VISITING JUDGES PROGRAMME
Overview
The Visiting Judges Programme at NUS Law’s Centre for Asian Legal Studies (CALS) is a signature initiative to develop impactful institutional collaborations with partner courts in Asia. Furthering CALS’ commitment to advancing scholarly and practice-based understandings of the rule of law in Asia, this programme seeks to deepen dialogue between academia and the judiciary on pressing and emerging legal and constitutional issues in Asia. Visiting judges will have the opportunity to gain understanding of the Singapore legal system through engagement with faculty, researchers, and the legal industry.
Objectives
- To provide a platform for visiting judges to access distinct intellectual resources at NUS Law and reflect on judicial experience.
- To enhance engagement between judicial institutions, as well as between the judiciary and legal academia.
- To foster regional and international collaborations on the rule of law.
- To introduce students to comparative judicial perspectives across different legal traditions in Asia.
Programme Structure
CALS will host judges recommended by their respective institutions for a period of one to two months, depending on institutional capacity and priorities. Recommendations are accepted on a rolling basis.
During their stay, Visiting Judges will conduct research on a topic of their choice and engage in the academic life at NUS Law through lectures, seminars, and informal conversations with faculty members and students. They will also have opportunities to engage with the legal profession and the judiciary in Singapore, for instance, through visits to courts and law firms. Visiting Judges will be assigned a workspace and provided with full access to NUS library resources and research facilities. Visiting Judges are expected to acknowledge CALS for any publications arising from their visit.
Visiting judges should ordinarily possess financial support for all travel, accommodation, and living expenses from their home institutions. CALS will not be able to make applications for visas on behalf of visiting judges but will provide necessary documents to support such applications.
Current Partner Courts
- Supreme Court of Japan