He is working to resolve his financial woes which started when he incurred huge debt in an attempt at filial piety just before his father's death.

Josephus Tan represented 20-year-old Soh Wee Kian, who was then charged with murdering a 32-year-old clerk Hoe Hong Lin during the night of Mid-Autumn Festival in September 2010, as well as stabbing three other women in three separate cases.

Tan and two other lawyers made representations for the murder charge to be reduced on the grounds of diminished responsibility, after a psychiatrist diagnosed Soh to be suffering from adjustment disorder with a depressed mood, and eventually, in August 2013, Soh pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter and one count of voluntarily inflicting grievous hurt, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

[10] Tan also represented another of Ng Wei Lun's gang, Chong Rui Hong, who was given 4 years' imprisonment and 3 strokes of the cane for rioting as well.

[11] In 2015, Tan represented Ng Yao Wei, a former Singapore Polytechnic student who had killed his brother at their family home in Choa Chu Kang.

[17] The High Court eventually found the couple guilty of voluntarily causing grievous hurt with dangerous weapons and sentenced Tan Hui Zhen to 16½ years' jail and her husband Pua Hak Chuan to 14 years' jail and 14 strokes of the cane for their "extremely cruel and inhumane" abuse.

[19][20][21] In 2020, Tan was hired to represent Foo Li Ping, a divorced mother charged with murdering her four-year-old daughter and only child Megan Khung, whom she allegedly killed before burning her body.

Huang, who allegedly used a wooden stick to hit his sister, was initially charged with voluntarily causing grievous hurt before it was upgraded to murder.

[23] From 2006 to 2007, Tan took office as the President of the United Kingdom Singapore Law Students Society (UKSLSS)[24] during his final year in the UK.

[33] Tan's first appearance in the media was in July 2012, when he was featured on Mediacorp Channel 5's On The Edge to talk about prevailing youth crimes.

[35] He was also featured in the #LifeReframed campaign, consisting of video interviews with 12 respected luminaries of their life lessons, which was screened at the Singapore International Film Festival.

[39] In December 2016, Tan was featured in the Channel NewsAsia documentary series A Fighting Chance about cyber crime situation in Singapore.

[42] Tan also appeared on a TV interview on Channel NewsAsia's Prime Time Asia to give his professional take on the "Appropriate Adults" (AA) scheme[43] for juvenile accused persons.

[46][47] In March 2018, Tan appeared on Channel 8 doing Chinese calligraphy for the Thye Hwa Kwan Charity Show 2018 alongside 17 other MediaCorp artistes, politicians, social media personalities, doctors and celebrity chefs.