Gladys Mirandah ’76 – The Mirandah Study Award

This year marks the 45^th year since Mrs Gladys Mirandah ’76 was called to the Bar. Having overcome challenges in her legal education through sheer grit and a positive mindset, she established the Mirandah Study Award to motivate graduating students to overcome adversities and excel in their studies.

Mrs Gladys Mirandah ’76 was born in Singapore in 1952. She lived with her parents, who were migrants from Kerala, South India, and eight siblings in a humble two-room wooden house in Naval Base. She grew up in a close-knit community surrounded by Tamil, Ceylonese and Malayalee families. From her mother, she learnt to have a positive mindset, unrelenting willpower and a pragmatic approach to problems in life.

At a time when education for girls was not considered a priority, it was already a struggle for her parents to fund her six brothers through tertiary education. It was made clear to her that there would be no funds for her to go to university to further her studies. Undeterred by this, Mrs Mirandah chose to read law at the then University of Singapore, paying her own way through teaching jobs.

It was by no means a walk in the park. She often had to compromise on her studies by skipping lectures and tutorials at the Bukit Timah Campus in order to fulfil her teaching obligations at the nearby Hwa Chong Junior College. She even recalled choosing optional subjects that would not clash with her teaching schedule.

“It was a delicate balancing act that was necessary. In the process, I perfected the art of time management, learned to multitask and developed resilience. It never crossed my mind to give up as failure was never an option,” said Mrs Mirandah. “I never felt disadvantaged or left behind, as every tiny step led me to the next milestone. As hard as it was, that was the most uplifting experience in my life.”

She also remembered wanting to make her father proud as she was always seen as the trophy kid and cheerleader in the family. Mrs Mirandah graduated from NUS Law in 1976, and it is clear that her early years and experiences with overcoming hardship have been transformative in more ways than one.

Today, Mrs Mirandah and her family run the intellectual property firm, Mirandah (Asia). Apart from the values of excellence in her work and the importance of family, she is strongly motivated by the desire to give back to society and to recognise the potential within each person. These values are often incorporated into her business, most notably through the firm’s corporate social responsibility programmes, which range from working closely with the underprivileged – adopting schools in impoverished regions, spending time with children and elderly, to responding to calls for relief such as blood donation and post-disaster relief efforts, as well as tackling environmental issues by cleaning up beaches and planting trees.

One memorable example was before the pandemic, when her firm put together a team of 30 to build a home for an orang asli (indigenous people) family in Kampung Gurney, Malaysia.

Mrs Mirandah shared, “Our team worked tirelessly over four days to complete a home for the seven members of the Salim family, who were living in a small and dark hut which was structurally unsound. Their new home was a six-modular structure assembled in a hybrid manner à la Lego^® blocks and IKEA^®. My husband, Patrick, and I seized the moment to celebrate our 40^th anniversary with the village folks. It was a memorable end to a fulfilling four days!”

Mrs Mirandah also firmly believes that human resources is an important asset in her line of work. She said, “We take a personal interest in the development of our staff. Over the years, we have identified various personnel from our offices across ASEAN, recognized their talents and helped them realise their potential to carve a different career path within our group. In life, I have found that when we create the opportunities and invest in young people, the possibilities are endless and priceless.”

Fittingly, to commemorate the 45th year since she was called to the Bar, Mrs Mirandah decided to establish an award at her alma mater to motivate the next generation of lawyers to work hard and realise their full potential.

The Mirandah Study Award will be launched in AY2022/2023 and will reward final year law studentss who show the greatest improvement and prevail despite the odds with a monetary incentive of $3,000 for the next 15 years.

Her advice for students who face financial hardship and other challenges? “It is never a level playing field, but that’s okay. Stay focused and never give up. Perseverance will take you to your sweet spot and then you can say to yourself that it was all worthwhile. Don’t sweat the small stuff. There is so much more out there, so go and get it!”

Reflecting on her journey through law school since graduating 46 years ago, Mrs Mirandah counted her blessings, and paid tribute to her lecturers and tutors – particularly her mentor, the late Professor Geoffrey Bartholomew, for believing in her.

“It is a time to celebrate and share my joy with the NUS Law Faculty! My family joins me in saying “Thank You” as each of us walked the path through NUS Law – my daughter, Denise, and I both graduated from the faculty while my husband, Patrick, and my son, Ian, both completed their Graduate Certificate in Intellectual Property Law and went on to become registered Patent Attorneys.”