August 2017
Stay in touch with us as NUS Law Matters brings to you the latest news from the faculty! Conceptualised to keep in close touch with our Alumni and friends, NUS Law Matters is a light online newsletter supplementing the now annual print version of LawLink. We hope you enjoy reading these updates!
Class of 1961 meets Class of 2017
NUS Law's Class of 2017 were conferred their degrees at this year's Commencement on 8 July at the University Cultural Centre.
This year marks the 60th Anniversary of the first intake of Law students at NUS and the faculty is particularly delighted to welcome several members from this first cohort (the Class of 1961) who were present to share the celebrations!
Alan Tan '93 & Swati Jhaveri win Teaching Excellence Award
Congratulations to Professor Alan Tan '93 and Assistant Professor Swati Jhaveri for being honoured at this year’s NUS Annual Teaching Excellence Awards.
Teaching excellence awards serve three important functions in an institution of higher education. First, they recognise teachers who excel in their profession. Second, the awards are an indication of the importance the institution accords to teaching. Third, the awards send clear signals to the teaching community about what the institution regards as high quality teaching, i.e. by identifying the results that the institution’s teaching practices aim to strive for.
Debbie Ong '89 Appointed as Presiding Judge at Family Court
Associate Professor Debbie Ong Siew Ling '89 has been appointed as Presiding Judge of the Family Justice Courts by His Excellency President Tony Tan Keng Yam. The appointment will take effect from 30 September 2017. The announcement was made by the Prime Minister's Office on 16 August 2017. Congratulations also to Aedit Abdullah '94 and Hoo Sheau Peng (LL.M. '05) on being appointed as judges of the High Court.
Faculty Feature: Associate Professor Eleanor Wong '85
Associate Professor Eleanor Wong '85, Vice Dean (Student Affairs) started her career with the Commercial Affairs Department, prosecuting complex commercial and securities frauds. She then obtained a Masters in corporate law from New York University in 1990. Eleanor is a published playwright, whose works have been produced in Singapore and ASEAN. She has also held several top management positions in television production. A graduate of NUS Law as a Public Service Commission Merit scholar, Eleanor was named Best Oralist (Championship Round) at the prestigious 1985 Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, where she was a member of the victorious NUS moot team. In this interview, Eleanor shares with us her mooting experiences as a student and the mooting scene now.
Faculty Feature: Assistant Professor Jean Ho '03
Assistant Professor Jean Ho '03 lectures and supervises diverse aspects of international investment law. The principal areas of her research are the law of state responsibility, the law of treaties, and investment contracts. She is the first academic in the history of NUS Law to graduate with honours from l'Université de Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, topping her class in several courses including Droit des Contrats, Droit de la Responsabilité Civile, and Droit des Sociétés. She is also the first Singaporean to be awarded a placement with the Conseil d'Etat in Paris, an honour normally reserved for foreign judges. Prior to academia, she specialised in investor-state disputes at Shearman & Sterling LLP. Jean shares with us more about her experiences.
Professor James Penner Appointed as the Kwa Geok Choo Professor of Property Law
Professor James Penner has been appointed as the Kwa Geok Choo Professor of Property Law with effect from 1 July 2017. Professor Penner, who is also the Vice Dean for Research at the faculty, works primarily in the area of property and trusts, as well as law and theory. Prior to joining NUS Law in 2013, his publications included the prize-winning monograph The Idea of Property Law, and a sole-authored textbook. The former won the UK Society of Public Teachers of Law first prize for outstanding scholarship by a younger scholar. He succeeds Professor Kevin Gray, who has served with distinction as Kwa Geok Choo Professor of Property Law since his appointment in 2011.
Freshman Inauguration Ceremony 2017
NUS Law welcomed its 60th intake of first year students at this year's Freshmen Inauguration Ceremony, which took place on 7 August. Dean Simon Chesterman started off by reminding the freshman of the Faculty’s illustrious history as 2017 marks the 60th Anniversary of the first intake of law students at NUS Law. He also urged students not to panic as they acquainted themselves with the rigours and challenges of law school. The Dean encouraged them to take the opportunity to step outside their comfort zone and to make full use of their time at NUS Law, for both academic and personal development. Mr Darren Tan '13, who is currently an Associate at TSMP Law Corporation, was the guest speaker at the event. Darren inspired the freshman class with his story of how he went from inmate to law student and then on to a successful career as a lawyer.
NUS Law Wins IMLAM Competition for the Fifth Time
Congratulations to the NUS Law team who emerged as champions of the 18th International Maritime Law Arbitration Moot! The team featuring Douglas Lok '17, Nicholas Tan '18, Law Jia Hao '17, Leung Liwen '17 and Wang Yufei '17, won the hard-fought Grand Final against the University of Queensland (UQ) on 5 July 2017. Douglas Lok was also named “Best Speaker in the General Rounds”.
NUS Law wins Asia-Pacific Commercial Mediation Competition
Team NUS Law takes top position at the inaugural Asia-Pacific Commercial Mediation Competition! The team is made up of Cheah Wenjie '19, Cheng Le En Leanne '19, Lim Wei Shen Mark '19, and Liu Siew Rong '19. The competition was held in Melbourne, Australia, from 7 - 9 July 2017, and was organised by the Australia International Chamber of Commerce as a regional round leading up to the annual Paris ICC Mediation competition.
NUS Law Champions at Allen & Overy Private Law Moot
Students from NUS Law have emerged winners at the Allen & Overy Private Law Moot Competition, held from 20 to 22 May at University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney. This is the first time that a team from Singapore has won this prestigious university mooting competition.
NUS Law Excels in Inaugural Pan Asian Human Rights Mooting Competition
Congratulations to Joshua Phang '19, Darren Sim '20 and Glenn Sim '19 for coming in as first runners up at the inaugural Pan Asian Human Rights Mooting Competitions, organised and hosted by the University of Hong Kong!
NUS Law First Runners-Up at Herbert Smith Freehills Competition Law Moot
The NUS Law team of Mok Ho Fai '17, Gan Wei Rong '17, Arjuna Segathesan '17 and Jessica Mau '17 emerged as first runners-up in the 3rd Herbert Smith Freehills Competition Law Moot competition. The team was coached by Associate Professor Burton Ong '99.
Class Action
Birth announcements, weddings, career moves or just a shoutout to old friends, find out more on what's happening with your classmates!
Class of 1987 30th Anniversary Reunion
The Class of 1987 celebrated their 30th Anniversary with a reunion at the NUSS Kent Ridge Guild House on the 15th of July 2017. The mood was light as classmates chatted, reconnected and reminisced over dinner - instantly transported back to their younger days with the help of a soundtrack of 80s hits. The Dean of NUS Law, Professor Simon Chesterman, was delighted to join the class in celebrating this significant milestone. The Class also seized the opportunity to give back, and rallied together to raise funds for their Class of 1987 Bursary. Excitement grew as the donations flowed in, and the target of $100,000 for bursaries for needy law students was soon met! On behalf of our students, please accept our grateful thanks for your kind generosity!
Class of 1997 20th Anniversary Reunion
On Friday 28th July 2017, more than 70 alumni from the Class of 1997 - some of whom had not stepped into the campus for the last 20 years - gathered at the NUSS Kent Ridge Guild House. It was wonderful to see so many familiar, friendly faces and we had a blast catching up on each other’s lives and rekindling old friendships. Much to everyone’s amusement, an impromptu, tongue-in-cheek poll was conducted (ascertaining who was still in practice, who had gone in-house, who was no longer doing law, those with 4 or more kids, etc), which really brought the class together and updated everyone instantly. Special thanks must go to my fellow Organising Committee members for spreading the word and rounding up the troops, thus ensuring a fantastic turnout and a very memorable evening! And thank you to everyone for making the time and effort to come, particularly those who travelled from afar. We hope to see many more of you at our next reunion!
Upcoming Reunions
Dear Alumni from the Class of 2002,
Your class will be having a reunion soon to celebrate 15 years since graduation! Details as follows:
To register for this event, please click on this link.
Dear Alumni from the Class of 1982,
This year marks the 35th anniversary of your graduation, and the Organising Committee is planning a reunion.
On behalf of the Committee, we hope you will be able to join us! To register for this event, please click here.
Dear Alumni from the Class of 2007,
Your class will be celebrating your 10th year since graduation with a lunch on Saturday, 7th October 2017 at the Lobby of the Oei Tiong Ham Building, in the Bukit Timah Campus. More details of the reunion will be provided once they are finalised. Meanwhile, please save the date and help to spread the word to your classmates near and far.
Finally, if you are moving house, changing jobs or have a new email address, please update your latest contact details with us at: https://law.nus.edu.sg/alumni/alumni_update_particulars.asp so that we can keep you informed of the latest news and events.
