Letter from the Dean 2021 by NUS Law

Letter from the Dean March 2021

Dear Members of the NUS Law Community I began writing these letters to our stakeholders the better part of a decade ago. Newly appointed as Dean, I said that we were at a pivotal moment in our development. Increasingly recognised as Asia’s leading law school, NUS Law had the opportunity to become one of the very best law schools in the world – in terms of our academic programmes and our research, but also for the unique role that we play in Singapore, and that Singapore plays internationally. As I write this tenth letter, the landscape of legal education has been transformed – by globalisation, by technology, and of course by the pandemic. Yet, I remain optimistic for our future. Rankings should be taken with a grain of salt, but the past decade has seen our position rise from 22nd to joining the top 10 law schools in the world in the most recent QS Rankings. More meaningful measures are the quality and prospects of our students, the faculty we attract and the impact they have on the profession and the world. As these pages demonstrate, my colleagues and our students continue to rise to every challenge placed before them.

Students in masks attending lessons during COVID-19

There is no room for complacency, however. In my sixth letter, written on the occasion of NUS Law’s 60th anniversary, I recalled the Red Queen’s advice to Alice in Wonderland: just to stay in one place you have to run as fast as you can; if you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that. Rest assured that we are not standing still. Among other things, we are increasing opportunities for students with diverse backgrounds and skills to enter law school. This makes it easier for those with backgrounds in technology, or coming from schools with lower representation in NUS Law, to join and enrich our community. We are also committed to being inclusive on faculty hiring, encouraging applications by individuals who embody and embrace our values of excellence through diversity. Expanding our talent pool in this way is not merely a question of equity: it lays broader and deeper foundations for our future success. Being part of all these changes over the past 10 years – running alongside my colleagues, students, and our alumni – has been the highlight of my professional life. Reviewing the achievements documented in these pages fills me with pride in what we have achieved. And it renews my optimism about what is still to come.

Leadership Mindy Chen-Wishart took up the post of Dean of the Oxford Law Faculty. Mindy is a Professor of the Law of Contract at Oxford University and a Tutorial Fellow in Law at Merton College. Since 2006, she has also held a fractional appointment as a Professor at NUS Law – a position that she will continue in her new role.

Mindy Chen-Wishart

S Jayakumar ’63 was appointed NUS Pro-Chancellor and Emeritus Professor. A graduate of our third cohort (LLB ’63), Jayakumar joined NUS Law in 1964, rising to become Dean a decade later. He took leave from 1980 in order to enter politics, serving as Minister for Law, Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, and Labour, as well as holding the positions of Deputy Prime Minister, Senior Minister, and Coordinating Minister for National Security. He has also served as Singapore’s Ambassador to the United Nations and was a member of its delegation to the Law of the Sea Conference. S Jayakumar ’63

Ho Hock Lai ’89 became the inaugural Coomaraswamy Professor of the Law of Evidence. This new Chair was created in honour of the late Punch Coomaraswamy and his wife, Kaila Coomaraswamy. The Coomaraswamy Professorship in the Law of Evidence has been endowed to advance Punch Coomaraswamy’s life-long love of the law of evidence and to commemorate his commitment and contribution to equipping the faculty’s first generation of students with a sound grasp of the theory, principles, and application of the law of evidence in Singapore. Hock Lai is a graduate of NUS Law, who went on to obtain a BCL from Oxford in 1993 and a PhD from Cambridge in 2003. He joined the faculty in 1991 as a Senior Tutor and progressed through the ranks to full professor in 2009. Along the way, he has held several leadership positions, including Director of Continuing Legal Education, Chair of the Faculty Search Committee, and Chair of the Faculty Promotion and Tenure Committee, as well as serving as a member of the University Promotion and Tenure Committee. Michael Bridge was appointed as the Geoffrey Bartholomew Professor. He has held various senior appointments throughout his career, including Executive Dean at UCL and Head of School at the University of Nottingham, and he has held visiting professorships at leading universities around the world. His research interests span across a range of areas within the broad field of commercial law, including contracts, secured transactions, international and domestic sale of goods, private international law, comparative law, and personal property law. He revived the study of personal property law with his Michael Bridge various books, the most important of which are the Law of Security and Title Based Financing and the Law of Personal Property. He is the General Editor of Benjamin’s Sale of Goods, a leading treatise in the field, and his works are cited by the highest courts in the Commonwealth. Andrew Simester became the Amaladass Professor of Criminal Justice on 1 July 2020. He has held visiting positions at Oxford and Uppsala, from which he has also received an honorary doctorate. In 2015, he was appointed to the Edmund-Davies Professorship in Criminal Law at King’s College London. This prestigious Chair has been held by leading lights in criminal law in the United Kingdom, including Alan Norrie, Jeremy Horder, and Andrew Ashworth, the last of whom went on to hold the Vinerian Chair at Oxford. Andrew’s research focuses on the fields of criminal law and legal philosophy. He has established himself internationally as a leading scholar who writes seamlessly across theory, philosophy, principle, and doctrine. 2

Andrew Simester and Andrew Halpin have been appointed as Co-Directors for the Centre for Legal Theory (CLT). The Centre will continue with its efforts to strengthen the international standing it has acquired, through supporting both individual and collaborative projects of its members across a broad range of theoretical interests, developing strategic alliances with legal theory communities elsewhere, and exploring emerging opportunities for dialogue between Western and Asian theoretical approaches towards law. Jayagowry Appalasamy assumed the role of Head of Administration, succeeding former Associate Dean for Administration, Goh Mia Yang ’92, who has moved on to take on the role of Senior Associate Dean in the NUS Office of Student Affairs. We thank Mia Yang for her many years of service, which includes additional responsibilities as Director of Administration for the Bukit Timah Campus Cluster (embracing Law, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, the Centre for International Law, and the East Asian Institute). Jaya brings a wealth of experience managing events and research funding, and is well-known to those involved with the Asian Law Institute and the Asian Society of International Law. Prior to joining NUS Law, she spent more than a dozen years in the Ministry of Home Affairs as a senior administrator in the Singapore Police Force. Among other activities, she continues to serve in the Singapore Armed Forces Volunteer Corps (as an Auxiliary security trooper) and is an active grassroots volunteer. I am confident that she will continue to ensure that our educational and research mission is carried out as efficiently and effectively as possible. As for myself, I was honoured to be elected Co-President of the Law Schools Global League, a partnership of 31 law schools that we helped establish in 2012. I will serve alongside Martin Hogg, Dean of Edinburgh Law School, for a two-year term that takes the League into its second decade. The League complements and enhances the educational and research missions of its members. But it can also provide unique opportunities for students and faculty through legal tech venture days, career opportunities at international organisations, and a partnership with the International Bar Association to ensure that our members’ diverse curricula properly address the changing needs of practice.

Simon Chesterman

Faculty Promotions Leong Wai Kum, Chin Tet Yung and Robert Beckman were appointed Emeritus Professors in recognition of their distinguished careers and outstanding contributions to the field of law.

Leong Wai Kum, Chin Tet Yung and Robert Beckman

In her four decades of teaching, Wai Kum has trained a generation of students in both the compulsory module of Torts and her area of deepest expertise: Family Law. Her defining book Elements of Family Law in Singapore was first published in 2007, with a second edition in 2012 and a third edition in 2018.

Chin served as Dean of the faculty from 1992 to 2001, a period that saw the launch of exchange programmes with partner universities around the world and the establishment of NUS Law’s first two research centres – APCEL and the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, the latter succeeded today by the EW Barker Centre for Law & Business. With a global reputation as a scholar of Ocean Law, and as an expert on the South China Sea, Bob has played a transformative role in the lives of most of Singapore’s international lawyers and the many international students with whom he has had contact. His pioneering work on the Jessup Moot led NUS Law to a record number of victories. With the support of the legendary 1982 Jessup Team, Singapore’s National Round of the competition was recently named after him.

Wayne Courtney was promoted to full Professor. Wayne holds a PhD and undergraduate degrees in law and science from the University of Sydney, and a degree in computer science from the University of Tasmania. He joined NUS Law five years ago from Sydney, where he had been an Associate Professor and Associate Dean. Before entering academia, he practised as a commercial lawyer in a leading Australian law firm. His field of expertise is the law of contract in common law jurisdictions. He takes a doctrinal approach to his research, finding new insights and connections in the law as it stands, and also challenging conventional thinking about contract doctrine. He draws on theory and policy to contextualise and illuminate his doctrinal analysis.

Wayne Courtney

Christian Hofmann LLM ’13 was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. Christian’s legal education began in Germany and includes a doctorate from Martin-Luther-Universitaet Halle-Wittenberg (summa cum laude) and a Habilitation at Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin. He was a lecturer for several years and joined the German Central Bank before being appointed Professor of Private and Business Law in Liechtenstein. In 2012, he moved to Singapore and earned LLM degrees from NYU and NUS before joining the faculty as an Assistant Professor in 2013. In NUS Law, he is also one of the co-coordinators of the Civil Law Cluster in the Centre for Asian Legal Studies and has been an active member of the Centre for Banking & Finance Law (CBFL). He has also taken on the new position of Head (Central Banking & Financial Regulation) within CBFL.

Lynette J. Chua ’03

Lynette J. Chua ’03 was appointed Rector of Elm College, one of the three residential colleges at Yale-NUS. As Rector, Lynette is responsible for the intellectual and cultural life of the residential college. She organises Rector’s Teas and works with the Assistant Dean, Dean of Faculty, Dean of Students, Residential Fellows, and the residential college council to support programmes aimed at community building, student advising, wellness, and crisis management. The appointment gives Lynette a dual administrative role at Yale-NUS, where she is also Head of Studies for the Law-Liberal Arts Double-Degree Programme (DDP), a position to which she was appointed in January 2019.

Wee Meng Seng ’93 was appointed as Co-Director of the Asian Law Institute (ASLI) on 1 July 2020. Meng Seng has served as Deputy Director in ASLI in the past alongside Andrew Harding. Among other things, his work on cross-border insolvency has established him as a regional expert in this important area. He also represents NUS on the SAL Promotion of Singapore Law Committee. Meng Seng remains in his position as Deputy Director of the EW Barker Centre for Law & Business. Wee Meng Seng ’93

Justin Tan ’10 was promoted to Senior Lecturer. Justin holds a LLB (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Business Administration from NUS, as well as an LLM in Tax Law from NYU. He practised tax law at Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow, before joining NUS Law as a Sheridan Fellow in 2014 and as a Lecturer since 2017. His teaching experience includes Torts, Singapore Law in Context, and Tax Implications of Commercial Cross-Border Transactions, as well as Law and Public Policy for NUS Scale. Justin’s research has been published in the Asia-Pacific Tax Bulletin, Torts Law Journal, SJLS, and SAcLJ. He also volunteers at the Legal Aid Bureau and has done pro bono work to assist VWOs with their data protection obligations.

Justin Tan ’10

Faculty Achievements Kumaralingam Amirthalingam was appointed as amicus curiae to the Court of Appeal in the criminal appeal of Abdul Karim bin Mohamed Kuppai Khan v Public Prosecutor to submit on the charging practices of the Prosecution. He was also appointed as Expert Adviser to the Ministry of Law and as Co-convenor for the Part A Bar Examinations in Criminal Law at the Singapore Institute of Legal Education. He was re-appointed to the Singapore Medical Council Complaints Panel and Standing Complaints Committee.

Andrew Harding LLM ’84 was awarded a MacCormick Fellowship to visit at Edinburgh Law School. The fellowship is named in honour of Professor Sir Neil MacCormick (1941–2009), Regius Professor of Public Law and the Law of Nature and Nations at the University of Edinburgh from 1972 to 2008. In recognition of his achievements, his work and his distinguished career, he was also awarded the Honorary Doctor of Laws from Thammasat University, Thailand.

Andrew Harding LLM ’84

Koh Kheng Lian ’61 LLM ’66 PhD ’72 was awarded the “Environmental Lawyer of the Year 2020 (ASEAN)” by the Asian Research Institute for Environmental Law, for her scholarship in environmental law, and for the promotion of the concept of ASEAN Environmental Law. In a tribute to Kheng Lian, Emeritus Professor Ben Boer noted her remarkable academic specialization in ASEAN environmental law. She was a consultant to the Asian Development Bank in capacity building for environmental law, and under her leadership, APCEL rose to become the region’s reputed centre of excellence for capacity building in environmental law in the Asia- Pacific region.

Koh Kheng Lian ’61 LLM ’66 PhD ’72

Lan Luh Luh ’89 was appointed as a member to the Singapore Law Society Inquiry Panel committee with effect from 2020. She was also appointed by the Singapore Institute of Legal Education as the Subject Coordinator for the Part A Bar Examinations in Company Law (with effect from 2021), succeeding Walter Woon ’81. Joel Lee was appointed to serve at the Singapore Construction Mediation Centre’s Advisory Panel. He was also appointed as a Specialist Visiting Professor for the Master of Arts in Mediation and Conflict Resolution at the Maharashtra National Law University Mumbai, and as an Expert Advisor to the Expert Committee on Mediation under the Mediation and Conciliation Project Committee of the Supreme Court of India. He was also recognized in “Who’s Who Legal 2020” as Global Leader in Mediation. Ernest Lim ’02 was awarded the 2020 Society of Legal Scholars Peter Birks Book Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship (joint second prize) − the premier law book prize in the English-speaking world − for his monograph, A Case for Shareholders' Fiduciary Duties in Common Law Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2019). This book reconceptualises the role of shareholders as one that should include fiduciary duties. It demonstrates why, when, by whom and how fiduciary duties should be imposed and how they could be enforced. It debunks the long-standing orthodoxy that shareholders can generally vote as they please; proposes a new conception of corporate interest; and addresses the deficiencies in the law regulating conflicts of interest involving controlling and institutional shareholders. Lin Lin LLM ’06 PhD ’10 was appointed as the Senior Fellow at the University of Melbourne and taught an inventive course on Commercial Law in Asia at the Melbourne Law School in 2020. She was also appointed as the mediator of the Hainan International Commercial Mediation Center, and a member of the Editorial Committee of Singapore Venture Capital Investment Model Agreements (VIMA) Handbook, a project led by the Singapore Academy of Law and Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, of which, she is the only member from academia. Lin Lin was also appointed as a Guest Editor of the European Business Organization Law Review, a leading law journal on business law, broadly defined and including both European Union law and the laws of the Member States and other European countries. Jaclyn Neo ’03 was appointed Professorial Fellow to the AGC Academy and elected to the Executive Committee of the ASEAN Law Association (Singapore). Established in 1979, the ASEAN Law Association is a non-governmental organisation that brings together the ASEAN legal fraternity of judges, government, and practising lawyers and teachers of law. Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon ’86 is currently the elected President of the ASEAN Law Association and the Singapore committee is chaired by Supreme Court Justice Lee Seiu Kin ’86. Jaclyn was also appointed to the editorial board of the Journal of Law and Religion, one of the oldest and most established journals in the subject area. In addition, she joined the dynamic editorial team at ICONnect (the blog of the International Journal of Constitutional Law), an international academic blog on public law. She also joined an eminent Panel of International Jury for the Baxter Family Competition on Federalism 2020-2021. Jaclyn Neo ’03

Jeffrey Pinsler SC was reappointed as a Member of the Board of Governors of the Singapore Judicial College and the Professional Conduct Council of Singapore.

Stephen Phua ’88 received the Public Service Medal for his contributions as the Chairman of the Home Team Corps Council. He was also appointed as Member of the Independent Review Panel at the Ministry of Home Affairs and a Member of Curriculum and Education Development at the IRAS Tax Academy.

Stephen Phua ’88

Dan W. Puchniak was appointed as an Associate of Melbourne Law School’s Asian Law Centre, a Member of the Supervisory Council for the Seoul National University Asia-Pacific Law Institute, an Editorial Board Member of the Chinese Journal of Comparative Law, and an International Editorial Board Member of the Moscow University Herald (Series 11, Law, published by Lomonosov Moscow State University). Umakanth Varottil PhD ’10 and Dan W. Puchniak were appointed as Research Members of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI). Members are appointed on the basis of their significant contribution to the field of corporate governance study and are selected on the basis of strict criteria by a committee. ECGI distributes the work of the research members through its extensive global network which comprises of practitioner, academic and institutional members.

Umakanth Varottil PhD ’10

Dan W. Puchniak

Wee Meng Seng ’93 gave a Mandarin public lecture on 11 December 2020, organised by Fudan University, under its Chung Hui Distinguished Lecture Series, on the topic "The Lessons of English Insolvency Law for China: Culture, Doctrines and Experiment". Chung Hui Distinguished Lecture Series is the most prestigious lecture series at Fudan Law, where leading legal scholars from around the world share research insights with the faculty and students from Fudan Law, other law schools in China, the judiciary, the legal profession and the general public. In addition, Meng Seng co-wrote a policy paper with Chen Li LLM ’10 & ’11 on reforms to China’s crossborder insolvency law, which was submitted to the Chinese government in 2020. Response to the views expressed have been positive and the Chinese government has started to research the reforms of China’s cross-border insolvency law. Tan Zhong Xing ’12 received the University-level 2020 Annual Teaching Excellence Award. At the faculty level, Cheah Wui Ling ’03 LLM ’06, Jean Ho Qing Ying ’03, Christian Hofmann LLM ’13, Rachel Leow Pei Si ’11, Benny Tan Zhi Peng ’12, and Sandra Booysen LLM ’03 PhD ’09 received the 2020 Annual Teaching Excellence Award. Jean Ho Qing Ying ’03

Benny Tan Zhi Peng ’12

2020 Faculty Annual Teaching Excellence Awards

Recruiting and Retaining the Best Faculty We welcomed new and returning faculty to NUS Law, laying strong foundations for the future of legal education and research. NUS Law welcomed Timothy Liau ’14 as an Assistant Professor. Timothy graduated top of his class, after which he joined the faculty as one of our inaugural batch of Sheridan Fellows. He left for graduate studies at Oxford as a Clarendon Scholar, where he read for the BCL (2016), MPhil (2017), and recently completed the DPhil (2020). He taught Commercial Remedies in the BCL and was a Stipendiary Lecturer at Merton College, Oxford, where he was also a Graduate Prize Scholar. His primary research interests are private law and commercial law. He also maintains a wider interest in the philosophy of private law, and Timothy Liau ’14 is particularly interested in remedial questions. Recent publications include a chapter on “Proprietary Restitution” in a Handbook on Unjust Enrichment and Restitution (Edward Elgar Publishing 2020), and a forthcoming article in Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly on “Birksian themes and their impact in England and Singapore”. He is currently working on a monograph, entitled “Standing in Private Law”.

Ang Si Yi joined NUS Law as an Assistant Professor under the Practice Track scheme, which has been expanded to grow our clinical faculty and increase experiential learning opportunities for our students. Si Yi graduated from the University of Queensland, Australia in 2012 and was called to the Singapore Bar in 2014. Si Yi started her career in a boutique litigation firm, focusing on commercial litigation and international arbitration. Prior to joining us, Si Yi was a Senior Associate with Drew & Napier LLC. Ang Si Yi

Ryan Whalen

Ryan Whalen joined us as an Assistant Professor. Ryan’s research takes a datadriven approach to understanding the law and legal systems, with a particular focus on intellectual property law, computational legal studies methodology, and legal technology. His work unites traditional doctrinal analyses with empirical techniques drawn from diverse fields including machine learning, natural language processing, network analysis, and data science. Ryan holds a BA (Hons) from Saint Mary’s University (Canada), an MA from National Chengchi University (Taiwan), a JD from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, and a PhD from Northwestern University. While at Northwestern, Ryan served as the editor-inchief of the Northwestern University Law Review. Prior to joining NUS Law, Ryan held positions at the University of Hong Kong and Dalhousie University.

Kenneth Khoo ’15 joined us as a Lecturer. Previously a Sheridan Fellow, Kenneth graduated from NUS with a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Economics) (First Class Honours), from the London School of Economics and Political Science with a Master of Science in Economics in 2018, and from Yale Law School with a Master of Laws in 2019. He also received the Ministry of Trade and Industry (Economist Service) Prize for Best Thesis in Economics from NUS. Kenneth has research and teaching interests in hybrid areas where Law and Economics intersect, especially in commercial subjects like Competition Law, Corporate Law and Contract Law. His work has been published in local and foreign journals like the Journal of Competition Law and Economics and the Singapore Journal of Legal Studies. He is currently a doctoral student at Yale University.

Kenneth Khoo ’15

Allen Sng Kiat Peng ’18 was appointed as Sheridan Fellow. Allen graduated from NUS Law in 2018 with First Class Honours and was awarded the NUSS Medal for Outstanding Achievement and the Outstanding Undergraduate Research Prize. Allen has provided advisory services to the Finance and Projects Department of Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow, and has worked on several financial technology related transactions, including developing consumer financing structures for a platform operator and developing crowdlending platforms. Allen has a strong passion for public service work. He presently heads the NUS In-Person Deputyship Application Programme, of which he was a volunteer since 2015, and is a member of the SAL Law Reform Subcommittee for Civil Remedies. Allen also previously assisted the Family Justice Courts on a law reform project between 2016-2017, improving access to justice for litigants-in-persons in deputyship applications. Tan Weiming also joined us as Sheridan Fellow. His research interests are primarily in areas of Chancery Law, remedies and restitution for wrongs. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws from King’s College London, ranking second amongst his cohort. Weiming also holds a Bachelor of Civil Law from the University of Oxford, where he clinched the South Square Chambers prize for Corporate Insolvency Law. Prior to joining the National University of Singapore, Weiming served as a Deputy Public Prosecutor and State Counsel in the Attorney-General’s Chambers. He also had a stint at the Insolvency and Public Trustee’s Office as an Assistant Official Assignee and Public Trustee. While in practice, Weiming was also an adjunct faculty at the Singapore Management University teaching Business Law to undergraduates. We also welcomed Daryl Yong Jun Wei ’15 as an Instructor. Daryl previously served as a Teaching Assistant, prior to which he practised with Drew & Napier.

Research Excellence NUS Law continues to produce outstanding scholarship across the spectrum of legal research. In addition to dozens of scholarly articles and book chapters, as well as scores of conference papers, the following books were published in 2020:

Contract Law in Singapore: Cases, Materials and Commentary by Burton Ong ’99 and Benjamin Wong ’15 (Academy Publishing)

Creative Licence: The Regulation of Media in Singapore by Benny Tan ’12 and Eleanor Wong ’85 (Academy Publishing)

Handbook on Good Treaty Practice by Jill Barrett and Robert Beckman (Cambridge University Press)

Property Rights: A Re-Examination by James Penner (Oxford University Press)

Constitutional and Administrative Law in Singapore: Cases, Materials and Commentary

Shadows Across the Golden Land: Myanmar’s Opening, Foreign Influence and Investment

by Kevin Tan ’86 and Thio Li-ann (Academy Publishing)

by Simon S C Tay ’86 (World Scientific)

Criminal Defences under the Penal Code of Bhutan

Sustainability and Corporate Mechanisms in Asia

by Stanley Yeo ’76 and Dema Lham (Kuensel)

by Ernest Lim ’02 (Cambridge University Press)

We also welcomed the following new editions:

Benjamin’s Sale of goods (11th Edition)

Strata Title in Singapore and Malaysia (6th Edition)

by Michael Bridge (gen ed) (Sweet & Maxwell)

by Teo Keang Sood (LexisNexis)

Carver on Charterparties (2nd Edition)

The Modern Contract of Guarantee (4th Edition)

by Howard Bennett, Julia Dias, Stephen Girvin, Stephen Hofmeyr, Simon Kerr, Alexander MacDonald, Peter MacDonald Eggers, and Richard Sarll (Sweet & Maxwell)

by Waye Courtney (Sweet & Maxwell)

Evidence and the Litigation (7th Edition)

The Sale of Goods (4th Edition)

by Jeffrey Pinsler SC (LexisNexis)

by Michael Bridge (Oxford University Press)

Lye Lin Heng’s Landlord and Tenant Law in Singapore (2nd Edition) Lye Lin Heng ’73, Koh Swee Yen ’04 and Elaine Chew ’09 (LexisNexis)

Our faculty also edited major works on a variety of topics of national and international significance. These include:

ASEAN-EU Partnership: The Untold Story by Tommy Koh ’61 and Lay Hwee Yeo (World Scientific)

Fifty Secrets of Singapore’s Success by Tommy Koh ’61 (Straits Times Press)

Authoritarian Legality in Asia: Formation, Development and Transition by Chen Weitseng and Fu Hualing (eds) (Cambridge University Press)

by Tommy Koh ’61 and Hernaikh Singh (World Scientific Publishing)

Climate Change Litigation in the Asia Pacific

Routledge Handbook of Freedom of Religion or Belief

by Jolene Lin Dip.Sing.Law ’05 and Douglas A. Kysar (Cambridge University Press)

By Silvio Ferrari, Mark Hill QC, Arif A Jamal and Rossella Bottoni (Routledge International Handbooks)

Computational Legal Studies: The Promise and Challenge of Data-Driven Research

Singapore Journal of Legal Studies (Special Issue)

by Ryan Whalen (Edward Elgar Publishing)

Constitutional Change in Singapore: Reforming the Elected Presidency

India on Our Minds

by Lin Lin LLM ’06 PhD ’10 and Dora Neo

The Cambridge Handbook of Copyright Limitations and Exceptions

by Jaclyn Neo ’03 and Swati Jhaveri (Routledge)

by Shyamkrishna Balganesh, Ng-Loy Wee Loon ’87 and Sun Haochen LLM ’06 (Cambridge University Press)

Contemporary Issues in Mediation Volume 5

The Chinese Journal of Comparative Law (Special Issue)

by Joel Lee and Marcus Lim ’12 (World Scientific)

by Wee Meng Seng ’93 and Wang Jiangyu (Oxford University Press)

European Business Organization Law Review (Special Issue)

The Reform Decade: Corporate and Commercial Law in India

by Lin Lin LLM ’06 PhD ’10 and Hans Tjio (Springer)

by Umakanth Varottil PhD ’10, Mihir Naniwadekar and V. Niranjan (Eastern Book Company)

Impact In addition to producing a scholarship that changes the way law is thought about, many colleagues also had a direct impact on how it is practised.

Tan Hsien-Li PhD ’09

Tan Hsien-Li PhD ’09 spoke at the “Asian Legislative Experts Symposium (ALES) – Legislations on Infectious Diseases and cooperative measures of Asia countries in the post COVID-19 era” on 25 November 2020. The event was co-hosted by The Republic of Korea, Ministry of Government Legislation and the Korea Legislation Research Institute. On Human Rights Day, 10 December 2020, HsienLi and Alison Duxbury discussed their co-authored book “Can ASEAN Take Human Rights Seriously” at a webinar hosted by the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights – Indonesia (AICHR Indonesia). Other panellists included Yuyun Wahyuningrun (AICHR Indonesia representative) and Eric Paulsen (former AICHR Malaysia representative).

Joel Lee’s book “An Asian Perspective on Mediation” was identified by the Bar Council of India as a recommended reading for all Universities and Centres of Legal Education in India offering an LLB degree in a mandatory course “Mediation with Conciliation”. Helena Whalen-Bridge LLM ’02’s article “Negative Narrative: Reconsidering Client Portrayals” won the Legal Writing Institute Teresa Godwin Phelps Award for Scholarship in Legal Communication. The Selection Committee unanimously recommended Helena for the prize, which is the highest honour for research in legal rhetoric. The Phelps Award honours and draws attention to individual works of outstanding scholarship specific to the legal writing discipline that are published in any given calendar year, and it is meant to set aspirational standards for others writing in the field. Dora Neo was appointed by UNIDROIT (the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law) to its Model Law on Warehouse Receipts Working Group. The Working Group will develop a comprehensive draft for a Model Law on Warehouse Receipts over the period 2020-2022. The completed draft will be submitted for intergovernmental negotiations through an UNCITRAL Working Group.

Dora Neo

Arif Jamal and Jaclyn Neo ’03 convened the second edition of the Muslim Law Practice Course in February 2020. The Course is a collaboration between Centre for Asian Legal Studies, the Syariah Court of Singapore and the MUIS Academy, and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY). Spanning three modules over one and a half days, the course provided more systematic training in Muslim law for practitioners. Teo Keang Sood’s publications on land law and strata title were cited by the Singapore High Court in Yeo Sok Hoon & Ors v Tan Thiam Chye & Anor [2020] SGHC 202 at [95] and [98], and Chan Sze Ying v MCST Plan No 2948 [2020] SGHC 88 at [56]; and by the Malaysian Federal Court, Court of Appeal and High Court in Weng Lee Granite Quarry Sdn Bhd v Majlis Perbandaran Seberang Perai [2020] 1 MLJ 211 at [25], Ideal Advantage Sdn Bhd v Perbadanan Pengurusan Palm Spring @ Damansara and Anor appeal [2020] 4 MLJ 93 at [39], [82], [87] and [92], and Asia Plywood Co Sdn Bhd v Aeon Co (M) Bhd & Anor [2020] 8 MLJ 736 at [37] respectively.

The Court of Appeal handed down judgment in Saravanan s/o Chandaram v Public Prosecutor [2020] SGCA 43 in which Kumaralingam Amirthalingam appeared as amicus curiae. Accepting his key submissions, the Court overruled its own long-standing precedent, significantly changing the law on some aspects of drug trafficking.

Kumaralingam Amirthalingam

Koh Kheng Lian ’61 LLM ’66 PhD ’72 participated at the Odyssey Connect conference on 4-5 February 2020, The Hague. Kheng Lian gave an introduction of the Singapore Model AI Governance Framework, 2020 with ICEL members, Professor Victor Tafur and headed by its Executive Governor, Professor N A Robinson, and members of the Sargasso Sea Commission, Professors David Freestone and Howard Roe.

Singapore Model AI Governance Framework, 2020

Student Appointments Congratulations to six of our alumni from the Class of 2020, who have been selected as Justices’ Law Clerks (JLC). As JLCs, Megan Chua ’20, Ho Linming ’20, Jonathan Tan ’20, Huang Qianwei Violet ’20, Chong Ren Jie ’20 and Perry Peh ’20 (not in picture) will undertake legal research, draft bench memorandums and provide hearing related assistance to Judges of the High Court and the Court of Appeal. Justices’ Law Clerks from the Class of 2020

The Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) has launched a new “Young IP Mediators” initiative. NUS Law’s alumni Levin Lin ’20 and Chloe Chua ’20, and current student Utsav Rakshit ’21, were appointed as Young IP Mediators recently. This appointment enables them to gain experience and exposure to real life cases with real stakes and consequences, and allows them to play a part in promoting the use of mediation, something they strongly believe in. Levin Lin ’20, Chloe Chua ’20 and Utsav Rakshit ’21

Student Achievements The year 2020 presented obvious challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Classes and exams shifted to Zoom and other virtual formats, while extra-curricular activities presented their own challenges. Yet it was wonderful to see how quickly and successfully our students adapted to the new normal. NUS Law defended its title as Regional Champions in the 24th Annual Stetson International Environmental Moot Court Competition. The NUS Law team, comprising Caryn Mark ’20, Fok Theng Fong ’21, and Stanley Woo ’22, eventually faced the University of Philippines in the Championship Round, emerging as Regional Champions and winning the prize for Second Best Memorial. The other team comprising Zhang Wen ’21, Glenn Ang ’22, and Mark Tang ’22 were Semi-finalists and clinched the prize for Best Memorial, while Theng Fong was awarded the Best Oralist in the Championship Round and 5th Best Oralist of the Regional Round.

2020 Lex Infinitum

We also clinched top awards at the 2020 Lex Infinitum Competition held in Goa, India, from 8 to 11 January 2020. The competition aims to promote the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution in India as well as abroad. After seven intense rounds of negotiation against two dozen international teams, Arjit Pandey ’22 and Darren Chen ’22 emerged as Champions in the Negotiating Team category while Nikhil Angappan ’21 was Champion in the Mediator category. Nikhil was also presented the Dr. M.R.K. Prasad Lex Infinitum Incentive Award as the Best Mediator from an International Team. Natalee Ho ’20, Violet Huang ’20, Gwendolyn Oh ’21, Lydia Lee ’20, and Tan Fong Han ’20 emerged as Champions of the 2020 Singapore National Round of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. NUS Law swept all of the prizes, including Best Memorial of the National Round. Natalee also received the Best Oralist Award.

2020 Phillip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition

The Finals of the Wong Partnership International Commercial Arbitration Moot 2020 were held on 3 March 2020. Ernest Low ’22, Darryl Ong ’22, and Nicole Seah ’22 were awarded the Champion, First and Second Runners-up respectively, while Ashleigh Gan ’22 was awarded the Best Memo.

Wong Partnership International Commercial Arbitration Moot 2020

Bodi Siddartha ’22, Nadine Quah ’21, Nah Sze Perng ’23, and Thomas Lee ’21 clinched the First Place Brief at the 3rd INTA Asia-Pacific Moot Court Competition. Stella Teng ’22, Ernest Low ’22, Vidya Singanathan ’22, and Alex Chia ’22 won the prize for Second Place Brief.

3rd INTA Asia-Pacific Moot Court Competition

Christine Saw Hui Ying ’20, Li Xingyi ’20, and Yomna Mohamed Abdelaziz Elewa LLM ’20 brought home the champion trophy of the 34th JeanPictet Humanitarian Law Competition 2020 to NUS for the second time.

Jean-Pictet Humanitarian Law Competition

Shilpa Krishnan ’22, Wesley Chai ’22, and Jiang Zhifeng ’23 emerged as the Asia-Pacific Regional Runners-up of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition 2020. As our competitions shifted online, the NUS Law team of Isabella Tan ’21 and Nikhil Angappan ’21, won first place in the virtual National Round of the International Negotiation Competition (INC) 2020, between NUS Law and SMU Law.

International Negotiation Competition (INC) 2020

We also placed first at the virtual APAC Friendly of the International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition 2020 for Best Government Team, Best Prosecution Team and Team with the Highest Average Scores. Huang Wanting ’20 and Choo Qian Ke ’21 were named the Best Oralists.

International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition 2020

The NUS Law team comprising Ryan Kwan ’21, Rachel Ang ’20, Abigail Wong ’20, and Priscilla Seah ’21 were first runners-up in the 6th Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) Competition Law Moot Competition. Ryan was awarded Best Advocate and Rachel received an Honourable Mention for her advocacy skills.

6th Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) Competition Law Moot Competition

The inaugural three-day International Online Mediation Competition, organised by the ADR ODR International in partnership with the European Institute for Conflict Resolution (EICR), was held from 24 to 26 July 2020. A total of the 34 teams from 17 countries participated, and of these, 12 teams were students from NUS Law.

International Online Mediation Competition

NEGOTIATION CATEGORY Champions • Keith Kaixian Wong ’21 • Ong Kye Jing ’21 • Rochelle Lim ’21 First Runners-Up • Ryan Jay Naidu ’23 • Tristan Tan ’23 • Vishnu Menon ’23 • Coach: Louis Chew ’21 • Coach: Audity Binte Tareq ’22

MEDIATION CATEGORY First Runners-Up • Esther Lee ’22 • Johanna Lim ’23 • Nichelle Chee ’23 • Coach: Tay Hui Lyi ’21 • Coach: Tan Pei Han ’22 Top Four (Mediation) • Cheyenne Lim ’23 • Jolene Gina Abelarde ’23 • Nicole Marie Christopher ’23 • Coach: Tay Hui Lyi ’21 • Coach: Tan Pei Han ’22

The inaugural Legal Eagle Challenge 2020, organised by the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association (“SCCA”), concluded on 8 August. This was Singapore’s first in-house competition for law students, and this year’s Challenge invited law students to step into the shoes of a fictional charity’s General Counsel and advise its board of directors on issues facing the charity due to COVID-19. Two teams from NUS Law made it to the Finals. The winning team comprising Bodi Siddartha ’22, The inaugural Legal Eagle Challenge 2020 Seah Ding Hang ’22, Wee Min ’22, and Yang Siqi ’22, impressed the judges with an excellent presentation that seamlessly switched between providing legal advice and weighing the pros and cons for each legal option. The second NUS Law team in the finals was awarded the Most Business Savvy Team Award. The team members Alison Ng ’23, Johanna Lim Ziyun ’23, Lai Sin Yee ’23, and Nichelle Chee Sijie ’23, overcame technical issues and put up a strong performance with a presentation that included a cost benefit analysis accurately addressing the commercial concerns of the board. Alfred Li ’20 and Timothy Chong ’21 were champion and first runner-up respectively at the 4th Maritime Law Association of Singapore (MLAS) Maritime Mooting Competition.

4th Maritime Law Association of Singapore (MLAS) Maritime Mooting Competition.

NUS Law won the first and third places in the 4th ADCICC Asia-Pacific Commercial Mediation Competition that took place virtually from 30 August - 1 September 2020. The champion team comprised of Eugene Lau ’21, Jonathan Lee ’21, Kim Haeyoung ’21, and Chan You Quan ’22. The team that came in 3rd comprised of Jaypy Pillay ’22, Lee Yee Teng ’22, and Joel See ’23.

4th ADC-ICC Asia-Pacific Commercial Mediation Competition

Abigail Wong ’20, Choo Qian Ke ’21, Lee Hyun Jo ’21, and Lim Jia Ren ’21 emerged as First and Second Runners-up respectively in the LinklatersDenis Chang’s Chambers Law Moot Competition 2020.

Linklaters-Denis Chang’s Chambers Law Moot Competition 2020

NUS Law took the top position at the B.A. Mallal Moot 2020, which was conducted virtually in October. Kevin Tang ’23 took the top prize, Kyna Chew ’23 and Melvinder Singh ’23 were the second runners-up, and Phoon Yi Hao ’23 took the Best Memorial Award.

B.A. Mallal Moot 2020

Samuel Wittberger ’21, Lai Shueh Chien ’21, Vidya Singanathan ’22, and Adam Ho ’22 took the 5th position in the 2020 FDI Moot Global Oral Rounds. In addition, Samuel Wittberger and Vidya Singanathan were awarded 2nd and 16th Best Oralists in the competition.

19th Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition (INC)

The NUS Law contingent took the top prize at the 19th Intercollegiate Negotiation Competition (INC) organised by Sophia University. The students, comprising of Tay Hui Ting ’24, Samuel Wee ’24, Jeriel Teo ’24, Kaezeel Yeo ’24, Glenda Tan ’24, Matilda Mag ’24, Yoon Shwe Yee ’24, and Edwin Chan ’24, received the prestigious Sumitomo Competition Award and the Squire Patton Boggs Award, awarded to the university that achieved the highest number of total scores.

Student Life For several decades, the graduating class of NUS Law has written and staged a musical production - both as a swan song to their years in school, and to raise funds for charity. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Class of 2020’s performance faced even more challenges than normal. Law IV 2020: Undue Influence was a musical about a bona fide murder mystery, comprising 16 songs, choreographed dance sequences, multifunctional stage sets towering over the stage, and a new record to sponsorships. Unable to be performed in person, the musical was recorded Law IV 2020: Undue Influence and streamed on YouTube, with a “live” première on 22 May 2020. It has since reached a viewership of thousands - more than the three scheduled performances could have reached. 19

Service to the Community Centre for Pro Bono & Clinical Legal Education Eleanor Wong ’85 has been appointed Director of the Centre for Pro Bono & Clinical Legal Education (CPBCLE), with Sonita Jeyapathy ’03 and Benny Tan ’12 as Deputy Directors from July 2020. Under its new leadership, the Centre is broadening and deepening the experiential learning opportunities for NUS Law’s students in both the pro bono and clinical programmes. In relation to law clinics, the Centre is partnering with practitioners and external organizations to increase opportunities for our students, especially in litigation work. In addition to our existing partnership with the Legal Aid Bureau, under which students get exposure to matrimonial cases, we have also established clinics where students assist in Criminal Legal Aid Scheme cases and Legal Aid Scheme for Capital Offences matters. Eleanor Wong ’85

The Centre also administers the Singapore Institute of Legal Education pro bono programme for law students, and works closely with student groups like the Pro Bono Group and the Criminal Justice Club to generate opportunities for our students to experience and assist in pro bono projects. Early in the pandemic, many in-person opportunities were cancelled or postponed. However, as Singapore adapted to conditions, new remote or hybrid ways of serving the community were established and activities picked up. Examples of such opportunities, which our students assisted in, include the Parachute Project, COV-AID, the Simplified Insolvency Programme and the Re-align Framework (schemes by the Ministry of Law to help small companies that require support to restructure their debts or wind up their businesses in a quicker or lower-cost manner, and to provide businesses with a quick and fair way to renegotiate selected contracts respectively). Eleanor has served as Vice Dean for Student Affairs since January 2015. Among other achievements, she has transformed our approach to career services, creating new ways for students to develop professional experience while at law school through initiatives like Talent Connect and Attorney Assessment. Adding CPBCLE to her portfolio will provide an opportunity to broaden and deepen the experiential learning opportunities for our students in both the pro bono and clinical programmes, and will build on administrative synergies between the Student Affairs and CPBCLE missions. Sonita has served as Deputy Director of the Legal Skills Programme since January 2013. In that role, Sonita has been actively involved in the full spectrum of offerings in the Legal Skills Programme. This includes the foundational first-year Legal Analysis, Research and Communication (LARC) module and Corporate Deals, the second-year transactional skills module. She is already a familiar face at CPBCLE, having run several corporate legal clinics as electives for third and final year law students. As Deputy Director of the Centre, she will have primary oversight for administering the Centre’s corporate clinical programmes. Sonita Jeyapathy ’03

Benny joined NUS Law after a stint as Deputy Public Prosecutor with the AttorneyGeneral’s Chambers. He was an adjunct instructor for LARC before joining the faculty where he today focuses on criminal and sentencing law, and criminal evidence and procedure. He has also acted, on an ad hoc and pro bono basis, as defence counsel in criminal cases. As Deputy Director of the Centre, his main role will be overseeing the compulsory pro bono programme for the students, as well as coordinating contentious and litigation-based (eg. criminal law, family law) clinics. Benny Tan ’12

Parachute Project Parachute is a new collaboration between NUS Pro Bono Group (PBG) (Faculty of Law Advisor, Associate Professor Helena Whalen-Bridge LLM ’02), Students for a Safer NUS (SafeNUS), and NUS Victim Care Unit (VCU). Victims of sexual assault often lack information and resources regarding the steps and processes they have to go through, should they wish to take action. This project aims to produce a one-stop information platform for victims of sexual assault and friends of victims within the NUS community. In Parachute, member law students from PBG conduct research on the current laws on sexual assault, sentencing, and other relevant areas, such as doxxing and defamation. With contributions from SafeNUS and the VCU, this information will be publicised on a joint platform. The information will also be utilised by VCU’s care officers in answering questions posed by victims, as part of their support services.

COV-AID Amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, NUS Law proudly celebrated our students’ efforts to establish a new pro bono project called COV-AID. COV-AID was born out of our students’ desire to play their part in helping the public comprehend the vast array of laws, regulations, and legal issues arising from the pandemic. Launched on Singapore’s National Day, 9 August 2020, COV-AID pays tribute to our front-liners who are leading the nation’s fight against the pandemic. The COV-AID website serves as a comprehensive one-stop portal presenting explanations on how to navigate COVID-19-related laws, government grants, and relief programmes. Another unique feature is “Academics on Pandemics”, which showcases thought leadership essays by NUS Law academics and guest professors on how COVID-19 has disrupted lives and the economy. Notable essays include contributions by NUS President Tan Eng Chye, Ambassador Tommy Koh ’61, Iris Chiu ’97, Tan Hsien-Li PhD ’09, and Tan Zhong Xing ’12. The third flagship feature is “Conversations with Lawyers”, presenting interviews with top lawyers on how the pandemic affects their work and the future of legal practice. Speakers include President of the Law Society Gregory Vijayendran ’92, Malathi Das ’92, Connie Heng ’95, Shirin Tang ’00, Daryl Chew ’06, Aidil Zulkifli ’10, and Seow Tzi Yang ’11. The team behind COV-AID comprises the founder Anders Seah ’22, co-founder Mark Tang ’22 (both Law 3’s), and a core team of dedicated members advised by Alan Tan ’93. The team, in turn, supervises nearly 80 law students involved in a variety of tasks, including researching laws and authoring guides on safe distancing, legal reliefs, Stay-at-Home Notices, and the attendant policies on business, religious, construction, wedding, sporting and court activities. An outstanding feature of the project is the valuable experience gleaned by students in interacting with and interviewing nearly 20 leading lawyers on how the pandemic has affected areas of legal practice such as banking, family law, employment, construction, taxation, intellectual property, insolvency, competition, and tech innovation.

COV-AID Executive Committee

Alumni Relations & Development Over the years, NUS Law alumni have been vital to the success and reputation of the faculty, and 2020 was no exception. Our alumni have continued to make us proud with many stellar achievements worthy of recognition. The following is just a fraction of their accomplishments. In judicial appointments, Dedar Singh Gill ’83 and Mavis Chionh LLM ’05 were elevated to Judges of the High Court, and Vincent Hoong ’82 was appointed as Presiding Judge of the State Courts of Singapore. In addition, Andre Francis Maniam ’90 and Kwek Mean Luck Dip.Sing.Law ’96 were appointed as Judicial Commissioners of the Supreme Court. In October 2020, Guy Ghazali ’05 started in her new role as Senior President of the Syariah Court. At the 2020 General Election, a total of 12 of our alumni were elected to Parliament to represent both the PAP and the Workers’ Party. They are K. Shanmugam ’84, Indranee Thurai Rajah ’86, Sylvia Lim ’88, Lim Biow Chuan ’88, Murali Pillai ’92 LLM ’00, Edwin Tong ’94, Patrick Tay ’95 LLM ’99, Desmond Lee ’01, Rahayu Mahzam ’03, Christopher de Souza Grad.Dip.Sing.Law ’03, Vikram Nair Grad.Dip.Sing.Law ’05, and Zhulkarnain bin Abdul Rahim ’05. In January this year, Raj Joshua Thomas ’12 was appointed as one of the nine new Nominated Members of Parliament.

Abraham Vergis ’98

Goh Yihan ’06

Zhulkarnain bin Abdul Rahim ’05

Kristy Tan ’04

Raj Joshua Thomas ’12

For the third year running, all three Senior Counsels appointed in 2021 are alumni from NUS Law. They are Abraham Vergis ’98, Goh Yihan ’06, and Kristy Tan ’04. They join the 64 alumni (out of a total of 91 Senior Counsels) who have been recognized with this title.

Last August, Rena Lee ’92 LLM ’98 took over the reins as Chief Executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore from Daren Tang ’97, who has taken up the post of Director General of the World Intellectual Property Office (see our feature in the most recent LawLink). During the National Day Awards, S Jayakumar ’63 was conferred the Order of Temasek (with High Distinction) in recognition of his many years of dedicated service to the nation. Chandra Mohan K Nair, PBM ’76, George Lim Teong Jin, PBM ’81, and Latiff Bin Ibrahim, PBM ’85 were awarded the Public Service Star, and David Chong Gek Sian ’84 received the Public Administration Medal (Gold) (Bar). Toh Hwee Lian ’90, Kevin Ng Choong Yeong ’92, Hay Hung Chun Dip.Sing.Law ’95, and Edwin San Ong Kyar ’99 were awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver); and Karen Ang Aiping ’05, Looi Kwok Peng ’85, and Denise Wong Jin-hua ’94 received the Public Administration Medal (Bronze).

Other recipients include Kevin Yong Ee Wen ’06 who received The Commendation Medal, and Lee Chin Seon ’87, Faridah Eryani Bte Pairin ’91, Stephen Phua Lye Huat ’88, and Tan Ken Hwee ’94 who all received the Public Service Medal. Last but not least, Lau Wing Yum ’87, Alan Tan Khee Jin ’93, Anilkumar Kishinchand Samtani ’93 LLM ’97, Kan Shuk Weng ’93, Terence Chua Seng Leng Dip.Sing.Law ’95, Michael Ewing-Chow Hur Kuang ’95, Christopher Ong Siu Jin ’97, Foo Chi Hsia ’94, and Koh Kew Soon ’96 were all recognised with Long Service Awards. Veronica Lai ’92, Chief Corporate Officer at Starhub, was given the Chief Legal Officer Award 2020 (Singapore Company/Business Category) by the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association. At the Asian Legal Business (ALB) SE Asia Law Awards, Davinder Singh ’82 was named Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year, Blossom Hing ’96 was named Woman Lawyer Davinder Singh ’82 Blossom Hing ’96 Renita Sophia Crasta ’06 of the Year (Law Firm) and Renita Sophia Crasta ’06 was recognised as Young Lawyer of the Year (In-House). ALB also featured Huay Yee Kwan ’04, Lin Shumin ’08, Monica Chong Wan Yee ’11, and Lynn Ariel Soh ’08 in their annual “40 Under 40” list, which recognises outstanding lawyers across Asia. The Singapore Business Review named Eunice Yao ’06, Cheryl Tan ’07, Shaun Lee ’08, Tania Chin ’08, Xiao Hui Ting ’08, Gerald Goh Grad.Dip.Sing.Law ’09, Edwin Chia ’10, and Kennedy Chen ’10 among Singapore’s 21 most influential lawyers aged 40 and below. Our alumni were also recognised for their commitment to serving the community. Eugene Thuraisingam ’00 received the Law Society Pro Bono Ambassador Award 2020 in recognition of his established track record of providing pro bono services for a period of five or more years.

Eugene Thuraisingam ’00

The artistic talents of lawyer Tan Boon Wah ’00 LLM ’03 were recognised in November when he received the Golden Horse Award for Best Original Film Song for “Your Name Engraved Herein” at the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan.

Tan Boon Wah ’00 LLM ’03

We are deeply grateful that despite the challenges and uncertainties brought about by COVID-19, our alumni continued to show strong support for NUS Law and our students. Thanks to the wonders of Zoom, alumni were able to continue giving of their time and expertise as mentors, adjunct professors, coaches for moot competitions, speakers at our career talks, and advisors to student groups such as the Pro Bono Group.

This was the ninth year of our Law Alumni Mentor Programme (LAMP), with 170 alumni volunteering to mentor nearly two hundred first year, second year, and LLM students. My sincere thanks to our mentors for your readiness to help your juniors − indeed, this is the best mentor-mentee ratio we have had since the start of this programme. Students have shared with us the difference that LAMP has made to them in their journey through law school, particularly in a year like this one. Our alumni and other supporters also made vital financial contributions to support future generations of NUS Law students. Established by an anonymous alumnus in practice specialising in cross-border disputes, the Access to Justice Scholarship was driven by the alumnus’ experience with the challenges faced by victims in funding litigation, particularly in fraud cases. The Scholarship seeks to underscore to students the ever-growing importance of pro bono work and ensuring access to justice for all, and to enhance in-depth research into critical issues on the subject. The Scholarship recognises students with a good record of active participation or leadership in pro bono activities during their first two years, and with an interest in direct research on access to justice in their last two years. The wife of the late Mr JWD Ambrose, a former High Court Judge in Singapore from 1958 to 1968, wished to honour his memory by establishing the JWD Ambrose Bursary for law students in need of financial assistance. Various donors, including colleagues and friends, enthusiastically supported the Leong Wai Kum Family Law Prize in honour of Wai Kum’s tremendous impact on the development of Family Law in Singapore, and her outstanding contributions to NUS Law over the course of her 40-year career. Koh Kheng Lian ’61 LLM ’66 PhD ’72, an established authority on environmental law and former director of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL), established the Sim Pei Fang Environmental Steward Award in memory of her late mother. The Prize seeks to not just recognise students for their aptitude in environmental law subjects and their track record of participation in environmental causes, but also to encourage them to continue in the cause as a steward of the environment. The Ahmad Ibrahim Prize in Islamic Law was championed by the Muslim Law Practice Committee of the Law Society of Singapore, and has been supported by various donors in memory of Professor Ahmad Ibrahim LLD ’65, who was Singapore’s first Attorney-General and who contributed significantly to the development of Islamic Law in Singapore. This Prize is for the best student in the module Islamic Law. More than S$10,000 has been raised towards this Prize so far, and those who wish to may contribute via this link https://bbis.nus.edu.sg/ AhmadIbrahimPrize or by scanning this QR code: The James Low Hong Ping LLM Prize is also currently being established, to remember James Low Hong Ping LLM ’17 for the uniquely inspiring colleague, scholar, and friend that he was. James was in the midst of his PhD studies at the Faculty under the NUS President’s Graduate Fellowship, when he passed away on 27 May 2020. The Prize will be awarded each year to the best student in the LLM examinations. Close to $10,000 has been raised so far from friends and colleagues, and contributions to this prize may be made via this link https://bbis.nus.edu.sg/ JamesLowPrize or by scanning this QR code:

LLM Class of 2010 Reunion

Since physical reunions were not possible for most of 2020, the LLM Class of 2010 celebrated their 10th Anniversary with a lively online gathering that was attended by 60 alumni in 12 countries around the world − something that would have been unthinkable in pre-pandemic times. As the current restrictions force us to think of new ways of doing things, I hope to see more such reunions in future. Having said that, once circumstances permit, we look forward to working with classes to organise in-person celebrations. At the moment, the Class of 2006 is hoping to organise a physical or virtual reunion in the second half of this year, while the Class of 1994 is planning ahead for a gathering next year! If you are from these classes, or if your class is celebrating a milestone reunion soon, do update your particulars with us at this link: https://law1.nus.edu.sg/alumni/alumni_update_particulars.asp so that you will be kept informed of news and developments. To find out more about the support provided for reunions, do contact Jo-Ann Chan ’97 (joann.chan@nus.edu.sg; 6601 2248). I cannot overstate how much our alumni have contributed to the successes of NUS Law. Your achievements inspire and challenge us all, raising our profile and establishing our reputation. The opportunities you create for our students − through advice, internships, and employment − are what transform these young men and women into lawyers. Your financial support makes possible our mission of being one of the very best law schools in the world − while making sure that no deserving student is left behind. The NUS Law Student Support Fund is the focus of our fund-raising efforts this year, with the goal of enabling all of our students to make the most of the opportunities available without being held back by finances. In 2020, the fund was also earmarked to provide additional or urgent assistance to students who needed it due to the pandemic. Financial assistance has been awarded to help needy students with their tuition fees, and to enable students to participate in enriching programmes and activities. If you would like to make a contribution, a donation form is attached to this letter − or you can scan the QR code on the right. And if you would like to discuss any of the ways in which you might advance the mission of NUS Law, please feel free to contact Jo-Ann Chan ’97 (joann.chan@nus.edu.sg; 6601 2248) or myself directly. 25

Stay in Touch I do hope that you find these annual updates on NUS Law interesting. If you would like to know more, or if you think there may be ways in which you could get involved with the faculty, please do not hesitate to let me know. On behalf of all of us at NUS Law, we wish you and your loved ones the best for 2021 and the Year of the Ox. May they bring you peace, happiness, and fulfilment.

Simon Chesterman Dean, NUS Law

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Giving to the Next Generation: NUS Law Student Support Fund Given the rising cost of a legal education (tuition alone now stands at $12,650 per year) and the steady rise in the number of bursary applications each year (around 10% of our students currently receive some kind of financial aid), it comes as no surprise that student support is an important part of our fund-raising. The NUS Law Student Support Fund is used to support financially disadvantaged students, student learning and student activities at NUS Law, enabling all our students to develop to their full potential regardless of financial circumstances. The Dean will have discretion to allocate funds where they are most needed for the greatest benefit of our students.

Thank you for your generosity. Your gift will benefit deserving students and support meaningful learning opportunities at NUS Law. Stephanie Ng Wenli ’18 Scholarship Recipient

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