The 5th NUS Law Pro Bono Awards

Each year, the Centre for Pro Bono & Clinical Legal Education organises an awards ceremony, which allows us to formally celebrate and recognise outstanding student leadership in pro bono at NUS, and award financial grants towards worthy student pro bono projects.

This year, the 5^th iteration of the Pro Bono Awards Ceremony took place on Wednesday, 24 March 2021. Minister (PMO) and Second Minister for Finance & National Development Ms Indranee Rajah graced the occasion as our Guest of Honour, and while the physical ceremony took place at the Moot Court, the event was also live-streamed over Zoom and through the live-stream, we were able to have more students and guests join us, while still managing to adhere to social distancing.

We are proud of all our pro bono award recipients, who were recognised for their outstanding commitment and passion for pro bono work, often going beyond the call of duty and expectation. Notwithstanding the trying times brought about by Covid-19, these students continued to ensure that access to justice was not denied for needy beneficiaries. They persevered and came up with creative ways to overcome it, and also helped others deal with the challenges posed by the pandemic.

L-R Front Row Centre: Associate Professor Eleanor Wong ’85, Director of the Centre for Pro Bono and Clinical Legal Education, Minister Indranee Rajah ’86 and Dean Simon Chesterman.

AWARDS

Three categories of awards were presented –  the Pro Bono Special Recognition Award, the Pro Bono Mentor Award and the Pro Bono Innovation Award.

The Pro Bono Special Recognition Award was awarded to 13 well-deserving students.

Natania Peh Hui-Ting and Toh Ding Jun were awarded for the Project Legal Awareness (PLAY) Mentorship.

This project seeks to empower youths at risk by equipping them with legal awareness, mediation and public speaking skills through two main workshops held in July and December every year. In 2020, the events moved online so that workshops could continue despite the pandemic; this brought new challenges of how to keep youths engaged during these online sessions.

Alvina Chitra Logan and Wong Weitao were awarded for the State Courts Representatives Programme (SCSR).

Alvina and Weitao are senior representatives of the SCSR programme. Both have been indispensable to the smooth and continued running of the programme. The SCSR programme provides the vital service of helping disadvantaged litigants-in-persons in the Community Justice and Tribunals Division of the State Courts.

Sandra Faith Angelica Tan Wan Lin and Benjamin Ho Kok Hean were awarded for the NUS PBO In-Person Deputyship Project.

The Deputyship Project assists low-income caregivers of special-needs individuals, from the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore and SUN-DAC, to apply for deputy powers in the Family Justice Courts as litigants-in-person.  Both Sandra and Benjamin have, among other responsibilities, served as student coordinators for the  Deputyship Project.

Shyrie Chopra, Shanon Kua Yan Yu and Andrew Ng Jun De were awarded for Law & You which is a student-led pro bono project that is aimed at increasing access to justice for foreign domestic workers in Singapore.

Project directors Shyrie, Shanon and Andrew spearheaded the creation of a legal handbook which summarised the relevant local laws for foreign domestic workers to be aware of when working in Singapore.

Charlene Tan and Ryan Young Wei Jie were awarded for the Migrant Workers’ COVID-19 Guide.

This online guide was created to help migrant workers better understand their rights specifically in light of COVID-19. Charlene was the founder and leader of Migrant Workers’ COVID-19 Guide, and Ryan was the co-director. The guide has been translated into various languages relevant to migrant workers.

Anders Seah Nanjie and Mark Tang Yu Zhong were awarded for COVID-AID.

Anders is the founder, and Mark the co-founder, of the COV-AID project. COV-AID is a student-led pro-bono initiative that provides an online database for individuals and businesses to learn more about the legal implications arising from COVID-19, various financial reliefs available, and various rules and regulations enacted to deal with Covid-19.

The Pro Bono Mentor Awards were awarded to Professor Alan Tan Khee-Jin (COV-AID) and Mr Allen Sng Kiat Peng (NUS PBO In-Person Deputyship Project). Finally, in light of his outstanding leadership, innovation and initiative in advancing the mission of pro bono at NUS Law, the Pro Bono Innovation Award was awarded to Anders Seah Nanjie (COV-AID).

GRANTS

We were fortunate to have the representatives of the three grants administered by the Centre attending the event and issuing grant tokens to the deserving NUS student groups. These student groups’ pro bono projects have been awarded financial grants.

L-R Front Row: Charlene Wee (Class of 2017 Grant Representative). L – R Back Row: Guang Yi Yee (Class of 2017 Grant Representative), Judy Chang and Andrew Chan Chee Yin (Class of 1992 Pro Bono Grant Representatives).

The Student for Migration – Law & You received the NUS Law Class of 1992 Pro Bono Grant and the NUS Law Class of 2017 Pro Bono Grant. The NUS Criminal Justice Project received the RHTLaw Asia Subhas Anandan Pro Bono Grant.

Mr Yang Eu Jin awarding the RHTLaw Asia Subhas Anandan Pro Bono Grant.

The Centre for Pro Bono and Clinical Legal Education (CPBCLE) wishes to thank Guest of Honour Minister Indranee Rajah, all our donors, pro bono partners and NUS students for their continued support and collaborative efforts.

For any pro bono or clinical legal education enquiries, please contact CPBCLE at probono@nus.edu.sg.

Photo credit: Bryan Foo ’23