Ab Initio NUS Law School Companion (7th edition)

AB INITIO A LAW SCHOOL COMPANION 7TH EDITION

Sponsored by:

EDITORS Derrick Koh Mun Keong Eric Hu Arjuna S/O Segathesan Leung Liwen Mark Hee Nguyen Vu Lan Soh Gill Contact Email: nus.lsc@gmail.com All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of the editors.

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This book is dedicated to our juniors, the incoming freshmen of NUS Law.

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CONTENTS 06 PROLOGUE 06 Editors’ Foreword

07 The Law Student’s Lament: A Poem

By Professor Walter Woon SC

08 SECTION ONE 10 The NUS Law Experience

15 Don’t Lose Your Idealism

18 Beyond the Grades

Interview with Dean Professor Simon Chesterman

Interview with Vice-Dean (Academic Affairs) Professor Ng-Loy Wee Loon

Interview with Vice-Dean (Student Affairs) Associate Professor Joel Lee

22 Law is an Aesthetic Science

24 Finding Ourselves in University

28 Being a Legal Eagle

Interview with Associate Professor David Tan

Interview with Associate Professor Eleanor Wong

A speech by Judge of Appeal Justice Andrew Phang

32 Academic Advice from Course Conveners

38 SECTION TWO 40 Dealing with your first year

42 In Transition Seniors’ Advice

48 The NUS Law Club and its Subsidiaries

58 Both Sides Of The Bench

64 The Practice of Law is a Service

Message from Chief Justice’s Prize recipient (AY 2013/2014) Liau Han Ming Timothy

52 SECTION THREE 54 Now Is An Exciting Time To Be A Lawyer Interview with Mr K Shanmugam SC

Interview with Ms Sim Khadijah

67 Persevering in the Profession

70 Life Lessons from Studying Law

Interview with Ms Lee Weilin

Interview with Mr George Young

Interview with Mr Paul Tan

73 Awfully Adventurous Interview with Ms Lyn Lee

74 EPILOGUE 74 Acknowledgments 5

EDITORS’ FOREWORD Dear Freshmen, Welcome to law school! The adventure you’re now embarking on will be overwhelming - and this is just the beginning. As you begin studying the law and getting to know the legal fraternity, there will be moments when you feel like you have been tossed into the deep end.

Fret not! You’ve picked up the Law School Companion, and it will help you, if you let it. Experience begets wisdom and the path you walk is a well-trodden one.

We, your seniors, have experienced the same feelings - Confusion (Can the law be studied?); Stress (How do I study the law?); Helplessness (What if I can’t figure out how to study the law?) and Despair (Maybe I shouldn’t be studying the law.)

During these moments, let your Companion untangle the mysteries of law school and clarify your doubts. We cannot promise that you’ll manage to avoid that dreaded F, or that you’ll excel at time management. However, the Companion is here to reassure you that every time you fall, you’ll learn to avoid the slippery slopes of failure and become stronger.

And if there is an unofficial motto of law students, it is that we work hard and play hard. Given that we work unnaturally hard, the fun you’ll have is immeasurable as well. Without doubt, you’ll be able to find a troupe of talented law students to sing with, or fellow fans of a favourite TV programme. Perhaps you have an inclination to give back to the community, or interact with international students. Law school provides a variety of law-oriented interest groups and clubs to choose from. We promise that these will be some of the best years of your life.

So travel onward with your Companion. Let the words of those who have succeeded in the legal profession inspire you. Allow yourself to explore the different possibilities of a law degree. Understand that you’re a work in progress. And know that your seniors are here with you in spirit every step of the way.

Congratulations on getting into NUS Law. Now go forth and enjoy.

With Love, Your Seniors in the Editorial Team of the Law School Companion.

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THE LAW STUDENT’S LAMENT (With apologies to Edgar Allan Poe)

By Professor Walter Woon SC (Used with permission) For the Law School Companion (7th Edition)

Once upon a midnight dreary I sat pond’ring, weak and weary Staring till my eyes were bleary At some musty law reports; There I sat, my mem’ry racking For the cases sadly lacking My poor brain I felt a-cracking Studying for my test on Torts.

Stevenson and Donoghue!

I can’t remember who was who Now I’ll have to start anew Memorizing what was said.

Buckmaster and Dunedin!

If you ask me, it’s a sin To expect us to cram in All those judgments so long dead.

Reading till my eyes are sore Mouldy cases by the score Had I known what was in store I’d have taken Arts instead! ~

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SECTION ONE: FIRST STEPS Coming to law school was a choice – a huge choice.

But that isn’t the only choice you’re going to have to make. Law school is about choices.

From which scrumptious delights you partake of in the Summit to how much time you spend at school mugging (yes we assure you this is a choice, and an empowering one at that), your life in law school is made up of the many choices you make.

This section includes perspectives from the faculty staff: Dean Professor Simon Chesterman gives an overview of the NUS Law Experience. Vice-Dean (Academic Affairs) Professor Ng-Loy Wee Loon and Vice-Dean (Student Affairs) Associate Professor Joel Lee share some tips on surviving law school. The incoming Vice Dean (Academic Affairs) Associate Professor David Tan and incoming Vice-Dean (Student Affairs) Associate Professor Eleanor Wong share their past experiences as law students and advice for aspiring lawyers. Additionally, the course conveners dish out advice on dealing with the various subjects.

Judge of Appeal Justice Andrew Phang also shares his words of wisdom on law as a discipline and offers helpful approaches towards the study of law.

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IN THIS SECTION: The NUS Law Experience Interview with Dean Professor Simon Chesterman

Don’t Lose Your Idealism Interview with Vice-Dean (Academic Affairs) Professor Ng-Loy Wee Loon

Beyond the Grades Interview with Vice-Dean (Student Affairs) Associate Professor Joel Lee

Law is an Aesthetic Science Interview with Associate Professor David Tan

Finding Ourselves in University Interview with Associate Professor Eleanor Wong

Being a Legal Eagle A speech by Judge of Appeal Justice Andrew Phang

Academic Advice Law of Contract by Associate Professor Alexander Loke Law of Torts by Professor Leong Wai Kum Criminal Law by Professor Walter Woon SC Legal Analysis, Research and Communication by Associate Professor Eleanor Wong Singapore Law in Context by Professor Kevin YL Tan Introduction to Legal Theory by Assistant Professor Michael W. Dowdle 9

THE NUS LAW SCHOOL EXPERIENCE Interview with Dean Professor Simon Chesterman Professor Simon Chesterman is the Dean of the NUS Faculty of Law. He graduated with First Class Honours in Arts and Law from the University of Melbourne as its top student. He completed his Ph.D. in International Law at Oxford University on the Rhodes Scholarship. Educated in Melbourne, Beijing, Amsterdam, and Oxford, he has taught in universities worldwide, and was the Global Professor and Director of the New York University (NYU) School of Law Singapore Programme. Prior to joining NYU, he was a Senior Associate at the International Peace Academy and Director of UN Relations at the International Crisis Group in New York. He has previously worked for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Yugoslavia and interned at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Professor Chesterman is the author or editor of twelve books, and is a recognised authority on international law.

How has your job as Dean been so far?

It’s been wonderful. The challenge is to build on the success of an institution like NUS Law. The opportunities are abundant because we have such great building blocks – my colleagues, the faculty, students, and our alumni. The job of Dean, as I see it, is to take all of this and make the whole greater than the sum of its parts, and to encourage all those parts to push themselves as hard as they can to achieve whatever they’re capable of. Overall, it’s been great fun.

Why did you decide to enter academia after you left the think-tank and not private practice? Or even enter private practice immediately after you graduated?

My area of interest is public international law. I was always much more motivated by the “public” side of that. After my doctorate, the choice was between two things I was passionate about – work for the United Nations, or go into academia. The think-tank world became an option, and it is interesting because it’s halfway between the two; I was working in New York and I wasn’t part of a large bureaucracy. I was writing and publishing books and that was all very exciting. The reason I moved from there to the academic world is that in the think-tank world, which exists to advise on policy and to inform policy, you’re not really making the decisions, and there are some limitations on the depth of your research, because it’s very operational and day-to-day focused. That’s great for some people, but I felt that I wasn’t really developing intellectually in the way that you can in an academic environment. So that’s why I moved to NYU, and then subsequently to Singapore.

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As a student, what motivated you to study law?

I was always interested in how power is regulated. So I decided to do law. In Australia you do two degrees – I did Law and Arts, and within Arts, I focused on politics, international relations and the Chinese language. My interest in international relations and the Chinese language stemmed from the fact that I spent a year in Beijing studying Chinese on a government scholarship before I started university. In addition to how public power is regulated, I was interested in how different societies did this. So I was not only very interested in the international dimension, but also the comparative dimension of how public power can be regulated in different ways by different countries.

How would you describe yourself as a law student?

I was hardworking. And I was one of the early movers who brought a laptop to class. Maybe this isn’t the best example of someone who does the work but still had time to do other things, but I would come into class with draft notes and would spend the class refining those notes, asking questions to make sure I had a good set of notes afterwards, which I would then share with all my friends. I was not very entrepreneurial. I think I sold one set of notes to one person – he was a mature student and insisted on paying for them.

But otherwise, I would just give them to everyone. And so about 5 years after I left law school, the torts lecturer began by asking his class if anyone had Chesterman’s notes. Four or five hands went up, and he said, “You have to throw them out because the law has changed.”

So I was pretty hardworking, very interested in the law but also interested in teaching.

So even from the second or third year, I was tutoring students from earlier years, partly

through a law student’s society scheme but also another scheme in Australia for tutorial assistance to Aboriginal Australians. I also completed a book on how to study law, which was published just after I graduated.

‘Studying Law at University’ was the title.

It’s now in the second edition. There are a couple of copies in the library.

(Editor’s note: The call number is KB234 Aus.C 2005, and it can be found on the third floor of the C J Koh Law Library.)

What are some of your fondest memories as a student?

My memories of law school were of some great classes, great arguments, and also the extra-curricular things that I did. This included mooting, debating, editing the law review and producing the student magazine. And so one of the things I want to encourage here at NUS Law is the opportunity for students to have more time to do other things. We’re looking at ways to create more space and that might mean reducing the workload slightly.

This is not because we don’t want it to be rigorous. The Law degree should be rigorous; it should be hard work. But you should also have time to do other things.

This is something that is influencing our review of the curriculum right now.

____ “THE LAW DEGREE SHOULD BE RIGOROUS; IT SHOULD BE HARD WORK. BUT YOU SHOULD ALSO HAVE TIME TO DO OTHER THINGS.” ____

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How would you describe a typical NUS Law student?

I don’t think there’s one typical law student, but the one thing that would characterise all our students is that they have the potential for very hard work. Whether all of them work very hard is another question. They’re all very bright: getting into law school is extremely competitive.

I sometimes think our students are a little bit too grades-focused, but I understand why that’s the case. So what I hope to do with the curriculum is to capitalise not only on the ability of our students, but also give them an opportunity to broaden, to experiment, to look for ways other than just grades to define themselves.

One of the first things you did when you became Dean was to review the admissions policy to make it more inclusive and to make the student population more diverse. What was your motivation for doing so?

One thing that we did a little bit differently was that we made better use of discretionary admissions. This was an existing policy – we can admit up to 10% of students through discretionary admissions. They will still be very good students, but we can broaden the admission requirements a little bit and look for excellence in other areas.

We’ll see what that means in practice. One very good question is whether doing well in the A Levels or the IB is the best test of your ability to study law, and to be a good lawyer. And indeed, whether getting good grades in law school is a good measure of being a good lawyer. Often that’s not the case. Some of Singapore’s top lawyers only got average grades at law school.

We often see that the people in higher positions, like the judges and the professors, have had very stellar grades. So how accurate are grades in predicting the success of a law student in the years to come?

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There are other people who succeed despite not getting stellar grades. I’m pretty sure I know at least one former Supreme Court Justice in Singapore who had a lower second class honours.

It remains extremely competitive but I know some employers who say they don’t necessarily want someone who has straights A’s, because those people get bored quite easily. And some employers say they specifically like people who’ve got peaks of excellence, because that suggests that they’re passionate about some things, and that they’ve experienced failure. Many first years come from an environment where they haven’t seen anything other than A’s in their grades. But we have a bell curve system here, so around half the class is going to get a B- and below in some modules. So it’s important to manage expectations.

In your opinion, what’s important for a robust and fulfilling legal education?

Basically I think there are three essentials and one desirable.

The three essentials are that, first, there’s a certain body of doctrine you need to know – you should not be graduating from law school without knowing some contract law, criminal law, tort law, public law, property law and so on. Second, there are some basic skills that you need – legal analysis, writing, critical thinking and the ability to make an argument on your feet.

These are skills that you need to go into practice. And third, you need perspective.

You need to be able to understand why the law is what it is, and that there are other ways of organizing a legal regime, other ways than just the Singaporean way of establishing rules – both in terms of form and content. So I see those as the three essentials – doctrine, skills and perspective.

The desirable, to me, is breadth outside of that. You need to develop as a person. You

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need to be able to see the non-legal aspects of a problem. That’s important because not everyone goes on just to practice law, but also because even if you do practice law there’s a big difference between being an entry level lawyer who does what he or she is told, and then making the transition half a dozen years later where you need to make a business case to become a partner at your firm. So you need client skills and business skills to be able to develop the practice, manage money, and manage people. These are not things that we necessarily can teach you in law school, but it’s desirable that you develop those skills either through extra-curricular programmes like the ones we’re developing with the Careers Centre, or you develop a business sense subsequently. When a client comes to you as a lawyer, the client is not going to say, “Hi. I have a contract law problem.” They’re going to say, “I have a problem.” It’s up to you to work it out.

Sometimes the law will provide the answer but sometimes there might be a more business savvy way of resolving a problem, without going through the demands and potential threats of litigation.

____ “ YOU NEED TO DEVELOP AS A PERSON. YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO SEE THE NONLEGAL ASPECTS OF A PROBLEM.” ____ How can law students balance between schoolwork and extra-curricular activities?

Time management is essential, so delete your Facebook account. (Laughs) It’s a matter of prioritizing, and being clear about how many hours you have in a day and what you need to do. Because the danger for busy people — and law students are busy people — is that you sometimes respond to what is at the top of your inbox rather than what’s most important. One basic thing is to plan what

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____ “YOU CAN’T BE IN LAW SCHOOL AND BE STUDYING 25 HOURS A DAY, 8 DAYS A WEEK. YOU NEED TO DO OTHER THINGS. YOU NEED TO WORK OUT HOW TO ALLOCATE AND SPEND YOUR TIME EFFICIENTLY.” ____ you’re going to do in a day. Organise your day according to what you need to do rather than going sequentially through the things that come up. One way of trying to organize things and working out what’s important is sitting back and thinking, “What do I want to achieve this week, this semester, this year, and what’s important to me as a person?”

Obviously as Dean I want you all to aspire to get good grades. But I also want you to be happy people. I want you to have a social life. I want you to be involved in other things. And so I want you to balance these things accordingly. You can’t be in law school and be studying 25 hours a day, 8 days a week. You need to do other things.

You need to work out how to allocate and spend your time efficiently. And sometimes that means working together – study groups can be useful for some people, not so much for others.

What other advice do you have for NUS Law students?

One piece of concrete advice is to practise when you’re thinking about employment.

What I mean by that is that you all spend huge amounts of time preparing for exams but not always preparing for interviews.

One way is to have a practice interview.

We’re hoping to develop a way of running that for law students but a starting point is just to role-play. The experience of being interviewed and being the interviewer can be quite illuminating. Record the whole thing on video so that you can watch yourself being interviewed. These are some of the skills we need to develop among our law students. We’re not going to make it a required course, because I don’t think that’s an academic programme, but I do think we have an obligation to give that opportunity to our students to improve themselves as individuals and to improve the way they come across to their prospective employers. 

____ “I REALLY WANT THE STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCE IN LAW SCHOOL TO BE A TRANSFORMATIVE ONE. I WANT THEM TO MAKE FRIENDS THAT WILL LAST A LIFETIME. I WANT THEM TO HAVE EXPERIENCES THEY’LL TELL THEIR GRANDKIDS ABOUT. I WANT THEM, OBVIOUSLY, TO WORK HARD AND DO WELL, BUT ALSO TO HAVE FUN.” ____ 14

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DON’T LOSE YOUR IDEALISM Interview with Vice Dean (Academic Affairs) Professor Ng-Loy Wee Loon Vice-Dean (Academic Affairs) Professor Ng-Loy Wee Loon obtained her LLB from NUS and went on to obtain an LLM from King’s College London. She has a wealth of teaching experience, having started her career in legal education in 1991 at NUS. Do you think students who are allocated different tutors will miss out on certain aspects of a module?

I can appreciate that Year 1 students will have this concern. But Year 1 students will find out soon enough that tutors/professors are not here to teach them the law; they’re here to teach how to analyse the law. So don’t worry if the professor of your section assigns cases and materials which are different from those assigned by other professor(s) of the other section(s). Each professor is using the cases and materials to achieve the end of getting the students to understand the reasoning process, the analysis, how the law functions.

Each section’s exam paper is set and marked by the professor for that section. So there is no ‘losing out’ in terms of grades if a student in one section doesn’t cite a particular case assigned by the professor of another section. At the Board of Examiners’ meeting, there is also moderation between the different sections in one module.

How can students manage their time between their studies and extra-curricular activities?

There is no set magic formula. When I was a law student, I found that as a start at least, doing case notes or case summaries regularly (throughout the year) helped me. It also helps to know what you’re looking for. The rule of thumb is that professors will spend more time on more important cases in lectures and tutorials. But for Year 1 students, it does help to read as many cases as you can because you get to see legal reasoning in these cases and so you get a better sense of what runs through the judges’ minds as they are confronted by different factual scenarios.

____ “PROFESSORS ARE NOT HERE TO TEACH YOU THE LAW, THEY’RE HERE TO TEACH YOU HOW TO ANALYSE THE LAW.” ____

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What are some of the academic activities that students can look forward to?

The NUS Law student today is very fortunate, in my opinion. We have so many different programmes available. Examples: the Double Degree Programmes, the prestigious NYU LLM programme. More is in the pipeline. Even for students in the LLB programme, there is the Student Exchange Programme. You can go to so many law schools, in Asia, in the U.S, in Europe, on exchange. And there are many international mooting competitions that students can take part in (eg. Jessup Moot for International Law; Oxford Moot for Intellectual Property; Vis Moot for Arbitration).

Most students come in to Law School having excelled in their previous schools, but find that Law School is a completely different ball game altogether. How can a student manage his or her expectations for grades?

The education system is like a pyramid, with the universities sitting at the apex.

Students getting to this apex are generally students who have done well at the other (lower) levels. Law school admission is so competitive that it would fair to say that many of you are at the apex of the apex.

If you used to get only ‘As’ in secondary school/junior college, and you get your first – oh horrors – ‘C’, it doesn’t mean that you are slipping or that you are not cut out for law. Look at it this way: you are competing with the very best! Don’t be too harsh on yourself. Give yourself time to adjust to university life and to a different type of educational experience and to a discipline that is nothing like what you have been done before.

As Vice Dean of Academic Affairs, do you have any insights to provide on the academic policy in NUS? What are some of the challenges faced and the prospective changes that we can expect?

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We want to make sure that our curriculum still adequately positions our graduates to take on the challenges that they will face in legal practice, whether it is in Singapore or outside of Singapore. An area to look into is to see if we need to introduce even more breadth in our curriculum. We have never seen legal education as something just for legal practice. Many of our graduates go into non-law sectors too. So, as a small move towards increasing breadth in our curriculum, we have already done away with the old policy where students could only read non-law modules from an ‘approved’ list (and had to get approval for non-law modules outside this list).

____ “DON’T BE TOO HARSH ON YOURSELF. GIVE YOURSELF TIME TO ADJUST TO UNIVERSITY LIFE AND TO A DIFFERENT TYPE OF EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE AND TO A DISCIPLINE THAT IS NOTHING LIKE WHAT YOU DID BEFORE.” ____ How should freshmen approach their 4 years in Law School?

Many students come in very idealistic, but they become jaded along the way. This is perhaps due to the heavy workload and the competitive nature of Law School.

They get so bogged down with work and so tired that they simply forget why they want to do law in the first place.

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I would like to suggest that, when you approach any subject in Law School – whether it is Human Rights Law or Corporate Finance – remind yourself that every law subject is about rights and wrongs. (Yes, even in commercial areas like Corporate Finance!) If you can do this, you are more likely to finish your 4 years here with your ideals not only intact but strengthened, and in fact eager to go out into the real world to do what you came to Law School for. 

____ “REMIND YOURSELF THAT EVERY LAW SUBJECT IS ABOUT RIGHTS AND WRONGS.” ____

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BEYOND THE GRADES Interview with Vice Dean (Student Affairs) Associate Professor Joel Lee Vice-Dean (Student Affairs) Associate Professor Joel Lee graduated with honours from the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and obtained his LLM at Harvard Law School, focusing on Alternative Dispute Resolution, Negotiation and Mediation. He practiced law in New Zealand for 2 years before returning to Singapore to teach at NUS. He has been teaching since 1993.

Can you tell us more about your role as Vice Dean of Student Affairs?

The role as a Vice Dean of Student Affairs is a sign that we want to focus on student-centricity. That doesn’t mean that we’ll do everything the student wants. It means that we’ll have a better focus on the needs of our students and the quality of life in Law School.

What are your views on work-life balance in Law School?

The first thing that students have to accept is that if you’re going to be a lawyer, there’s going to be more work than there is life. That is the reality of it. That doesn’t mean everything should be work – you should have a life. That’s important. Work-life balance implies that you must have a bit of a life, but the balance is not 50-50. It never was, it never is. The faster you accept that, the easier it is to live.

If a large firm is going to pay you oodles of money, they’re not going to pay you oodles of money to have a life. They need you to generate enough fees for the firm and to justify why they’re paying you that money. You have to generate more fees than you’re being paid. That’s the logical thing. So I think this work-life balance thing is a misnomer.

When people come into law school, one of the things they need to get is that they need to work hard. If you are not willing to work hard, then the study of law and the practice of law may not be for you. That’s not to say that you can’t have a life and shouldn’t have a life, but bottom line is that you have to work.

____ “THE FIRST THING THAT STUDENTS HAVE TO ACCEPT IS THAT IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE A LAWYER, THERE’S GOING TO BE MORE WORK THAN THERE IS LIFE. THAT IS THE REALITY OF IT.” ____ 18

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How can students make the most out of their Law School experience?

what you would choose to do? What kind of a difference would you make?

Firstly, they need to prioritise. They need to look at what they have going on in their lives and decide what is important.

Schoolwork, family, friends and your own personal needs are important. But you can’t always say that schoolwork is always number one, and that family is always number two. At any one point, any one of them will be number one, two, three or four, but they may change, and you must prioritise constantly. You have to be nuanced about how you prioritise what’s important, because the right balance depends on many things.

Do you want people to say that you were a good law student, or that you made a lot of money? You’ve got to study, but what else could you be doing? Could you be contributing to student life at NUS Law? If you’re not happy with things as they are now, what could you do to make it different?

Also, a lot of students leave things to the last minute. They don’t do regular work.

They choose to cram two weeks before the exam. My approach has always been this – prioritise, do regular work and you will eventually get there. While you might have a little less fun, you’re not so stressed towards the end. So when I was a student, I didn’t feel the stresses that many of my colleagues and my peers had experienced in law school. But if they were stressed and I was not stressed, then that ostracises me.

So I pretended to be stressed. (Laughs)

“LEARN FOR THE JOY OF LEARNING. DON’T KEEP ASKING YOURSELF, WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?” ____

Secondly, I think they need to “lose their minds” and come to their senses. You’re in law school already, so make the most of it. You might as well learn for the joy of learning. Don’t keep asking yourself, what’s in it for me? Will this get me my A? If you’re interested in what you are learning, you will naturally do well on it.

Thirdly, you have 4 years here to make an impact of some kind. What do you want to be remembered for? People say, “If you live every day of your life as though death was looking over your shoulder, then how would you live your life?” If you did that, you would make the most out of law school if you knew that everything that you did in life could make a difference, then is this

Don’t come in here just to study. You’re already in law school. What legacy can you leave?

____

What do you have to say to students who come to Law School but don’t necessarily want to become lawyers?

I think it’s fine if you don’t want to be a lawyer. I am sure that the legal profession will be very unhappy with me with saying that (Laughs), but the point is that you decide whatever you want to do with your life. If you’re happy being a practising lawyer, that’s great. If you’re happy being an in-house counsel, that’s great. If you’re happy opening a cake shop, that’s great.

Law opens up so much more for you than just a typical legal career. You need to decide what makes you happy. There will always be consequences but you make the decision, you know the consequences, and you live with them. Life is all about choices.

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____ “A LAW SCHOOL EDUCATION PROVIDES YOU WITH TREMENDOUS SKILLS. IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO HOW YOU APPLY THEM.” ____ How does a legal education help you in life?

A law degree trains you to think. It gives you a critical education. A legal education – the entire process and the skills that it imparts – makes you sharp. So sharp that you can sometimes run circles round people who are not legally trained. That sounds incredibly arrogant, but it’s just a different skillset. They will probably surpass you in something else. Our skillset is being able to see both sides of the equation and dissecting a case such that we can argue both sides of it (and this is why they accuse us of not being moral). But this is what we are trained to do. It is very difficult to hoodwink a lawyer because we are trained to analyse things critically. A law school

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education provides you with tremendous skills. It all boils down to how you apply them.

What kind of student were you back in law school? Would you change the way you spent those days?

I was a mugger toad, which makes me very well placed to actually tell you why you shouldn’t be a mugger toad. (Laughs) A mugger toad means you’re a real mugger – you do a lot of studying and you don’t do a lot of anything else. There was a joke in my university. Someone wrote in the men’s toilet, “Why are Asian students so skinny?” The answer was, “Because they weren’t allowed to eat in the library.” The

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New Zealanders were very offended. They felt that this was racist. We Asians thought it was extremely funny because it was true.

(Laughs) We spent a lot of our time in the library.

On hindsight, I would’ve toured New Zealand a little bit more and I would’ve gone to a few more pubs. But then again it was worth it. I got the results, the grades and the degree. I appreciated the pressures that were upon me to do well. But like I’ve said, there’s a lot more to life than studying. If I could live that part of my life again, I would like to have had a little bit more of a life. I worked too hard.

I understand that you are a Law Student Advisor. Could you tell us more about this Scheme?

Years ago, Professor Debbie Ong and I came up with the Law Student Advisor Scheme, which has been successful enough such that other faculties have copied it.

Our philosophy has been that no student who needs help will be denied it. Anyone who needs it will get it.

There’s always a stigma connected with counselling. But people seek counselling more often than we think they do.

Counselling helps them to talk that through. It’s like talking to a friend.

The biggest challenge is identifying the students who need help. Some slip through the net – they live in their own pain and no one knows it. Hopefully, people will raise a problem to our attention so that we can follow up. So, it’s not a perfect system, but I think it is a decent system.

When I counsel students, a lot of the time it’s just about finding out about the problem and helping them sort through the mess that is in their mind. They are so overwhelmed that they cannot see things clearly. It’s like taking a ball of yarn and slowly sorting it out. Once you separate

it out, they suddenly go, “Oh okay, I can see that there are four different balls of yarn and they’re not connected. I can cope better with this.” You haven’t given them a solution, but you help them sort the problem out. Sometimes listening to them is all they need. They need someone to talk to. It’s not that they don’t have friends. It’s just that they need someone who is not necessarily a friend, but friendly enough that they can talk to.

I think a lot of law students don’t have someone to talk to. They’re so busy keeping up with this mask of “I’m a capable law student, I’m confident. If I confided in my friends that I was feeling insecure, that makes me weak.” Sometimes we offer solutions. Sometimes we offer things which we know is possible as a result of our experience. Every case is very different.

____ “OUR PHILOSOPHY HAS BEEN THAT NO STUDENT WHO NEEDS HELP WILL BE DENIED IT. ANYONE WHO NEEDS IT WILL GET IT.” ____ Do you have any last words of advice?

If you knew that you could not fail, if you knew that you had the power to make a great difference in the world, and you had the power to pick what that was, what would you choose to do? That’s far more important than just the studying and the grades. The legal profession is not just a career. It is – clichéd as it may sound – a noble profession, it’s a calling and you hold in your hand tremendous power to affect people’s lives. 

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LAW IS AN AESTHETIC SCIENCE Interview with Incoming Vice Dean (Academic Affairs) Associate Professor David Tan Associate Professor David Tan graduated from the University of Melbourne with an LLB (First Class Honours)/ BCom. He later obtained an LLM from Harvard and a PhD from the Melbourne Law School. He worked at the Singapore Administrative Service and several companies before joining NUS. He has served as Director of Sports at the Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports and the Director of International Talent at the Ministry of Manpower. He is also a renowned fine art fashion photographer. One example of his publications is the book “Visions of Beauty” in collaboration with Versace. He will be taking over as Vice-Dean (Academic Affairs) from 1st of January 2015.

Do you have any memorable experiences as a law student that you would like to share?

I studied law at the University of Melbourne, concurrently majoring in econometrics and statistics in the double degree program. Academically, my most memorable moments were getting six of my law research essays published, while I was a student, in some of the top journals like Australian Law Journal, Australian Journal of Corporate Law and Australian Intellectual Property Journal. It was delightful knowing that in a blind-review process, the law professors had deemed my essays good enough to be published alongside their articles. I vividly remember the moment when I opened the article acceptance letter from the editor of the Australian Law Journal while I was in my penultimate year of law school in 1994; I still have that letter today! I also had a remarkably active social life, holding a number of leadership positions at Trinity College and at the university. All this culminated in me being the first Asian to be named Valedictorian of the Year at Trinity College in its 100-year history.

In your opinion, how different are NUS Law students from the law students you encountered while studying in Australia?

NUS Law students generally are a lot more respectful of their professors compared to Australian law students. This is not necessarily a bad thing! It is important to voice your views in class and to actively participate in discussions in order to benefit from a holistic legal education, but that does not give one a licence to be rude to the professors. Another important distinction is the independence that I have observed teaching an elective module in Intellectual Property & Popular Culture at University of Melbourne this year. Students were not expecting handouts or notes, and were more actively engaged in finding out answers for themselves. I was shocked in an Entertainment Law class at NUS, when after I have covered copyright and trademark over three seminars, a student came up to me and asked, “Prof, what is the difference between copyright and trademark?”

Seriously?!

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____ “IT IS IMPORTANT TO VOICE YOUR VIEWS IN CLASS AND TO ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE IN DISCUSSIONS IN ORDER TO BENEFIT FROM A HOLISTIC EDUCATION…” ____ What inspired you to teach at NUS Law? I have always harboured a passion for law. I flirted with management consulting at McKinsey, project financing and brand communications at DBS and policymaking with the Singapore Administrative Service for ten years before deciding that I had to return to my first love. In my view, law is an aesthetic science. It demonstrates lyrical prose amidst cold logic; it embraces sequential methodical reasoning emboldened by creative arguments. One of my favourite phrases is from Texas v Johnson, where Justice Brennan, in the striking down the law prohibiting flag burning, said: “We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents.” I enjoy speaking in front of a group of people and communicating ideas, and hopefully in the process, inspire a few individuals. At the end of day, it was the conversations I had with the former Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong that tipped me over to NUS Law. What do you enjoy most about your job?

How do you balance your passion for photography with your job?

Easy! Just be very, very organised. Isn’t that like studying 20 credits in one semester?!

What advice would you give to aspiring lawyers?

Do your research – learn about which law firms are the best in the field and their firm culture. Study smart (not just study hard) – because it is your grades at NUS Law that would get people to notice you first.

Be involved – be involved in life outside of studying so that you will enjoy the full richness of a legal education at NUS. Be sensible – umm … be careful what you post online as it would leave a lasting footprint for the world to see forever … especially vitriolic words and certain kinds of videos/photos! 

____ “IN MY VIEW, LAW IS AN AESTHETIC SCIENCE. IT DEMONSTRATES LYRICAL PROSE AMIDST COLD LOGIC; IT EMBRACES SEQUENTIAL METHODICAL REASONING EMBOLDENED

BY CREATIVE ARGUMENTS.” ____

Reading, writing and teaching! I also love reading an extremely good student research paper, and supervising someone to produce a work of publishable quality.

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FINDING OURSELVES IN UNIVERSITY Interview with Incoming Vice Dean (Student Affairs) Associate Professor Eleanor Wong Associate Professor Eleanor Wong graduated from NUS Law and obtained her LLM at New York University. She started her career as a prosecutor, then practiced in the New York office of Coudert Brothers, before returning to Coudert’s Singapore office in 1992, where she specialised in regional banking and finance work, . She is also a published playwright, whose works have been produced in Singapore and South East Asia. In 2000, she joined leading local TV production company The Right Angle.

A sometime TV host, she anchored the critically wellreceived current affairs show “After Hours”. In 2002, she joined NUS Law as Director of the Legal Skills Programme. She will be taking over as Vice-Dean (Student Affairs) in January 2015.

What were you like as a law student?

I’m afraid I was a typical, naughty law student. I was more interested in what was going on in hostel than law school! I was heavily involved in band, drama and inter-block games for hostel. At the university level, I took part in debates for NUS and my little singing group went around doing commercial gigs. My memories of sitting in class and answering tutorial questions are kind of dark and hazy. (Laughs) On a more serious note, I did get a lot out of law school. I participated in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in my final year.

What is one defining memory you have, as a law student?

This is clichéd, but it is probably doing the Jessup Moots.

I was actually an accidental participant. A friend of mine asked me to be her opponent for the audition rounds. It was the most miserable thing in the world, because everyone else had already left for vacation, and here I was, in the midst of preparing my memorial.

I still remember the topic to this day. It was about diplomatic immunities; what a scintillating topic. (Laughs) So, to cut a long story short, that friend decided to pull out halfway when I was writing my memorial. At that time, there were no computers. Writing a memorial meant literally sitting in front of a typewriter and painstakingly making sure no mistakes were made.

Hence, I decided to finish up my memorial, submit it and undergo the oral selection round! Afterwards, I went off on my vacation and forgot all about it.

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As it turned out, because I had done Public International Law and a majority of the applicants had not, Professor Beckman put me on the team. Over the course of the training, I also managed to speak. My team started out with somewhat less lustre than our amazing predecessors. However, because we were seen as the team that was just going to scrape through, we were determined to work ourselves to the ground and make any necessary sacrifices, such as putting aside our own personal ambitions.

This memory is the epitome of my university experience - taking risks. I was never the sort of student who would take part in the Mallal Moots, or in any of the domestic motting competitions. But when the opportunity came, I put my heart and soul into it, tried my best and we were lucky, I think, to be the second NUS team to win the Jessup Moots. Even if we hadn’t won, I would still say that the experience was a defining one, because of the skills I picked up and the lessons I learnt. I think as long as you take an opportunity in good spirit, I’m sure you will learn something!

You were so active in university, and even now, with your participation in theatre. What advice would you give to the freshmen for time management?

First of all, I would say that the struggle with juggling all our commitments is a natural process, don’t fear it.

Secondly, my advice would be to do some trying. Don’t push yourself past breaking point, but if you never try to see where your own edges are, you wouldn’t know your own capacity. As you are experimenting, you should also be honest with yourself.

Sometimes, we fool ourselves into thinking that we can handle everything, when we cannot, or we limit ourselves because we are afraid.

University is about developing this ability to understand ourselves, so that we can pilot our lives better. Of course, we need our co-pilots and our mapmakers, but ultimately, we should see this as a time of learning our own limits and strengths.

____ “UNIVERSITY IS ABOUT DEVELOPING THIS ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND OURSELVES, SO THAT WE CAN PILOT OUR LIVES BETTER.” ____ What are the differences between law students now and law students in your time?

In my time, a law degree did not have the same prestige as a law degree now.

When I was a student, the cohort was much more varied. People came in with different perspectives on what they wanted to do with their law degree. This made the cohort less homogenous than the current one. Most students nowadays come from roughly the same background and academic provenance, and this makes current students ambitious in the same way. There is less room for exploring and I am concerned that this will have a longterm impact on how our country’s legal needs will be met.

With that said, students these days approach the law differently in another sense. In my time, the study of law was very conventional; you had to actually sit down and study the content of it. This obviously favoured those with strong memories and organised “data collection” skills. Now students can just pull up information on

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the Internet. This opens up the study and practice of law to persons with different cognitive skills and processes; and that’s a good thing.

As you’ve said, students nowadays have very high expectations. What advice would you give to freshmen worrying about their grades?

Law school cannot be just about grades.

Most people do know that between the top second-lowers and the second uppers, there is virtually no difference. I would be quite proud to say that even our graduates who come in at the bottom band of the second lowers are going to be good lawyers as well, if they pick wisely where they situate themselves. It is more a question of finding the right fit.

Grades are signals to be taken note of because of what they tell you about yourself, and where you might do the best work. Grades are formative feedback, not some sort of ticket.

I believe we should all work together to make the NUS degree so strong that people give less importance to the class of honours. I think the public is starting to understand that grades are necessary because we need to give people an idea of how they rank, in any given task, against others who did the same task. It is a way of understanding where you stand, what your learning style is, where your strengths and weaknesses lie.

The ideal would be that any holder of a NUS Law degree would be seen as a competent and reliable lawyer. At the risk of being arrogant, I would like NUS to be likened to Harvard or Oxford. A graduate from Harvard is not asked about his class of honours. If you graduate with top honours, people take extra notice of you.

But the name in and of itself says enough about the quality of the graduate and that is my ambition for NUS Law. 26

____ “LAW SCHOOL CANNOT BE JUST ABOUT GRADES”. ____ While we are on the subject of grades and grading, what inspired you to teach at NUS Law? I had a fairly exciting career where I’d done pretty much everything. (Laughs) From criminal prosecution and trial work, to securities work in the US, to banking and project finance, and even government level work and finance sector restructuring.

With the exception of IP and patent work, I have experienced quite a wide range of the law.

I am a bit of a flibbertigibbet, and I like challenges and new things to think about.

I didn’t want to live the same year again and again, and so I quit working at a law firm, and went to a small TV production company. Coincidentally, at that time, there had been a major curriculum review here, and they were looking to review the way things were done. Then, Professor Beckman was in charge, and he came to seek my help as an adjunct tutor. I suspect I surprised him by saying – how about I do this fulltime and design and run the programme? After all, I have had a bit of insight from having done a wide range of law work internationally and locally, and I wanted to give back as well.

Teaching is also more intellectually exciting and challenging. While every case has its own variations, after a while, you get the pattern. With law students on the other hand, all of you are infinitely different, and my job is to crack the mystery that is each one of you and to help each of you do better. While the curriculum had to be designed to fit most students, skills

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are highly individualized. Each student needs to have a customised regime and diagnosis to get better, and to me, that is infinitely more interesting than any deal.

Every time I think I’ve figured out how to help students, I meet someone new and different and I have to think again.

Working with individuals who are trying to find themselves is the best part about my job. As tutors, we are in the position to help them gain their confidence and set them off on a trajectory that can be quite different. To be able to participate in that student’s journey is incredible.

____ “I WOULD LIKE NUS TO BE LIKENED TO HARVARD OR OXFORD.” ____ Not every student is here to be a lawyer, but everyone is here to get a legal education. How does a legal education help you in life?

Perhaps that is seeing it in a wrong light. So many people see getting a legal education as “helping” their lives, or leading to something. I’m a firm believer that not everything has to lead to something.

University is about finding yourself, intellectually but also socially and emotionally. Coming to law school then, is an end in itself. Your life would already have improved, if you allow it to, just by having this experience.

example, is a solid grounding for people who want to start their own businesses.

The skills you pick up in law school are also useful, especially for communication and analysis. Law forces you to think logically, break problems down, recognize patterns in different instances and draw larger pictures. In almost every job, you need to match data to the situation and avoid being flooded with information. The communication skills that we teach in law school as well – negotiation, persuasion.

All of life is a process of persuasion. As I always tell my students: mooting is not a blood sport, it is a seduction sport!

(Laughs) If one must be practical in that way, there is much about law school that is relevant.

But I would say that the most relevant part is an opportunity to find out more about yourself. Not just law school, but any good university education ought to help you in that aspect. To be an educated person means to think about the world and live a purposeful life. 

____ “UNIVERSITY IS ABOUT FINDING YOURSELF, INTELLECTUALLY BUT ALSO SOCIALLY AND EMOTIONALLY.” ____

Of course, let us be totally practical about it as well. Many skills learnt in law school are directly, or at least indirectly, relevant in life. Substantively, a basic understanding of regulation, how the government works and your intellectual property rights, for AB INITIO: A LAW SCHOOL COMPANION | SECTION ONE: FIRST STEPS | FINDING OURSELVES IN UNIVERSITY

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BEING A LEGAL EAGLE Speech by Judge of Appeal Justice Andrew Phang Edited and Republished in the Law School Companion (7th Edition) Justice Phang received his LL.B. from the University of Singapore in 1982, and both his LL.M. and S.J.D. from Harvard University in 1984 and 1988, respectively. In 1990, he was admitted as an advocate and solicitor in Singapore.

He taught at the National University of Singapore’s Law Faculty from 1982 to 2000 and was appointed Professor of Law in 1999. In 2000, he was appointed Professor of Law at the Singapore Management University (SMU) and was made the Chair of the Department of Law at the SMU’s Business School the following year. His extensive publications include the local edition of Cheshire, Fifoot and Furmston’s Law of Contract and (as General Editor and Contributor) The Law of Contract in Singapore (Academy Publishing, 2012). Between 2004 and 2006, Justice Phang was appointed Senior Counsel, Judicial Commissioner, Judge and Judge of Appeal.

Introduction It has always been my view that the first year of legal studies is vitally important as it is the foundational year and the most experienced teachers ought to be devoted to the teaching of students in their first year. Indeed, I am glad that, in almost twenty years of teaching at NUS, I was always involved in teaching first year law students.

I would like to share about what I perceive the discipline of law to be about and also touch on some helpful approaches towards the study of law.

What is the discipline of law all about?

Many writers have sought to define the law. We could spend a whole semester debating the nature and functions of law. You have a course doing precisely that (which is called “Introduction to Legal Theory”). In essence, however, the law consists, in my view, of two basic components which interact with each other.

The first is what I would term the doctrine of the law. These comprise the rules and principles – both from case law and legislation – which you will be studying. However, although it is interesting to analyse as well as synthesise these rules and principles, they can become very dry and technical if you do not bear in mind the second component, which is what I would term fairness in the law.

Put simply, the rules and principles which constitute the doctrine of the law are not ends in themselves but are, rather, the means through which the courts arrive at substantively fair outcomes in the cases before them in every area of the law.

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I should add that neither is more important than the other. In other words, the desire to arrive at a fair outcome does not mean that the courts can manipulate legal doctrine in an arbitrary fashion. Indeed, legal doctrine is a coherent body of rules and principles which contain many common threads or linkages. Hence, any attempt to manipulate them in order to arrive at a predetermined result would be both artificial as well as unacceptable, and would instead lead to a loss of legitimacy in the law in the eyes of both the legal profession as well as the public alike.

style of study. I will focus, instead, on a few broad themes.

On the other hand, legal doctrine is not an end itself. Its primary function is to guide the court, in a reasoned fashion, to a fair result in the case before it. This is the essence of the concept of “justice” which is the raison d’être of the law. Indeed, each and every one of us possesses a sense of justice. At the end of the day, the courts and, indeed, each and every one of us must – if I may put it somewhat simply (albeit not, I hope, simplistically) – do “what is right”.

The second is that you must, right at the outset of your legal studies, be patient and take time to get used to legal thinking and writing. It will be alien to most of you simply because the law is a specialised discipline, with which you have had no acquaintance with in school.

However, simplistic reductionism must, in my view, be assiduously avoided by all concerned (including the courts) – if nothing else, because life is too complex. I would prefer viewing doctrine and fairness as an interactive process, although the attainment of a fair result in each case is, as I have mentioned, the ultimate aim of the court concerned.

Let me now turn briefly to some possible approaches towards the study of law.

The Study of Law – Some Possible Approaches There are as many ways to study law as there are lawyers and students. We are all different and have different (some even highly unconventional) study methods. So I do not propose to say anything which might impact adversely on your personal

The first is that you should always ensure that you have sufficient sleep and nourishment. You might think that this is obvious, but you will be surprised how so many students go without sleep and/or skip meals. This is most unwise. Indeed, it is unwise to live an unbalanced life.

Therefore, you should have hobbies and interests outside the law as well, although you should not overindulge in them.

Balance is the key.

The third is that you must study hard. But this is not measured merely by the number of hours you spend in the Law Library.

You need to study wisely as well. To this end, may I offer you some suggestions (with apologies to your lecturers who will undoubtedly correct me after this session if I have offered defective advice).

First, you should approach the study of law like eagles. There is no pun intended here. I am referring to real eagles. What do I mean by this? Let me elaborate.

It is important to have an overview of each topic in the subject you are studying. In other words, what does the legal landscape look like? This is important as it will provide you with a clear sense of direction and that will assist you in negotiating the legal terrain on the ground better. So you need, in a sense, to soar like an eagle with the accompanying vision assisting you to view the legal landscape as a whole.

This is especially useful, I would imagine, when you are preparing for lectures. In particular, reading (or even skimming)

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a good textbook will give you a helpful overview and will enable you to absorb the details in the lectures better.

However, it is not sufficient to have just an overview. This is because you need to come to grips with the specific rules and principles as embodied in actual cases and fact situations, so that you can (in turn) apply those rules and principles to the hypothetical fact situations in your tutorials, and (after you graduate) to real facts in real cases. You cannot simply stay up in the air, otherwise your understanding of the law will be too vague and general.

Indeed, even eagles need, on occasion, to eat and, hence, swoop down to the ground to capture their prey. On the other hand, if you try to wade through each case without a general overview, you are not only making life unnecessarily difficult for yourself but would also, as the saying goes, miss the wood for the trees.

In point of fact, I think you need to apply both perspectives at appropriate times. Again, both perspectives are not diametrically opposed to each other but are, rather, complementary in nature.

Secondly, and more specifically, a little tip about reading cases. It used to be the case that headnotes (these are summaries of the case, containing the facts, issues and holdings in the case) were not always reliable. However, I can say that, generally speaking, the headnotes in recent Singapore law reports over the last decade or so are very reliable. These may constitute legitimate short-cuts inasmuch as the facts are summarised and you are also told which paragraphs contain the key points of law in that case. But, again, this exemplifies the approach of the eagle I just mentioned in soaring above in order to obtain a good overview. In important cases, however, you must go further than the headnote and actually read the details in the case itself. This again exemplifies the other trait of the eagle, which is to 30

swoop down to ground level, so to speak.

Thirdly, do try to make your own notes.

If you are able to make good notes, it would mean that you have already studied and understood the material at least one time. Also, when you are preparing for examinations, you cannot afford the time to plough through all the material again.

This is where good notes are absolutely essential. Often, by just looking at key words or phrases, you would be able to recall the more detailed legal rules and principles which you have studied.

Conclusion As I thought of what to say today, I realised that what all of us would have little or no control over is our future. Indeed, some of you here today might be wondering whether you have made the right decision in coming to law school. But I do not think that you should be overly concerned about this at the present time. Although the more direct routes after law school are private practice, the legal service or legal academia, I have had students who have branched out into all kinds of professions (including banking and finance, food and beverage, theatre and teaching).

I know that I will, of course, be perceived to be biased (I am not, actually!), but I think that, regardless of what you will do in the future, you have made the right decision.

You will recall that I mentioned that the discipline of law is all about fairness, justice, and simply “doing the right thing”. If you reinforce that commitment to “doing the right thing” throughout the next four years, that will definitely stand you in good stead in any profession you will enter in the future.

You will also recall that I mentioned that the discipline of law is also about legal doctrine. Can I just say that the training

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you will receive in the process of legal analysis and synthesis will enable you to think as well as communicate more clearly than if you had not studied law at all.

Again, this training will definitely stand you in good stead in any profession you will enter in the future.

So what is the point of what I have just said? It is very simple. Enjoy your time in law school. Do not worry about the future.

Trust that it will be a good one. I will go out on a limb here and say that it will be a good one. But I also hope – if it is at all possible – for just a couple of more things.

They are passion and compassion. Try to cultivate, as far as you can, a passion for the study of law. That passion arises, in large part, from the fact that the law has the enormous potential for “doing good”, for “doing the right thing”. It is, however, all too easy to become jaded and sceptical.

But you must try your level best to guard against that. And one way of resisting that is by being compassionate. I know that we have all been raised in a very competitive environment. But one thing I have learnt in life in general and in law school in

particular is that – in a paradoxical way – giving is actually better than receiving.

I cannot explain this to you in tangible terms, precisely because it is intangible.

But a great many qualities which we value in life are indeed intangible and are, indeed, indispensable to life itself – values (in addition to the ones I have just mentioned) such as honesty and integrity, humility, and (in the case of one schoolmate of mine) the heroism demonstrated to the fullest extent which resulted in his life being lost but another person being saved.

I wish you all the very best not only during your time in law school but also for your coming futures as well. 

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ACADEMIC ADVICE Advice from Course Convenors

LAW OF CONTRACT

Associate Professor Alexander Loke When studying Contract Law, develop the ability to move with ease between the micro- and the macro- . By micro-, I refer to the analysis of case-law: What does the case stand for? How does the case qualify the current understanding of the law?

What are the limits of the case proposition?

Making sense of the multitude of cases, however, requires the student to step back frequently to consider the bigger picture, viz. the macro-. What undercuts the law’s commitment to enforcing promises? How does this impact the balance between freedom of contract and fairness?

My advice to First Years is to construct your own mind-maps – to draw the linkages between the material in a way which makes sense to you. This exercise of thinking through how the materials fits (or does not fit) will prompt you to work out for yourself the policy tensions that shape the contours of contractual liability. This working through of the material engenders deep understanding – whether these be the concepts that form the foundational pillars of the subject matter, the “fault lines” where the contours are likely to change, or the linkages between doctrines. These are

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what make the intricacies of contract law interesting, intriguing and even exciting.

The nature of the contract law examination aims to test the extent to which you have attained a deep understanding of the subject matter. If in the process of learning contract law you see only a bunch of dry technical rules – nothing more – you should know you are on the wrong track.

It will show up in the examinations. The answers will not have the coherence, much less the sophistication, of one who has struggled with the material (with all its contradictions and untidiness) before coming to a resolution. It is similarly easy to discern those who learn their law almost exclusively from textbooks. The deep understanding which you should aim for involves thinking through the material from a multiplicity of angles. It is time-consuming, sometimes frustrating and definitely hard work. Beyond the likelihood that you will score well in the examinations, the knowledge and understanding you will have attained is likely to stay with you long after the examinations. 

AB INITIO: A LAW SCHOOL COMPANION | SECTION ONE: FIRST STEPS | ACADEMIC ADVICE

LAW OF TORTS

Professor Leong Wai Kum For the Academic Year 2014-15, the Law of Torts is taught over the whole year. It is, therefore, taught alongside the other substantive subjects viz Law of Contract and Criminal Law. None of the courses you study in law school, beginning with these in Year One, will be like any you have studied before. This is definitely true of the Law of Torts.

The Torts teachers have designed a course which aims both to challenge and stimulate you. At the same time, if you work as hard as we recommend you will find the learning experience enjoyable.

The course aims to guide you in acquiring a sound grasp of the principles. The law is studied contextually. Where appropriate, you will learn how the current state of the law developed from its historical origins.

Where did our law of torts come from?

What changes has the law undergone from the time it was first received? How did the development of our law of torts proceed in tandem with general legal developments in Singapore? Where appropriate too, you will learn how our law compares with parallel developments in other common law countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.

The Law of Torts is predominantly derived from judicial decisions (although legislation is of increasing significance). Its study involves the common law method of reading judgments to deduce relevant legal principles which may then be refined, developed and, occasionally, even abandoned in subsequent cases. Another aim of the course is, therefore, to guide you in reading judgments so you learn to appreciate how the judges’ decisions upon the arguments made by counsel of the parties within legal disputes become legal principles that apply to all of us.

The teaching is done through a combination of twice-weekly lectures (attended by the whole class) and once-weekly tutorials (each tutorial group comprising about 15 students). Lectures take up 4 contact hours each “Odd Week” and Tutorials take up 2 contact hours each “Even Week” throughout the academic year.

The lectures are designed to provide an overview of the area under study and to help you think about the material and raise questions. Some lectures may be interactive. You should be prepared to contribute to discussion in lectures.

Tutorials will be conducted by the tutor assigned to your group, and it will be up to each tutor to determine the way in which he or she wishes to conduct the class. The hypothetical problems included in the Tutorial Sheet may not necessarily be used in exactly the same way by every tutor. You must be well prepared for the tutorials.

Your performance in the tutorials will be assessed and will count towards your final grade in this subject. The marks you receive for the 2 writing exercises will be factored into your class performance mark.

We need to pack in a lot to convey a sound introduction of the Law of Torts. So you will have to be prepared to start working hard from the first day. Be organised and don’t get left behind in your studies. You simply will not have time to catch up if you fail to keep up with the learning every single week. Each topic builds upon the last.

If you put in the effort, however, we are confident you will get a lot from the course.

You will find it to be informative, thoughtprovoking and, also, great fun! Welcome to the course. 

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CRIMINAL LAW

Professor Walter Woon SC When the layman thinks of law, criminal law is what usually springs to mind. It is the staple of novels, plays, cinema and television. Drafting contracts does not make good drama; how many films revolve around the thrill of faxing documents to clients abroad? Most students already have some passing familiarity with criminal law when they enter law school, if only from TV. While it is possible to teach criminal law as a purely academic subject (and this is done in many universities), to do so gives the student a narrow, unrealistic view of the subject. Education is the systematised acquisition of experience; and legal education more so than most. The student of criminal law needs to travel beyond the restricted academic confines of the subject in order to understand it. It is necessary to know something about the constitutional division of power that governs prosecutions, the problems of proving a case, the policy behind sentencing, the ethical dimensions of both prosecution and defence, as well as the black-letter rules found in the Penal Code and other statutes. In addition, the cases students will study during the course will have issues pertaining to illicit drugs, sexual mores, corruption, navigation at sea, military training, pornography, religious and racial sensitivities, history, international politics and relations between lovers (of all sexual persuasions).

philosophy, history and international relations. Keep abreast of current events, both in Singapore and abroad. Broaden your intellectual horizons. Never cease to question.

Do not be overly concerned about grades.

A couple of years after graduation, no one will remember what class of honours you got (unless you keep reminding them). A mediocre grade in law school does not mean that you cannot be a good lawyer.

It takes more than just book-learning to be excellent in the profession. The best lawyers are not the ones who master the intricacies of the law, but rather those who have good solid common sense and wide knowledge spanning many areas.

For the practitioner of criminal law, a well-developed sense of right and wrong is absolutely essential. When acting as prosecutor or defence counsel, the essential question is always, ‘Am I doing the right thing?’ The ability to recognise this is what we strive to cultivate in the criminal law course. 

In short, to do well as a practitioner of criminal law, whether as prosecutor or defence counsel, one must have a wide general knowledge. For the first-year student, the best preparation for the study of criminal law is to read much and widely.

All knowledge is useful, no matter how esoteric it may seem at first blush. Do not confine yourself to legal texts; these are narrowly-focused on the law. Read fiction, 34

AB INITIO: A LAW SCHOOL COMPANION | SECTION ONE: FIRST STEPS | ACADEMIC ADVICE

LEGAL ANALYSIS, RESEARCH & COMMUNICATION Associate Professor Eleanor Wong

LARC? Never heard of it? Not to overplay the references to Shakespeare and roses… but if you’ve heard of LAWR from your seniors, then you have a good idea what LARC is. The module has been renamed to better reflect the fact that we’ve always focused not only on writing skills (the W in LAWR) but on all aspects of legal communication (the C in LARC). And there will be a few tweaks to how it’s graded as a year-long module (rather than two singlesemester modules). But LARC is essentially LAWR. So what have you heard about LARC/ LAWR? Probably something along the following lines -- LARC/LAWR is a lot of work. You’re “on the spot” for every class. It’s seemingly never-ending. It can be tedious and exacting (I mean... citations, formatting, Microsoft Word styles ... really??!). Moots are terrifying. Oh, and did I mention that LAWR is a LOT of work?

Well, guilty as charged.

Unlike many of the other subjects that you’ve studied (and will be studying), LARC is principally focused on the acquisition and refinement of skills; specifically, the core legal skills of research, reasoning and communication. Skills cannot be taught.

They can only be exercised by the end-user – that’s you. And unlike information, which can be skillfully packaged by a teacher and arguably fed to you in one big gulp, skills only get better with regular, rigorous and sometimes repetitive practice. The LARC course is designed so that through a series of concrete, practical tasks, you get to experience how the core legal skills translate into “bread-and-butter” lawyerly activities like reading cases and statutes, working with rules, finding relevant authorities, crafting arguments

& persuading your audience. You get to exercise those core legal skills so often and in so many different contexts that, if all goes as planned, you’ll emerge ready to take on almost any legal challenge.

Now, you are certainly free not to undergo the exercise regimen that we’ve designed for you. Or to attempt to game the system by getting “past year’s questions” (Hint: we recycle very few tasks; though you’re welcome to try). But this is one course where taking a shortcut means that you’ve already missed the “destination” – the very point is to do the work. To be “forced”, by our in-class exercises and other assignments, to master materials deeply, think ideas through logically, analogise, extrapolate, and express your conclusions effectively.

As for tedium/exacting standards – we believe there’s exculpation. In LARC, we welcome creativity, independence, individuality & critical thinking. However, all truly creative performances are firmly founded on discipline. The most eloquent advocate doesn’t even get past the starting gate if she cannot first observe all the formalities and requirements of court etiquette. The most exciting new argument doesn’t convince unless the advocate can explain how it relates (in grinding detail, if necessary) to previous authorities.

So what’s expected of you in LARC? At the risk of over-simplifying: Nothing more, or less, than your willful participation. 

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SINGAPORE LAW IN CONTEXT Professor Kevin YL Tan

This is an introductory course on the Singapore legal system. We start off by situating the creation, development and growth of Singapore’s legal system in the context of the different legal systems in the region, especially the ASEAN states.

We then embark on a study of the key institutions that make up the system – Parliament, the Executive, and the Judiciary – and key sources of law in Singapore.

Other topics that will be covered include legal education, the legal profession, access to justice and legal aid, and professional responsibility and legal ethics.

There are no live lectures for this course.

Students will be assigned course videos to watch and readings to cover each week, and you will meet your instructors in tutorials. You are expected to come to class well-prepared and ready to discuss the assigned questions. Class preparation is all important, you need to watch the assigned videos and read the assigned material

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prior to class. You will be called upon to either present or answer questions and the entire class is encouraged to engage in the discussion. Consider which arguments and propositions are useful and illuminating, and which ones seem less persuasive.

Active, effective contribution does not mean talking a lot in class. It does mean being attentive enough to the discussion to be able to identify nuances such as the points where the discussion veers away from the actual concerns expressed by the authors or individuals in the materials.

This will seem intimidating at first, but we endeavour to encourage and facilitate your contributions to the discussion, whether in class or in our online discussion forums.

Finally, your assessments in the course will be a pass/fail take-home examination. 

AB INITIO: A LAW SCHOOL COMPANION | SECTION ONE: FIRST STEPS | ACADEMIC ADVICE

INTRODUCTION TO LEGAL THEORY Assistant Professor Michael W. Dowdle

Legal theory is a bit of an odd bird in the curriculum, because unlike the other required first-year courses, it is not directly related to practice. To my mind, this course nevertheless serves two important purposes.

First, it is included in the curriculum in recognition of the fact that you will be getting a university degree, and not simply a trade-school certificate. A university education is one that is wellrounded, extending significantly beyond the boundaries of simple job skills. Legal theory lies more in the realm of liberal arts and humanities than in that of professional training. It introduces the student to the kinds of knowledge that recommends him or her as a member of a highly-regarded and prestigious university, and not simply a trade school.

on the instructor), because of their special relevance to today’s Singapore. It is worth remembering, however, that these questions have also been of considerable importance in many other places in the world. It were these very questions that led to the establishment of Europe’s first universities. These are questions that have occupied some of the greatest minds humanity has produced – including Kong Fuzi (Confucius), St. Thomas Aquinas, and Siddhārtha Gautama (the first Buddha and the founder of Buddhism).

In working your way through this course, you yourselves will be becoming a part of this history; a living, active, and in your own way important member of an incredibly rich and vital, discussion that had been on-going for thousands of years.

And when you think about it, it is a pretty cool thing to become in and of itself. 

Second, whereas your other courses focus on what a lawyer does, legal theory ultimately looks at what a lawyer is. It serves to remind you that the law, and your role in it, is a complex and critical part of human society, not just what one does to bring home a salary. Hopefully, the study of legal theory will help you come to recognize yourselves, not simply as lawyers, but also as important members of society, whose status and responsibilities extend much, much farther than just the limited scope of the profession. In other words, legal theory is the study, not so much of what it is you are going to do, but of what you are going to become.

The questions we look at in this course – what is the law? What does it do? What does it mean? – are questions to which humanity has devoted considerable attention and effort to over the past two thousand years.

In the legal theory course, we will focus primarily on the Anglo-European or AngloAmerican strands of this history (depending AB INITIO: A LAW SCHOOL COMPANION | SECTION ONE: FIRST STEPS | ACADEMIC ADVICE

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SECTION TWO: PERSPECTIVES What can you do to make the best out of your law school experience?

In this section, seniors who, not too long ago, faced the flood, learnt the strokes and achieved academic excellence, address some common challenges encountered by freshmen and share their recipe for success.

Despite the common misconceptions about law school, it is not just about grades and exams. We work hard and we play hard. This section also introduces the NUS Law Club, its various subsidiary clubs, and the exciting projects that freshmen can get involved in.

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IN THIS SECTION: Dealing with your first year Message from Chief Justice’s Prize recipient (AY 2013/2014) Liau Han Ming Timothy

Seniors’ Advice A compilation of advice from your beloved seniors

The NUS Law Club and its Subsidariaries

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DEALING WITH YOUR FIRST YEAR Message from Chief Justice’s Prize Recipient (AY 2013/2014) Liau Han Ming Timothy Hi guys, welcome to law school! I hope some of you will find this piece helpful in dealing with your first year.

Advice about advice First, some general advice about advice – be wary of acting on the advice of others without taking into account their different goals, capacities and economic and social circumstances. From my conversations with seniors (this includes practitioners, professors, judges, etc), what I’ve noticed is that advice from others can be generally grouped into two categories:

(i)

What they did when they were in your age and position;

Be especially wary about acting on advice in category (i) without adjusting for the different circumstances those seniors were in when they were your age. The legal industry has changed quite a bit over the past few years, so whatever routes they took probably aren’t open to you today.

Don’t imitate blindly. Also, be careful of the officious sorts who derive pleasure from talking down to their juniors because they can adopt the position of the sagely elder who’s ‘been there and done it’ – their motivations are suspect. Even for those who’re sincere and not in it purely to stroke their own egos, they’re likely to understate how painful the difficulties they overcame were – humans cope like that.

(ii)

What they didn’t do but wish they had done were they in your age and position.

As for (ii), these guys regret certain mistakes they made in the past, and are trying to get you to avoid committing the same. That in itself is not a bad thing, but they may not be the kind of mistakes you’d be prone to making anyway, which makes the advice irrelevant. Also, there’s often a bit of romanticism and wishful thinking involved, which makes the advice especially unreliable, since they’re essentially speculating on the counterfactual – ‘oh… if only I’d not done that, this or that thing would have happened and my life would be better today.

____

PUT SIMPLY: BE SKEPTICAL ABOUT ADVICE FROM SENIORS – RECOGNIZE WHICH POSITIONS THEY’RE COMING FROM, HOW YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES DIFFER FROM THEIRS, AND DISCOUNT AND ADJUST ACCORDINGLY. THIS INCLUDES MY ADVICE. ____ 40

AB INITIO: A LAW SCHOOL COMPANION | SECTION TWO: PERSPECTIVES | DEALING WITH YOUR FIRST YEAR

Basic study tips This is what I found worked for me in my first year. But because the way you learn may be quite different from mine, your mileage may vary.

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Time management is extremely important – you may be pleasantly surprised at first by how slim and lean your timetables look, but that’s only because we expect you to spend most of your time studying independently.

To cope with the workload, I’d recommend drawing up timetables and parcelling out time periods for each subject.

Be consistent – the first thing you’ll notice about NUS that’s drastically different from JC is that you’ll be given only slightly more than a week of study time before the exams. You’ll be expected to master new content all the way up till then. Unfortunately, most students (including myself) find this out the hard way in week 12-13 of their first semester. Then they start panicking. This coming semester will be the first in which your grades don’t count due to the curriculum reform, but still, it’d be a good opportunity for you to practice so you will be better placed to handle your final exams in semester 2.

Read up before lectures/seminars where possible – this is only to get a very rough idea of what content will be covered in the lecture, so you come in ready to absorb. There’s no need to try and digest the material before the lectures – you’re wasting time, and that’s what the lectures are for.

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Take notes during lectures – there’re many ways to do this, but the most important thing is to practise. They help you concentrate during lectures, and will also help your revision. I find that the notes I take differ depending on each professor’s lecture style. My notes for each subject differ vastly.

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Come prepared for tutorials – practice writing out essays and answers to hypotheticals. It’s very different reading cases than formulating your answers. You don’t want your exam piece to be your first attempt.

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Run through your lecture notes after lecture – take 30 minutes or more to just run through and neaten up those lecture notes after every lecture.

This’ll help consolidate your learning.

Trust me, it’ll save you a lot of time cramming later on in week 12 if you just digest the material consistently in bite-sized chunks.

I hope you enjoy your time at NUS Law as much as I enjoyed mine! 

AB INITIO: A LAW SCHOOL COMPANION | SECTION TWO: PERSPECTIVES | DEALING WITH YOUR FIRST YEAR

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SENIORS’ ADVICE A compilation of messages from your beloved seniors

James Kwong James Kwong is law school’s resident overachiever - The FOCC Chairperson and Captain of the NUS Law Football Team (Year 1) is also a Dean’s Lister.

Dare to challenge yourself Law school is abound with challenges. I believe that challenging yourself will always leave you stronger in the end. Seek to push your boundaries by trying something new, such as undertaking a Pro Bono project or organising school activities.

Consistency, consistency, and consistency Did I mention consistency? Truly, the key to balancing your commitments in law school is to be consistent in whatever you do. Whether it be your tutorials, assignments, extra-curricular activities or even your social life, it is essential to always have a handle on everything.

Lead a balanced lifestyle Undoubtedly, academics and grades are an important part of university. Yet, it is also equally important to lead a balanced lifestyle. Play sports, get involved in school activities and spend time with your family and friends. You’ll find that not only will you have enjoyed a welcome break, you’ll also be re-energised for whatever law school throws at you.

Joshua Kow Joshua Kow is the Vice-Chairperson of Matriculation Week 2014. He performs with the Philharmonic Winds, is the Section Leader (Drums) of the NUS Jazz Band, and would rather read music than legal judgments and cases.

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Pursue your passions Sometimes, cloistered in law school’s seminar and tutorial rooms, we forget that the university experience is one far broader than just learning about the law and getting a degree. Law school is an awfully closed community and if you realise your passions lie beyond BTC’s walls, I say pursue them and never look back! It’s easy to forget that the university experience is far broader than just law, law, and more law.

Know what to accept and what to reject Opportunities literally throw themselves at you in university and over-committing yourself is the last thing you should ever do.

No way are you going to pull off that full-length concert with a LAWR assignment due that night; worse still, you might mess both up! Know your limits and what you want to achieve because you’ve only got 24 hours a day. Juggle your responsibilities well!

AB INITIO: A LAW SCHOOL COMPANION | SECTION TWO: PERSPECTIVES | SENIORS’ ADVICE

Shermaine Ch’ng Instagram-famous Shermaine Ch’ng is a member of the band, Khai and Shermaine, which performs at the Prince of Wales, as well as Ch’ng and the Bengs, a band made up of law school members.

She also models for blogshops like BUTTEREDGUN and Static Fumes.

Not just a pretty face, her IQ is rumoured to be above 160.

Minimum work maximum results—Minimum work maximum results Don’t ever blindly study hard. Figure out how you want to study such that it is the most efficient for you – and figure out how much effort you want to put in. Find your own working style and stick with it. Most importantly, talk. Talk to your seniors, ask questions during tutorials, and discuss A LOT with your friends.

Work smart but also work hard at some point to see how far you can go.

Prioritise your commitments Every other person in law school has had to sacrifice one thing or another, myself included. Do so wisely. And know that everyone is smart here, yourself included. At the same time, everyone has different commitments and priorities in life. So, there is simply no point in comparing yourselves to your peers. Don’t.

A wise senior once told me Law school is tough. Year 1 is tough. Don’t be surprised if you question if you’re in the right place. Don’t worry either. Hang in there, unless you’re absolutely sure that you’re in the wrong place - and you’re only in the wrong place if you’re absolutely uninterested in what you study, not simply if you’re not used to the workload.

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Charlene Wee Wonder Woman Wee, who also goes

by Charlene Wee, is the Chairperson of the Year 1 Class Committee and the FOCC Secretary.

Study hard but smart One must be able to sieve out the important parts and leave out those that can be done without for the examinations. There is just so much content that it would be difficult (though not impossible!) to complete revision for every single topic.

Have a positive mindset Sometimes grades may be far from encouraging. Nonetheless, it is imperative that you see these grades as a form of motivation to spur you on to try even harder.

Manage your expectations well Make sure they are realistic to avoid being overwhelmingly disappointed.

Get enough sleep Maintain healthy sleeping habits because they may affect your academics and your overall personality. Remember to keep this in mind!

Lim Wei Zhen Lim Wei Zhen is law school’s next potential cause lawyer. She is the President of the Pro Bono Group, Chairperson of the Inaugural Migrant Workers Awareness Week 2014 and is also a Migrant Workers Rights Advocate.

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Doing pro bono ignites (or re-ignites) your love for the law, because it brings the law to life and demonstrates its actual impact on another’s life: whether it’s knowing a contract was signed under duress, induced by misrepresentation, or your beneficiary faces evidentiary road blocks in proving an offence actually took place.

It also pushes you to study harder, exposes you to actual reality, and inspires you to effect change. You will spend your days with people fired up for the same cause as you, and yes, even be inspired by your fellow friends. For instance, Migrant Worker Awareness Week exposed us to so many different people dedicated to working on the issues from different angles, through different means (even through theatre!). Getting to know them and their work was such an inspiration: they reminded us that we could all make a difference in our own ways, with or without a law degree.

Their work challenges us to create greater access to justice for the very communities our laws impact, with whatever we have received - to truly be part of the legal “service”.

AB INITIO: A LAW SCHOOL COMPANION | SECTION TWO: PERSPECTIVES | SENIORS’ ADVICE

Nicholas Lee Nicholas Lee’s list of accolades is almost annoying.

The shirt-lifting OGL is a Dean’s Lister, a Straits Law Practice Prize Winner in LAWR (Legal Analysis, Writing and Research) and champion of the Rodyk Moots 2014. Somehow, he also finds time to play for the NUS Law Football Team (Year 1).

Fortunately for you, the archetypal anxious freshmen, I’m the academic guy. My Snapchat besties are the librarian and photocopy auntie. An Asian without any A’s is sin, so listen up.

Friendship Confucius said, “Amongst three friends, one can certainly be my teacher.” Split that workload with your buddies. A man without friends gets the D. Go Out I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling 22. Going out automatically triggers a guilt trip mechanism that renders you more productive post-activity. So say yes to the guy asking you out for social night one day before contract. Cooping yourself at home might work, but that’s also sad.

Hate it before you love it You’ll most definitely get your first C. For me, I was prepared to undergo that all-too-common ritual of whining and questioning your suitability for law school. But my buddies laughed at the prof’s comments and I joined in the self-depreciating humor. Treasure that experience, and never doubt yourself. Self-pity is for the weak.

Routine Mug like dawg, soccer at upper quad, mug like dawg.

Do Pro Bono The theme for this year is – You so smart for what?

Moot Make Others Ogle Tremendously

Have I said mawg like dawg?

Benjamin Teo NUS Sports Scholar Benjamin Teo is the perfect mixture of brains and brawn.

The Captain of the Table Tennis Team for Inter-Faculty games 2014 was also a Rodyk Moots 2014 Finalist.

While I am no longer training with the National Youth Table Tennis Team, I am still representing NUS Table Tennis. As a NUS Sports Scholar, I try my best to win for my team. I believe it is possible to do well in both sports and academics – the key is prioritising. I make a conscious effort to train more when the academic workload is less heavy, or when competition season approaches. When I have time to study, I make sure that I use it wisely and prepare earlier because I know I may have a lot less time than others when it comes to the exam period due to competitions.

I would also encourage you guys to take part in Inter-Faculty Games or Law-Med. They provide a good platform for bonding and meeting new people. Given that your first semester is gradefree, I would also recommend trying out a CCA at the Kent Ridge campus, especially sports, so that you have an avenue to keep fit!

AB INITIO: A LAW SCHOOL COMPANION | SECTION TWO: PERSPECTIVES | SENIORS’ ADVICE

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Jaryl Lim Jaryl Lim is somewhat of an artistic genius and time-management whiz. He is the Co-founder and Artistic Director of CommuniTeh Productions, and was also the Assistant Director in the 2014 NUS Arts Festival Closing Show, CON$UMED. Law Camp 2014’s critically acclaimed videos were his brainchild.

I have a “life” and I love every minute of it. By “life” I mean devoting time to pursue what you love – competing in a sport, honing a craft, getting involved in the community, or even just taking a hobby seriously. I devote time to the arts because the arts keep me human. It keeps me sane. It washes away the dust of everyday life off our soul, and reinvigorates our imagination. The arts enable us to lose ourselves, find ourselves and be ourselves all at the same time.

Our time in law school presents us with a myriad of opportunities.

Juggling extra-curricular commitments with school will undoubtedly be tiring and taxing. However, I find that a “life” in measured amounts (almost ironically) spurs on even the tardiest person to better focus on school work and reduce time for other needless distractions.

It is possible to have the best of both worlds, but finding that balance is a constant pursuit.

Lorraine Ang When Lorraine Ang is not busy replying to her fervent admirers on ask.fm, she is the Vice-Chairperson of Law Rag 2014.

She also dances for NUS Dance Blast!.

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I’m sure many of you are wondering if there is time to participate in external activities, with stacks of readings and tutorials piling up. Well, there is time, if you are willing to stretch yourself. A wholesome university life would be beyond the books, and I highly recommend taking part in something non-academic.

I decided to dedicate myself to more extra-curricular activities in my first year, and joined NUS Dance Blast!, and took part in a competition, Impresario 2014, with a group of friends I made from Blast!. I also joined a USP initiative, Connect Tuition, as a volunteer to tutor students who are financially disadvantaged every week. They were enriching because I got to know and learn from students from other faculties, interact with children, and hear their humbling life stories as well. Knowing people beyond our small Law campus has definitely taught me how to appreciate our privileged upbringing.

AB INITIO: A LAW SCHOOL COMPANION | SECTION TWO: PERSPECTIVES | SENIORS’ ADVICE

Nina Carlina Nina Carlina is a graduate student, as well as an advocate of gender equality and AWARE volunteer.

A law student’s university experience is greatly enriched if he or she takes courses from other disciplines, reads widely, and develops an open mind. For example, having received my undergraduate degree in sociology, I have found that my knowledge on sociology of deviance greatly aided my understanding and appreciation of criminal law.

Being a law student has also been an exciting intellectual journey that complements NGO and human rights work. In societies, like Singapore, where the law penetrates nearly every aspect of our lives, knowing law is an important element of advocacy and activism.

An effective lawyer is a compassionate lawyer who is connected to and informed about society. One way a lawyer might contribute to an advocacy effort is by analysing legal sources and proving that the law is based on discriminatory ideas. A lawyer might also compare Singapore’s law to other legal systems. There is much potential for a law student to make a difference in social issues.

As for juggling social work with school or career, AWARE provides me the space to be flexible with my commitments. With close communication, and with an NGO that gives volunteers a sense of fulfillment, attending law school and volunteering at the same time is manageable and enjoyable.  AB INITIO: A LAW SCHOOL COMPANION | SECTION TWO: PERSPECTIVES | SENIORS’ ADVICE

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THE NUS LAW CLUB AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES Law Club The NUS Law Club is the main faculty club in NUS Law, with six different subsidiary clubs (Pro Bono Group, Law Students’ International Relations Group, Mooting and Debating Club, Singapore Law Review, Criminal Justice Club and Justified) and two student interest groups (Freedom Dance Group and the Singapore chapter of the International Criminal Court Students’ Network).

The Law Club handles all academic, welfare and sporting matters pertaining to the student body in conjunction with the Deanery and its subsidiary clubs. It also organises welfare giveaways every semester, and school-wide chillouts and parties either on its own or together with its subsidiary clubs. The Law Club organises the involvement of NUS Law in the Law Fraternity Games, the NUS Inter-Faculty Games, Justice League and the Law-Medicine Games, together with the sports Captains. The Law Club also organises the Law Careers Fair and the Moratorium.

Furthermore, the Law Club has Class Committees which represent every current undergraduate batch of students so as to expedite information dissemination/gathering and to increase event organisation and participation within the student body. Other initiatives and events handled by the Law Club are the Law Beach Games, Open Day, production of new Law-related merchandise and an assortment of ad hoc activities.

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AB INITIO: A LAW SCHOOL COMPANION | SECTION TWO: PERSPECTIVES | THE NUS LAW CLUB AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES

Criminal Justice Club The NUS Criminal Justice Club (“CJC”) was formed in September 2009 to raise awareness of important criminal justice issues amongst law students. Under different student-driven projects, the CJC engages in research and organises events to pursue a range of criminal lawrelated objectives, and will continue in the upcoming year to implement different initiatives to promote general awareness on such issues.

One such initiative is the Military Justice Project, which seeks to increase awareness of the military law governing Singapore Armed Forces personnel among the general public, servicemen and their families. Also, the Innocence Project, the first of its kind in Singapore, is a student-led initiative that seeks to provide recourse to individuals who believe they have been wrongfully convicted of crimes. Thirdly, the Criminal Law Website Project is a collaboration with The Law Society of Singapore to write headnotes for unreported judgments, which are then published in a database and made accessible to members of the public and criminal defence lawyers. Besides these projects, the CJC also organises other events such as the Criminal Justice Conference and the prestigious criminal law moot competition, the Attorney-General’s Cup.

Justified Contrary to popular belief, law school life is not all law school and no life. The happenings around school and updates on upcoming events are chronicled by Justified.

Justified is run by the Justified Editorial Team (affectionately known as JETs), and supported by a team of writers and photographers who are always eager to source out the latest happenings and gossips. Justified also manages Overheard @ BTC – the official NUS Law Facebook group, and the annual JustOne party, one of the many chill-out events that law school has to offer.

All in all, Justified is a sub-club that mixes business with pleasure. We want members to have fun writing the articles. We want an element of cheekiness in the article. We want whatever our members have to offer.

If it’s not on Justified, it never happened.

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Law Students’ International Relations Committee LSIRC or the Law Students’ International Relations Committee is a group of funloving, like-minded law students with an international outlook and a taste for travel. Members participate in Study Trips to various Asian countries, such as Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, and China, throughout the year via the Asian Law Students Association (ALSA). During these fun-filled trips, members get to make contacts, forge friendships as well as participate in academic programs such as International Law Moots and table discussions.

Another flagship program of LSIRC is the Student Exchange Buddy Program. Every year, about 40 students who share a similar mindset of wanting to experience everything that life has to offer will be paired with foreign students who come to spend a semester or two at NUS Law. LSIRC is where law students get to experience the international side of Asia’s Global Law School.

Mooting and Debating Club The Mooting and Debating Club (MDC) is a student-run organisation dedicated to promoting oratorical skills and the passion for mooting, debating and advocacy among law students in NUS. Many distinguished members of the legal profession, including senior counsels and judges, were once the best mooters at NUS. Every year, MDC organises different moots for the law school population. These include the Allen & Gledhill Mallal Moot Competition, the Drew & Napier Advocacy Cup, the WongPartnership International Commercial Arbitration Moot and the Rodyk Challenge Debate.

Club members have the privilege of working closely with representatives from these big law firms in the planning and execution processes of the moot competitions. Members also have the priority in joining various international mooting competitions. MDC also regularly organises structured talks and workshops to increase the quality of our mooters and provide valuable opportunities for students to refresh and polish their skills.

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Singapore Law Review The Singapore Law Review (SLR), a student-run legal scholarship, was conceived in 1969 and is the oldest undergraduate student-run law journal in Asia. It features as an integral part of the legal education landscape in Singapore, publishing thought-provoking articles written by students, professors and other prominent members of the legal industry. The Review also organises its annual lecture, the Singapore Law Review Lecture, which is the longest running legal lecture series in Singapore. Its previous speakers include the Honorable the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, and other notable figures such as Tun Dato’ Sri Ahmad Fairuz bin Dato’ Sheikh Abdul Halim, former Chief Justice of Malaysia.

The SLR aims to enable students to become more aware of current legal issues, to promote legal thinking, legal writing and discussions amongst the students of the Law Faculty, and to provide a forum of discussion for students, academics and members of the legal fraternity.

Pro Bono Group Pro Bono Publico - “for the public good”.

It was in this spirit that the NUS Pro Bono Group was founded. Dedicated to serving people through more than 14 expanding projects, the NUS Pro Bono Group is a student-run organisation for beneficiaries both local and overseas.

For example, in Legal Clinics or University Court Friends, members assist lawyers and court staff, and witness how the law can make or break a person’s life - a sobering experience. In Migrant Workers-related projects, participants experience the joy in empowering a migrant worker. The PBG also enhances awareness of important legal issues through the Legal Education & Awareness Programme. And working on overseas pro bono trip to our neighboring countries will enable members to learn more than just the law.

In short, the Pro Bono Group is where NUS Law students experience and understand the meaning of true legal service. 

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SECTION THREE: AT THE CROSSROADS A prominent professor has this favourite saying: “Rejoice in the uncertainties, for therein lies your billable hours.”

Perhaps you’ve come into law school aspiring to be a hotshot litigator. Look to your right – That person could harbor a desire to be the next political figure with a background in the law. Someone else could be yearning to write judgments that future law students will memorise. Or maybe, many of you are still uncertain where this path will lead.

At the Crossroads shows you the countless possibilities that make up the future of a law school graduate – from advocate to actor, from politician to proprietor of one’s own business.

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IN THIS SECTION: The Government:

The Judiciary:

The Private Practice:

Now Is An Exciting Time To Be A Lawyer Interview with Mr K Shanmugam SC, Minister for Law and Minister for Foreign Affairs

Both Sides Of The Bench Interview with Ms Sim Khadijah

The Practice Of Law Is A Service Interview with Mr Paul Tan Persevering In The Profession Interview with Ms Lee Weilin

The Path Less Trodden: Life Lessons From Studying The Law Interview with Mr George Young

Awfully Adventurous Interview with Ms Lyn Lee

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THE GOVERNMENT: NOW IS AN EXCITING TIME TO BE A LAWYER Interview with Mr K Shanmugam SC, Minister for Law and Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr K Shanmugam SC is the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Law. He graduated from NUS Law School with First Class Honors in 1984. After graduation, he went into private practice and became one of the Senior Partners and head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution at Allen & Gledhill LLP. At the age of 38, he was named Senior Counsel. He was in private practice for 23 years before becoming a Cabinet Minister in 2008.

It has been 30 years since you’ve graduated from NUS Law. How would you describe yourself as a law student?

I enjoyed being a law student - it was tremendous fun. I enjoyed studying law, and I knew that I wanted to do well in it. I also enjoyed the life of an undergraduate.

I also believe that one should have a broad approach to education. It would be a pity if a student was only interested in the subjects he or she was studying. There needs to be an interest in life beyond the field of law: it can be current affairs, history, hobbies, a lawyer’s consciousness about society – anything.

I had a somewhat easygoing approach to life, as an undergraduate. Though I have to say that “easygoing” would not be a description which people who know me will use to describe me.

____ “I ALSO BELIEVE THAT ONE SHOULD HAVE A BROAD APPROACH TO EDUCATION. IT WOULD BE A PITY IF A STUDENT WAS ONLY INTERESTED IN THE SUBJECTS HE OR SHE WAS STUDYING.” ____ There are many students leaving to study abroad nowadays. What advantages are there when one studies law in Singapore, compared to overseas?

Our local law schools in NUS and SMU are highly ranked internationally, and there are several advantages to studying here. A student in the Law Schools in Singapore will get a deeper understanding of Singapore Law. Affordability is another advantage, as MOE grants substantial subsidies to local undergraduates. The fact that you get to know a large number of fellow law students, who are going to be in the legal field in Singapore, is also helpful.

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And if we look at employment figures, graduates from local law schools seem to have an edge in securing training contracts.

From 2009 to 2013, about 99% of local law graduates were able to find training contracts as compared with 69% of those who studied overseas.

Ultimately, it depends on the quality of the individual, the law school the person goes to and the training he or she receives. Some of our best lawyers studied in overseas universities, and there are (obviously) several good law schools around the world.

You handle two portfolios - Law and Foreign Affairs. Could you tell us more about your job scope? How do you juggle the two portfolios?

As the Minister for Law, I have to ensure that our laws are relevant, up to date and meet the needs of the general populace. In the field of foreign affairs, MFA is responsible for developing and maintaining ties with various countries, as well as safeguarding and advancing Singapore’s interests in the global arena.

Juggling the two portfolios is not easy. But I enjoy the work, though it can be taxing.

Let me share an amusing personal anecdote relating to MFA. After the Year 4 exams in Law School, I went for a recruitment event for law students at the MFA. I was not keen on joining the MFA then. I had decided to go into private practice at least for a few years, before I decided what else I might do with myself. Nevertheless, I went for the MFA recruitment event to ‘look see’, and to support the event because we were told that MFA was hoping for a good turnout from my class, and I was Class President.

They had heard about me, because in those days, only one person got first class honors, and in many years, no one did. So they were looking out for me.

I went in jeans, and with a beard.

I should have given it more thought and made myself more presentable. (The Foreign Service prides itself on being a top notch service with a premium on presentation, diplomatic skills as well as intellect). They took one look at me, and decided that I could not be the person they had heard about. They decided it must be another boy in my class, with a similar name, who was more appropriately dressed! (Laughs) They thought that I was not sufficiently focused.

I went to the event and came back without realizing what the MFA had thought of me. I didn’t sign up, and don’t think they would have let me sign up anyway. I came to know their views some years later, quite accidentally, as one of the MFA officers recounted the story to me without realizing that I was the person he was referring to. And it was ironic that I became the Minister. I told them about this episode, much to the amusement of the MFA officers, including those were responsible for recruitment – they then said something about not judging a book by its cover.

What are some goals that you would like NUS Law School to strive towards?

The Singapore legal sector has grown significantly in recent years both in size and in value-add to the economy. NUS Law plays an important role against this backdrop. To support NUS in its vision to be a leading law school, the government has set aside significant funding for NUS Law School to establish four new centres of excellence, namely the Centre for Law and Business, the Centre for Banking and Financial Services Law, the Centre for Maritime Law and Centre for Asian Legal Studies.

Through this, we hope NUS Law will be able to continue producing high quality legal talent with skills relevant to the needs

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of our legal sector. It needs to build up a strong core of home-grown academics in the law faculty who are able to articulate and grow Singapore law as a law of choice for commerce in the region, as well as help in the development of our own jurisprudence particularly in areas of law that are inherently contextual, like Constitutional law and human rights law.

Could you also tell us about your plans for the legal industry?

The trends in world trade and investment provide significant opportunities in Asia for the legal industry. Singapore is well positioned to play a pivotal role as a major legal hub in this part of the world. We will continue to place a strong emphasis in developing Singapore as the regional hub for legal services, including dispute resolution.

A key initiative in this area is the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC), which we are planning to launch sometime next year. The SICC will be a superior court of law that is part of the Supreme Court of Singapore. It will deal only with international commercial cases, and include specialist commercial judges as well as eminent foreign jurists in its panel of judges.

The introduction of the Qualifying Foreign Law Practice (QFLP) scheme in 2008 has also allowed tremendous opportunities for local lawyers to do cross border work and to develop deep specializations. They have also contributed strongly to the growth of our legal sector.

What about legal reform?

We’re reviewing in a number of areas, including the laws relating to homicide and family disputes.

For homicide, a Committee is looking into rationalizing Penal Code offences relating to homicide and hurt where 56

death is caused, as well as the treatment of mentally disabled offenders across the whole spectrum of criminal law.

For family justice, we intend to set up a comprehensive specialist family court structure, as well as enhancements to our social support service providers and integrating them into the family court system.

It was said at a legal conference, that this is a very exciting time to be a lawyer in Singapore right now. I think many would agree.

What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced in your legal career? How did you overcome them?

It’s a career spanning over 20 years!

(Laughs) It would not be meaningful to talk about specific cases. Some cases are more challenging while others are less challenging. You just have to approach it as a professional and put in your best effort.

The challenge in practice, to put it broadly, is that you need to maintain a high intensity approach all the time. I’ve always enjoyed the practice of law. You have to be completely focused on your work: the ability to understand the facts, and apply the law to different fact situations and make judgment calls. It’s a constantly evolving dynamic situation - you’ll have to deal with witnesses, judges and the opposing counsel. Things change all the time, and you have to adapt quickly, be sharp all the time, on your toes. To keep performing at peak intensity is the biggest challenge.

To do this well, you need to have the right mental frame: calmness of mind, fixity of purpose and clarity of thought. And not be affected when things go badly – and they

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will often appear to be doing so (and that will often appear to be the case). You need coolness to turn things around.

If you want to play in the big league, it’s an extremely challenging environment but it is also a fulfilling career.

____ “TO DO THIS WELL, YOU NEED TO HAVE THE RIGHT MENTAL FRAME: CALMNESS OF MIND, FIXITY OF PURPOSE AND CLARITY OF THOUGHT.” ____ What are your views on the attrition rate currently? As aspiring lawyers, how should we prepare ourselves for work in future?

I wouldn’t be too concerned about it. If you start with the philosophy that if you’re trained as a lawyer, you must be a lawyer, then the attrition rate becomes an issue.

But I look at the study of law as a training of the mind. In fact, all of university is a training of the mind. An example of that is studying the classics. An education is supposed to teach you to think clearly, to give you the powers of analysis, and to

read and understand.

Can you not be an investment banker or set up a pastry shop with a legal education (as many have done)? Young people should be allowed to pursue their passions. You should not be limited because you have a law degree.

The practice of law is not for everyone. But that does not mean that a legal education would then be a waste. You can make a tremendous contribution to society in many other ways, after getting a law degree.

As a matter of interest, what book are you currently reading?

I mentioned previously that I strongly believe in broadening one’s perspectives.

One area of interest for me is the history of European thought – both in philosophy and in politics and the development of European civilization from the Middle Ages – for example, how religions developed (in particular Christianity – because of its impact on Western legal systems), the context in which this development took place and the development of legal principles and systems in the context of this history.

I would like to understand the broad sweep of history and the role law played.

How did civilizations developed? How were towns and cities developed? How did societies rise and decline?

____ “THE PRACTICE OF LAW IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT A LEGAL EDUCATION WOULD THEN BE A WASTE. YOU CAN MAKE A TREMENDOUS CONTRIBUTION TO SOCIETY IN MANY OTHER WAYS, AFTER GETTING A LAW DEGREE. “ ____ AB INITIO: A LAW SCHOOL COMPANION | SECTION THREE: AT THE CROSSROADS | NOW IS AN EXCITING TIME TO BE A LAWYER

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I read some books on these topics. But I have very limited time to do this reading.

Most of my reading today is related to work. I have to keep current, in foreign affairs, on key things that are happening around the world and the developments in the major countries of importance to us.

Lastly, what advice would you give to incoming freshmen?

You must take time to think about life, and ask yourself what is it that you really want.

Some people want fame, some people want money, some want to do their duty, some want to be a good professional, and others just don’t know.

It is best to understand that everything is transient. Nothing is permanent everything changes. So every time you chase something, if you chase money, fame and so on, you’ll always be unhappy because these things are impermanent.

Something that is more permanent is being true and honest to yourself and being happy. Do something you find meaningful.

You will find what you do meaningful if you feel that you are making a difference to yourself, your family, your society.

Oscar Wilde said, “Youth is wasted on the young.” Don’t make the mistake of wasting your youth. I believe students should take time to enjoy themselves as well. University life is also about getting the balance right. Take time to do other things as well, beyond studying. 

____ “DO SOMETHING YOU FIND MEANINGFUL. YOU WILL FIND WHAT YOU DO MEANINGFUL IF YOU FEEL THAT YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE TO YOURSELF, YOUR FAMILY, YOUR SOCIETY.” ____

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THE JUDICIARY: BOTH SIDES OF THE BENCH Interview with Ms Sim Khadijah Ms Sim Khadijah is an Assistant Registrar with the Supreme Court. She has prior experience in the legal profession, having been a litigation lawyer at Rajah & Tann. She won the Advocacy Cup in her second year at NUS Law and graduated in 2007.

Are you involved in anything apart from your job as an Assistant Registrar?

Apart from my day job, I am a Legal Skills Instructor with the NUS Faculty of Law, and this will be my fourth year teaching the LAWR Course. I also teach Advocacy for the Part B Course and conduct mediation training for the Singapore Mediation Centre both locally and abroad.

On a personal note, apart from the academic articles I write on mediation, I also write articles for 2 Muslim magazines – The Muslim Reader and Teens’ Crossroads. These articles are my musings on life’s lessons and challenges. I also volunteer at a Muslim organisation, coaching and judging their youth debates and conducting storytelling sessions for kids.

How do you balance between these various commitments?

Now that I’ve listed the various areas I’m involved in, it does seem a little overwhelming.

(Laughs)

My motto has always been to work hard, play hard and rest hard. The mind, body and spirit need to be constantly recharged in order to perform at its optimum. That means getting the proper exercise, rest and nutrition that you need. It also means focusing on each task you have, and not being half-hearted about anything. Too often, students or young lawyers worry too much about what they need to do and don’t channel enough energy into actually doing that task. Take breaks when you need to, but once it’s time to focus and deliver, give your 101% and you will find that the speed at which you’re clearing your tasks will be astonishing, leaving you time for your other interests and activities.

____ “TOO OFTEN, STUDENTS OR YOUNG LAWYERS WORRY TOO MUCH ABOUT WHAT THEY NEED TO DO AND DON’T CHANNEL ENOUGH ENERGY INTO ACTUALLY DOING THAT TASK.” ____

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What is the difference between working in the public and the private sector, given that you have experienced both?

The biggest difference I have experienced since the switch from the private to the public sector is the way I feel about my work. Don’t get me wrong, I cared deeply about my clients and their cases when I was in private practice, but I knew that the impact of my cases were, more often than not, limited to that individual or company that I was representing.

By contrast, as a judicial officer, the impact of my decisions may be more far reaching. My decision has the potential to affect not only the individuals or companies themselves but future litigants, or the development of the law. As such, there is a heavier responsibility to ensure that each decision is the best decision in the circumstances, and under the law.

Also, as a legal service officer, I am given opportunities to assist or even spearhead initiatives in my project and committee work. So, instead of just reading about changes that are taking place in the legal sector or being a part of the community impacted by those changes, I get to be a part of the community which helps to initiate and shape those changes, which is immensely rewarding. This allows me to have my say, to some small extent, on how the law and the legal landscape in Singapore ought to develop over time.

That said, I wouldn’t have traded my experience in private practice for anything.

It is my sincere belief that my experience as a litigation lawyer has enhanced my experience as a judicial officer. I am able to understand the constraints and realities of practice, and I hope that the lawyers who have attended before me have been able to pick up on that. I remember what it was like being on the other side of the table, arguing my cases. To many lawyers, the most important thing is not the outcome but the process of the hearing. To feel like 60

you have been heard and understood, regardless of the outcome, was something that was very important to me as counsel and continues to be a yardstick for me as a judicial officer. Needless to say, the perspective that I gain as a judicial officer will also come in handy, should I ever decide to return to practice one day.

In terms of the workload, I would say that I am just as busy as I was in practice, but because I love my work, it doesn’t feel like work at all. I wake up with a sense of purpose every morning, and go home with a sense of satisfaction at the end of the day. If you love your job, you never have to work a day in your life. I never quite understood that feeling until my current job.

____ “MY DECISION HAS THE POTENTIAL TO AFFECT NOT ONLY THE INDIVIDUALS OR COMPANIES THEMSELVES BUT FUTURE LITIGANTS, OR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LAW.” ____ How do you think your legal education has contributed to your life?

Now that I have trained my mind to work in the way that it does, I cannot imagine not being able to think or articulate my thoughts in this manner. So much of my ability to absorb, analyse and utilise information is due to my legal education and in particular, my training in legal skills.

I love the way my mind works, and I have my skills instructors, such as Prof Eleanor Wong and Prof Joel Lee, to thank for that.

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To be able to comprehend and dissect your own thought process, communicate that thought process and come up with convincing ways in which to persuade someone else is a gift not just in your legal work, but in your personal life as well! On a more serious note, being legally trained has allowed me to help others, whether in practice or as a judicial officer.

As a lawyer, I tried my best to advise my client not just on the law, but in accordance with his individual needs and financial capabilities. So, if there was a more cost-effective way for him to achieve the desired outcome, I would ensure that my client was properly advised as to his options.

As a judicial officer, I try my best to ensure that any litigants who are unrepresented understand the legal process. Whilst I am unable to advise them as to their substantive legal rights (as the Court is a neutral party), I will try to ensure that they do not leave my courtroom with any misconceptions on the law or on the hearing that has taken place.

____

“IF YOU LOVE YOUR JOB, YOU NEVER HAVE TO WORK A DAY IN YOUR LIFE.” ____ What were you like as a law student?

I think I was an earnest student. I was eager to learn, but not always successful in grasping the concepts that were taught to me. I excelled in some subjects but wasn’t able to perform well in others. Over time, I began to understand myself better, and tapped into my strengths to excel in school.

I suppose I was also a bit of a loner, though.

I kept to myself a lot in law school and wasn’t the most outgoing or participative in school activities. I had a handful of close friends, but never quite mixed around with other students until I participated in the Law IV musical in my 4th year.

What was your motivational force, when you were in law school, and now that you’re working? Especially given that you have various different commitments?

My motivational force has always been my family. My family was not well-to-do and we faced financial hardships from a young age. Working hard was the most logical way to help my family out of the bind that we were in. The idea was to work hard and land myself a good job, so that I could provide for my immediate family, and so that my future children would not have to suffer the same fate.

I used to join the mooting and advocacy competitions, not to land an internship or gain a good reputation in law school but for the prize money, which would go a long way towards covering my university fees and daily expenses. I honestly did not expect to win, but winning the Advocacy Cup in 2005 opened many doors for me, and even helped to land me a research assistant job which then allowed me to work and study so that I was no longer an additional burden on the family income.

Now that I’m a member of the workforce, my motivations still include my family, but they are no longer my sole motivation. I understand that as a member of the legal profession, I am in a privileged position to impact the lives of the average citizen. It is a responsibility I would gladly shoulder and to a certain extent, I do think that having gone through a rough time growing up has made me more compassionate as a lawyer and a judicial officer.

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Knowing that I may be in a position to effect positive change in the lives of others is what drives me the most today. On days when I feel tired or overwhelmed, the reminder of the privileged position I am in pushes me to keep giving my best.

As for what drives me in my teaching appointments, my students mean everything to me. They are the reason I work on the weekends and late into the night to find pockets of time to develop my lesson plans, because I understand that they are the ones who will carry the torch when my time to shine is over. And what greater legacy to leave in your wake than committed members of the legal profession who will strive to effect positive change and serve the community at large?

What advice would you give to young lawyers, who are just starting out?

For young lawyers who are just starting out, I would say hang in there. Expect your first 3 years to be rough, but this is the time when you learn and develop the most.

These are the years you will look back on 62

____ “I UNDERSTAND THAT AS A MEMBER OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION, I AM IN A PRIVILEGED POSITION TO IMPACT THE LIVES OF THE AVERAGE CITIZEN.” ____ and recognise to be the formative years of what I hope is a long and illustrious legal career.

After the first 3 years, life will get better. I have been there, and I have found this to be true: You will learn to work faster and smarter; you will learn to manage your clients’ and bosses’ expectations better; things that used to be an uphill task for you will be achievable with greater ease; you will learn to manage your time better and you should be able to balance your

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work commitments with other interests and passions, the way I was able to take on my teaching appointments which are such a large part of who I am.

____ “AND WHAT GREATER LEGACY TO LEAVE IN YOUR WAKE THAN COMMITTED MEMBERS OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION WHO STRIVE TO EFFECT POSITIVE CHANGE AND SERVE THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE?” ____ What are some nuggets of wisdom you wish to share with incoming freshmen?

To the new law students, I would say stay positive and avoid negative thoughts like doubting your own abilities or overly focusing on the fear of failing. Just do each task as it comes, and understand that progress may be slow and steady. There will be a bit of an adjustment period when you first come into law school, because you will find that ‘A’s will not be as easily attainable as they used to be – after all, every student in law school was previously an ‘A’ student. Learn to accept that it’s fine not to hit the ground running, but to pick up speed as you go along. I’ve had my fair share of Bs and Cs in law school and things turned out fine for me.

Understand that we will be training you to think and develop your mind in a very unique and challenging way, and allow yourself to be receptive to attaining and

honing those skills over time. Set realistic goals for yourself, but always, always dream big. Nothing is impossible, if you put your mind to it and apply yourself.

Also, know when to push yourself, and when to cut yourself some slack.

Moderation in everything you do will help you to stay balanced and keep you from burning out, which is a danger that not only students but also lawyers face.

Finally, know your limits but be ready to test them, because you’ll never know what you are capable of until you try.

I wish you the very best in your journey through the law and I look forward to teaching and mentoring you, whether in law school or in the Part B Course after you graduate. 

____ “KNOW YOUR LIMITS BUT BE READY TO TEST THEM, BECAUSE YOU’LL NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU ARE CAPABLE OF UNTIL YOU TRY.” ____

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THE PRIVATE PRACTICE: THE PRACTICE OF LAW IS A SERVICE Interview with Mr Paul Tan Mr Paul Tan is a partner at Rajah & Tann. He specialises in appeals and issues, commercial litigation and international arbitration. He graduated from NUS with First Class Honours and has a Bachelor of Civil Law (Dist) from Oxford. He is also a Barrister (Middle Temple) in England and Wales and is a member of the Chartered Institution of Arbitrators in London.

How did you decide on your area of specialization? Was it love at first sight?

I specialise in international arbitration. It was not something I had studied in law school, and my first exposure to it was as a Justices’ Law Clerk when I worked on an arbitration-related matter. I then had the opportunity to work with the current Chief Justice when he was at Rajah & Tann, and his portfolio of work included arbitrations. It was from there that I decided to further my learning in the area and went to Oxford for postgraduate studies in both private and public international law, which included arbitrations.

So for me, it was a gradual process. What I find fascinating about arbitration is that the arbitral process is still very much in a state of evolution and that gives counsel and arbitrators flexibility to adapt the process to the specifics of their case. There are also intriguing questions of the relationship between the powers of the court and the arbitral process which remain the subject of intense debate.

We all know that lawyers are really busy people. What is a regular day in the office like?

For most associates, a day will comprise a mix of meetings – both internal and with clients – as well as periods of research and drafting. As one gets more senior, more of your time shifts towards working with clients or supervising the work of the more junior members of the team, or going to court.

There are days I feel like a receptionist because of the number of calls I have to entertain. I spend a lot of time clearing my emails and drafts of work and discussing case management and strategies with the associates on my files. But there are breaks in between – lunch, coffee runs, and if you’re staying late, dinners, supper, even drinks with colleagues and friends. It helps to break up the monotony.

“All work, no play makes Jack a boring person.” How do you balance work with other areas of your life?

The reality is that the practice of law is a service industry, and that means having to be client-oriented. That means having to work late occasionally or on weekends or even on 64

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holidays if the client needs urgent assistance.

New instructions don’t always come in when it’s convenient for you. So the first thing we have to come to terms with is that your schedule is not always in your control.

This is especially so at junior level when you have to juggle the schedules of multiple partners, senior associates and clients.

However, you’ll learn to find downtime – a few hours on the weekend, an indulgent dinner on a weekday, and when you find an opening, book the first flight out even if it’s for a few days. Making plans (or keeping them) is a challenge in our line of work, but we learn to manage.

What do you enjoy most about work?

The variety of cases that we see is what makes the job so interesting. It can be a breach of contract one day, it can be advising an international organisation on its immunities the next day. The intellectual challenge is unceasing.

Who I’m working with is equally important. A large part of what I enjoy

____ “THE REALITY IS THAT THE PRACTICE OF LAW IS A SERVICE INDUSTRY, AND THAT MEANS HAVING TO BE CLIENT-ORIENTED.” ____ about practice is the opportunity to work with some of the best lawyers in Singapore in a friendly, open and collegiate environment.

How did you make the transition from law student to legal practitioner?

It’s not easy. From having very regular hours and schedules, you have to learn to be flexible about your time. Being able to manage multiple files with shifting timelines – and knowing how to prioritise your work – is also challenging.

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____ “PERSEVERE AND BE HUMBLE. THE LIFE OF A PRACTITIONER IS 40, MAYBE 50 YEARS.” ____ Moreover, a lot of academic study is done individually. In the workplace, one needs to develop the skills to deal with colleagues, partners, clients, judges and arbitrators – some of whom may be impatient, unreasonable and difficult. These are some aspects of practice that are very different from academic learning.

What advice would you give to young and aspiring lawyers?

Persevere and be humble. The life of a practitioner is 40, maybe 50 years. Don’t be impatient – learn the ropes, wait for your opportunities, and if you’re good, your colleagues and the market will recognise you.

But be humble – there will always be someone smarter, more industrious, better than you. Learn from everyone, and every experience. Being arrogant only alienates

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you, and you never know when you need a favour!

How long have you practiced? What do you feel about the attrition rate?

I’ve practised since 2007, after two years with the Court. In between, I did a postgrad degree and worked in London for a couple of years. The attrition rate is due to a number of factors, some of which the profession itself cannot control.

However, I do think we can do better to make the lives of associates more manageable and meaningful. Being more conscious about last-minute instructions, acknowledging their hard work, trying to accommodate their other work and social schedules if possible, giving them opportunities – these are small but important ways in which we can try to make associate life more tolerable. 

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THE PRIVATE PRACTICE: PERSEVERING IN THE PROFESSION Interview with Ms Lee Weilin Ms Lee Weilin is a partner at the firm Rajah & Tann. She specialises in Banking and Finance and has experience acting for major Singapore and foreign banks, Singapore government-linked companies, REITs, statutory boards and international conglomerates. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics.

How did you decide on your area of specialization? Was it love at first sight?

In those days, there were only 2 choices - corporate or litigation work. We didn’t think of going into our areas of specialisation so early in our career. I wanted to do corporate work and I was slotted into the corporate department. Along the way, I worked on a financing matter with some other senior lawyers and as they say, the rest is history. I wouldn’t say it was love at first sight but so far, it’s been good.

What motivated you to join a “Big Four” firm, despite the stories of the extremely long working hours and competitive colleagues?

I was convinced by a tutor in school who told us that in the early years of our career, it is better to be a small fish in a big pond, than to be a big fish in a small pond. She explained that the big law firms are usually appointed for the bigger and more complex transactions and as young associates, it is from such transactions where you would learn most.

We all know that lawyers are really busy people. What is a regular day in the office like?

I come in at noon and I get off by 5 pm - no, I’m kidding!

That’s really quite far from the truth. I get my coffee, walk into office about 9 in the morning, earlier on some days, and start replying to my emails. If there are calls or meetings with clients scheduled for the day, I will read up on the notes for the call or meeting. There is always work streaming in, whether it’s drafting documents, replying emails, calls/ meetings with clients or associates knocking at the door to clear their work and discuss some issues. Before you know it, it would be lunch. I go out for lunch but if there really is a lot to finish up, I will eat in. Work continues till the evening, and then I’ll go home.

We do make it a point to go for drinks or dinner with the team quite regularly.

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What do you enjoy most about work?

There are thrills in every transaction.

Sometimes it has to do with “taming” a difficult client. Sometimes it is resolving a difficult issue so that parties can proceed with the matter. Some financing matters can be very complex and accelerated. My satisfaction comes from completing such matters and getting repeat work from happy clients!

____ “THERE ARE THRILLS IN EVERY TRANSACTION.” ____

pressure, and learning from it. It really helped that the senior lawyers were willing to explain the process and why certain things have to be done in a certain way.

You also learn from each experience.

Looking back, the journey really isn’t so bad - you just have to persevere. The biggest difference between a law student and a practising lawyer is probably the fact that as a law student, you are only accountable to yourself, whereas as a practising lawyer, you are accountable to your clients who are relying on your professional advice and it is not easy to always be diligent and precise.

What advice would you give to young and aspiring lawyers?

How did you make the transition for law student to a legal practitioner? Was it tough?

It was certainly not easy. I wasn’t the most studious of students and I was quite playful by nature. When I first started out, the team of lawyers I worked with were all seniors and quite serious. Thankfully, it’s a little different nowadays. However, the training was great - the lawyers were willing to teach and I was very willing to learn. After a while, things just start falling into place.

The most invaluable training comes from working on projects under immense time

You must sincerely want the law to be your career. Don’t come into practice with thoughts of leaving to set up a cafe or blogshop or being a tai-tai in x number of years. It won’t do you any good. Also, please banish all thoughts of the fabled “work-life balance”. If you keep harping on how to balance your work with other things in your life, chances are you will never find a balance. Work is just like any other part of your life. If you think it is worthwhile, you will naturally want to spend more time on it.

How long have you practiced? What do you feel about the attrition rate?

I’ve practiced for about 7 years.

____ “AS A LAW STUDENT, YOU ARE ONLY ACCOUNTABLE TO YOURSELF, WHEREAS AS A PRACTICING LAWYER, YOU ARE ACCOUNTABLE TO YOUR CLIENTS WHO ARE RELYING ON YOUR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE AND IT IS NOT EASY TO ALWAYS BE DILIGENT AND PRECISE.” ____ 68

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The attrition rate is expected - the hours are long and work can be very demanding.

I work with a team of lawyers whom I genuinely enjoy working with and I enjoy the type of work I do. Along the way, there were definitely times when I felt a little weary, but I always knew that I was in this career for the long run and knowing this helps me focus and make sure that things run on track.

How would you respond to the statement that the legal fraternity is still an “all boys clubs”?

I don’t think this applies to my team. We have many female lawyers around and the “girl power” is pretty strong. In fact, I think there are times when the male lawyers feel quite overwhelmed when we start to discuss bags and shoes and all! 

How should interning law students maximise their time at the firm?

Ask to sit in for meetings and conference calls, and observe how the lawyers work.

That will give you a flavour of what the type of work is like. I know interns always try to ask for work and whilst I appreciate the fact that interns are trying to be helpful, it is not always easy to give out work to an intern. This is usually because projects are time sensitive and there isn’t time to get the interns up to speed on the projects.

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THE PATH LESS TRODDEN: LIFE LESSONS FROM STUDYING THE LAW Interview with Mr George Young Mr George Young is an actor and host. He was educated at Winchester College and studied acting in New York.

He also has a degree in Psychology from the University of Southampton and a law degree from the University of Westminister and The College of Law in the United Kingdom. He completed his solicitor traineeship in the City of London law firm. Though George is a fully qualified solicitor for the Supreme Court of England and Wales, he chose to pursue his love of acting. Managed by FLY Entertainment in Singapore, he has acted and hosted local and regional productions.

You are a qualified lawyer in England. Tell us why you chose to pursue a law degree, and what you were like as a law student.

I thought that pursing a career in law sounded like something that would play to my strengths. Out of the “Big Three” professions of Law, Accountancy and Medicine, I knew full well that I was too squeamish to be a doctor and too numerically illiterate to be an accountant. I was, however, good with words, and liked the problem-solving aspects posed by reading comprehensions and the like, which all seemed to make me well-suited to the profession.

I chose Psychology as my first degree to help learn more about my two brothers with autism. However, as that degree drew to a close, I was left wondering what to do next.

My girlfriend then was pursuing a law career, and she pointed out to me that it was possible for graduates to do a law conversion course, called a Post Graduate Diploma in Law at the time, which would then allow me to do the Legal Practice Course, and (hopefully) secure that elusive training contract in the meantime.

Perhaps because I had already graduated with a first degree, and the real world outside those safe university walls was very much threatening to leave me unemployed or in a job that could quite possibly be wholly unsatisfying, I was a model student when it came to studying law. I realised pretty quickly that if I stayed on top of everything right from the outset, I’d make everything a lot easier for myself.

I kept up with the case studies and was generally a very good boy throughout - reminding myself that, if not the specific case studies, then at least the methodology behind working out the various problems would be helpful when it came to actually being a lawyer and providing client advice.

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How has your legal education contributed to your life?

It’s certainly made me more wary of signing contracts. Here in Singapore, I look through most of the contracts and agreements that come through my management company Fly Entertainment.

I know what clauses to look out for and I’m not scared of legalese!

My legal education and background has also helped me with general problem solving - how to tackle a problem by looking at the facts that surrounds it and decipher what’s relevant and what isn’t.

It also turned out that one of my first TV roles in Singapore was playing a trainee solicitor. (The Pupil Season 2, where I was the titular Pupil) Needless to say I had all the research for the role already under my belt! (Laughs)

course my parents loved the fact that I was on the path to becoming a lawyer and supported the decision immediately!

With each step I took towards qualification, it made less and less sense to stop. So I saw it through: the casework, the practical training, the traineeship in a City firm, and finally qualifying as a Solicitor for the Supreme Court of England and Wales.

It was only after having experienced the profession up to that point, and really giving it a go, did I realise that I really couldn’t shake the acting bug. So, I made the scary leap into the unknown and insecure world of acting.

However, I wouldn’t change the experiences I had gained from my past life as a lawyer for the world. Law, with its focus on Criminal, Civil, Property and Corporate, gave me a well-rounded education on how the world we live in works. Law taught

____ “MY LEGAL EDUCATION AND BACKGROUND HAS ALSO HELPED ME WITH GENERAL PROBLEM SOLVING…” ____ Why did you choose to go into acting, despite your legal background?

I’d always loved acting and performing in school, and before I started my law career, I’d filmed a number of short films and commercials in the US and Asia, as well as attending an acting course in New York. By the time I graduated with my first degree, I had agents in Taiwan, Thailand and London.

However, I’d never really considered that I could actually go off and make a living as an actor or presenter. It made far more sense to go down the law path. Also, of

me tips to survive the real commercial and corporate world, supplied me with some life-long friends and an insight into a profession within a sphere I otherwise would never have encountered.

You juggle your acting career with your charity work. What tips do you have for time management?

Working in a law firm for two years during my traineeship and qualification was a major wake-up call when it came to time management. Yes, you learn some of this at school, but when it comes to dealing with real clients with real problems and

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____ “LAW, WITH ITS FOCUS ON CRIMINAL, CIVIL, PROPERTY AND CORPORATE, GAVE ME A WELL-ROUNDED EDUCATION ON HOW THE WORLD WE LIVE IN WORKS.” ____ real money, you absolutely have to hone the skill of effective time management so that you’ll swim, not sink.

I had a really good supervisor at my firm that taught me two things that I’ll pass on:

First, although it sometimes very much seems this way, you don’t need to do everything at the same time. Indeed that’s largely impossible for us non-computer based beings. Prioritise, and have your ToDo list clearly organised.

If you have a superior come up to you trying to add more things to your already full plate, tell them straight up “I’d love to help you with this - I have a and b and c to do at the moment that x says needs to be done by this time. Can you chat with x or y and coordinate when it is best to handle what you need to be done?” That way, they’ll understand what you have on and what your priorities are, and they can communicate with the team and get someone else on board to help if need be. Staying silent or just saying yes or no won’t help anyone.

Secondly, “a drowning man grabs onto the first log he sees.” This is just a saying that my supervisor once told me when I was inundated with work and didn’t have my first tip effectively implemented yet. I still 72

remember and adhere to when all else hits the fan. (Laughs) If you’re completely overwhelmed with work and you have no help available and you need to just do it - do the first thing you can manage, no matter how small, and take it from there.

____ “YOU DON’T NEED TO DO EVERYTHING AT THE SAME TIME.” ____ What advice would you give to law students who aren’t sure they want to go into practice?

I would say - Don’t panic. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re on the fence about it, ask yourself: How far along are you in your training, and what is your alternative path?

If you’ve only just begun your education in law, and there’s a burning passion to pursue something else, then I would say that you should seriously consider a change. For those who are overwhelmed initially, I believe anyone can succeed in this profession if they put in the required effort.

Otherwise, if you’re on your way and you have a knack for it, becoming a lawyer can be hugely rewarding - and not just financially if you choose an area of law that truly interests you. 

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THE PATH LESS TRODDEN: AWFULLY ADVENTUROUS Interview with Ms Lyn Lee Ms Lyn Lee graduated from NUS law and practised for 2 years before starting up Awfully Chocolate in 1998 with a group of friends. The original store, in a Katong side street, sold only one cake – rich, chocolate fudge cake. The brand is now a huge success locally, as well as in the region, with 10 local branches and 17 self-owned and franchised stores in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. She has also opened sister restaurants Everything With Fries, Ninethirty by Awfully Chocolate and recently launched Awfullygoodtogo by Awfully Chocolate.

What were you like as a law student? Do you have any memorable experiences of law school?

I dressed bohemian with tie-dye fringed tops and torn denim sneakers. I also loved the wooden foyer benches overlooking the big tree and people coming and going all day.

How do you think your legal education has contributed to Awfully Chocolate?

Very much! It has made me more confident looking at contracts and negotiating deals, from our rights as a tenant (we have none!) to entrenching quality standards of Awfully Chocolate stores overseas.

How did you decide to give up practising and go into opening up your own business?

With a sense of adventure!

What advice would you give to law students who aren’t sure they want to go into practice?

Stay in it as long as possible. No one can be sure of everything anyway. If it doesn’t work out, call me!

What are your thoughts on the high attrition rate in the legal field?

High? Do you know the attrition rate in doing business?!

Finally, what are some nuggets of wisdom you wish to share with incoming freshmen?

Live life with an open mind. If you go into things with too many fixed ideas of what will suit you, nothing will. 

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Contributions

Judge of Appeal Justice Andrew Phang Professor Simon Chesterman Professor Ng-Loy Wee Loon Professor Kevin YL Tan Professor Leong Wai Kum Professor Walter Woon SC Associate Professor Joel Lee Associate Professor Alexander Loke Associate Professor David Tan Associate Professor Eleanor Wong Assistant Professor Michael Dowdle Assistant Professor Tracey Evans Chan Mr George Young Mr K Shanmugam SC (Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Law) Ms Lee Weilin Ms Lyn Lee Mr Paul Tan Ms Sim Khadijah Photography

Derrick Koh Mun Keong Leung Liwen Makeup

Lynn Yeo Sponsor

Rajah & Tann LLP Faculty Advisor

Associate Professor Joel Lee Design

Geraldine Peck peck.geraldine@gmail.com www.geraldinepeck.com

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Benjamin Teo Charlene Wee James Kwong Jaryl Lim Joshua Kow Lim Wei Zhen Lorraine Ang Nicholas Lee Nina Carlina Shermaine Ch’ng NUS Law Club Criminal Justice Club Justified Law Students’ International Relations Committee Mooting and Debating Club Singapore Law Review Pro Bono Group