II gun to Poland. For that, Poland conferred upon Tai, by an act of parliament, its “Bene Merito” medal. When the International Court of Justice took up a case to decide if Kosovo’s declaration of independence was lawful, Tai devised a strategy for Kosovo of obtaining recognition from important states by signing human rights and investment treaties with them. Kosovo successfully pursued that strategy, ensuring its survival irrespective of the Court’s decision. He also helped East Timor draft its first criminal procedure code.

Tai is a trustee of the Frick Museum; board member of the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Asian Art; chair of the board of American Friends of St. James’s Church in Piccadilly; trustee of the Foreign Policy Association; and co-founder of the Cheng-Harrell Institute for Global Affairs, among other civic engagements.

Tai has been featured or quoted in CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Bloomberg, The New York Times, Financial Times, South China Morning Post, Al-Jeezera America, Singapore Straits Times, Singapore Business Times, and Nikkei Asia.

Tai was born in Singapore and is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He is fluent in English and Mandarin. He has a J.S.D. and LL.M. degree from Yale Law School, a B.A. (first class honors in law) and M.A. degree from Oxford University, and a graduate diploma in Singapore law.

Notable Arbitrations

• Obtained an award of US$622 million with 15.2 percent interest compounded monthly, against Petrobras, in an energy dispute before an ICDR tribunal.
• Represented a pharmaceutical company in a US$1 billion arbitration dispute concerning a drug to treat diabetes, achieving a swift and favorable settlement.
• Represented an Asian company in a US$300 million investor-state dispute with Mexico.
• Represented Italian investors in a US$400 million bilateral investment treaty dispute against Albania, concerning an expropriated media and power plant investments, obtaining an unprecedented order of provisional measures under the ICSID Convention to terminate extradition proceedings in the United Kingdom and criminal proceedings in Albania.
• Represented an Albanian company against Albania in a US$400 million Energy Charter Treaty arbitration concerning a hydroelectric power project. 
• Represented a Brazilian power company in a US$100 million arbitration dispute against Siemens concerning defective power plant turbines, achieving a favorable settlement.
• Represented several funds involved in renewable energy projects in Latin America, achieving favorable settlements through arbitrations and freezing order in court in aid of arbitration.
• Represented a mining company in the jurisdiction phase of a US$1 billion ICSID bilateral investment treaty arbitration against Indonesia concerning a mining concession, defeating jurisdictional objections by Indonesia.

Notable Litigations

• Represented an NYSE-listed international company in multiple matters triggered by a short seller’s reports, successfully ending SEC and FINRA investigations, dismissing a securities class action lawsuit in California and defeating a motion to dismiss defamation claims brought against the short sellers in New York, which was unprecedented in that jurisdiction.
• Represented a crypto currency company in a SEC investigation.
• Represented a sovereign wealth fund in a US$5 billion real estate dispute involving commercial mortgage-backed securities, achieving a swift and favorable business solution.
• Represented a CFO in an eight-week federal white collar trial and appeal concerning a US$50 million fraud, obtaining a sentence of one day time-served and no restitution.
• Represented a Taiwanese banker facing white collar crime charges in U.S. federal court relating to a US$1.7 billion accounting fraud in Japan.
• Represented multiple sovereign wealth funds against the U.S. Department of Justice concerning the 2008 financial crisis, achieving no action by the DOJ and no publicity.
• Represented the Republic of Poland against a gun seller supported by the National Rifle Association in a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Virginia concerning a rare World War I rifle, resulting in the repatriation of the rifle to Poland where it is on permanent display in a museum.

Notable Arbitrator Appointments

• Chair of a US$150 million ICC international arbitration concerning a resort in Mexico, with 12 parallel litigations and arbitrations in the United States and Mexico.
• Chair of a CPR arbitration tribunal in an US$8 billion dispute between defense contractors concerning military aircraft intellectual property.
• Chair of an ICDR international arbitration in a franchise dispute between European and Latin American corporations.
• Emergency arbitrator in an ICDR arbitration, rendering a decision in 14 days that lead to a swift resolution of the dispute.
• Co-arbitrator in an ICC arbitration between a Brazilian and U.S. entities seeking, inter alia, declaratory relief, concerning the closure of a waste treatment facility.
• Co-arbitrator in an ICC insurance dispute arbitration seated in Singapore.
• Co-arbitrator in a US$100 million ICC arbitration concerning a pricing dispute between two Thai manufacturing companies.
• Co-arbitrator in an ICC arbitration, in San Diego, concerning a licensing dispute.
• Chair of a US$50 million HKIAC international arbitration in an investment dispute between 24 Chinese and Hong Kong entities, in proceedings in English and Mandarin.
• Chair of a US$50 million ICDR arbitration between a Turkish company and a Canadian company, governed by Bahamas law.
• Sole arbitrator in an ICC arbitration between a U.S. company and an Indian company in a dispute arising from an oil well failure in Canada, with parallel proceedings in Texas.
• Sole arbitrator in a dispute between a U.S. bankruptcy estate and a Taiwanese entity.
• Co-arbitrator in a US$50 million ICC arbitration between a Chinese company and a Canadian company in an aviation dispute. The decision was nominated for most important decision at the 2016 GAR Awards because of its message that Chinese companies would not be discriminated against in arbitrations in the United States.
• Co-arbitrator in an UNCITRAL international arbitration between U.S. and Hong Kong corporations.
• Co-arbitrator in an ICC international arbitration in an intellectual property licensing dispute between Canadian and Japanese corporations.

Notable Expert Engagements

• Testifying expert on public international law in a US$500 million SCC arbitration concerning an airport project in Russia.
• Testifying expert on international arbitration in a US$4 billion bankruptcy proceeding in Canada and the United States.
• Testifying expert and consultant on international law and U.S. law in Singapore court proceedings to successfully oppose extradition of individuals for conspiracy to defraud the United States.
• Amicus curiae in a U.S. Federal Court of Appeals case involving a US$400 million state succession dispute between a hedge fund and sovereign state.
• Consultant to Kosovo on matters of state succession.

*The above matters were handled prior to joining Sidley.

• Co-Founder, Cheng-Harrell Institute for Global Affairs
• Board of Directors, Foreign Policy Association
• Member, Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration Court
• Board of Directors, New York International Arbitration Centre
• Vice President, American Society of International Law (2017-2020)
• Member, International Chamber of Commerce Commission on Arbitration and ADR
• Advisory Board, Institute for Transnational Arbitration
• Advisory Board, Singapore Management University, Yong Pung How School of Law 
• Trustee, Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Asian Art 
• Member, The City University of New York LGBT Leadership Advisory Council 
• Trustee, The Frick Collection
• Advisory Council, Rising Arbitrators Initiative 
• Professor of Law at New York Law School; co-director of the Institute for Global Law, Justice (2007 – 2012)