Meet the Deanery

Top L- R: Ms Jayagowry Appalasamy, Professor Simon Chesterman, Associate Professor Arif Jamal
Bottom L- R: Professor Damian Chalmers, Associate Professor Eleanor Wong, Professor Wayne Courtney

 

Professor Simon Chesterman
Dean

Professor Simon Chesterman has been the Dean of NUS Law since 2012. He is also editor of the Asian Journal of International Law.

Educated in Melbourne, Beijing, Amsterdam, and Oxford, Simon’s teaching experience includes periods at the Universities of Melbourne, Oxford, Southampton, Columbia, and Sciences Po. From 2006-2011, he was Global Professor and Director of the New York University (NYU) School of Law Singapore Programme.

Prior to joining NYU, Simon was a senior associate at the International Peace Academy and Director of UN Relations at the International Crisis Group in New York. He previously worked for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Yugoslavia and interned at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

He is a recognised authority on international law, whose work has opened up new areas of research on conceptions of public authority – including the rules and institutions of global governance, state-building and post-conflict reconstruction, the changing role of intelligence agencies, and the emerging role of artificial intelligence and big data.

Did you know?

In addition to twenty or so serious books, Simon has also written four young adult fiction novels, including the Raising Arcadia trilogy and I, Huckleberry. Any similarities to his own children are entirely coincidental.

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Professor Wayne Courtney
Vice Dean (Academic Affairs and Undergraduate Studies)

Professor Wayne Courtney holds a PhD in law and undergraduate degrees in law and science (pure mathematics and computer science) from the University of Sydney, and an honours degree in computer science from the University of Tasmania. Wayne joined NUS Law five years ago from Sydney Law School, 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.

Wayne’s field of expertise is contract law and he has wider interests in commercial law and private law. He is the author of two books, Contractual Indemnities and The Modern Contract of Guarantee (now in its fourth edition), and co-editor of Punishment and Private Law. His work has been cited in the highest courts across the Commonwealth. He has been a Herbert Smith Freehills Visitor at the University of Cambridge and a Cheng Yu Tung Visiting Professor at HKU. He is a Senior Fellow at Melbourne Law School.

Did you know?

Wayne has spent his life living on four different islands. Singapore is twenty times larger than the smallest one.

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Associate Professor Arif Jamal
Vice Dean (Graduate Studies)

Associate Professor Arif Jamal holds a BA (Political Science) from McGill University, LLB from the University of Toronto, LLM from the School of Oriental & African Studies and PhD from the Faculty of Laws, University College London (UCL). He served his articles with a corporate and commercial law firm in Vancouver, Canada, and was called to the Bar of British Columbia.

Arif’s research and teaching interests include law and religion, law in Muslim contexts, and comparative law. He addresses these subjects by drawing on a range of legal and political theory perspectives, and has published in general as well as specialist journals and in edited collections. His first monograph was published in 2018 and has been followed by two co-edited books.

He has held visiting appointments at the law schools of the University of Auckland, City University of Hong Kong, Tel Aviv University, University of Trento, and the Centre for Transnational Legal Studies in London. He has also been a Visiting Researcher with the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School.

Arif is co-Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Journal of Comparative Law, and has had extensive involvement with the Centre for Asian Legal Studies where he has been Deputy Director, a member of the ExCo, and a coordinator of its Law & Religion Cluster.

Did you know?

Arif serves in a voluntary capacity as a member of the Board of Governors of the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, an affiliate institution of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN).

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Associate Professor Eleanor Wong
Vice Dean (Student Life & Global Relations)

A graduate of the NUS Faculty of Law, Associate Professor Eleanor Wong joined NUS in 2002 to launch its Legal Skills Programme as Director. At the Law Faculty, she also currently serves as Vice-Dean, Student Life and Global Relations, Director of the Centre for Pro Bono and Clinical Legal Education and Co-ordinator of the International Moot Programme. She is also NUS Assoc Provost (Special Projects) and Dean of the Singapore Institute of Legal Education.

Eleanor started her career with the Commercial Affairs Department, prosecuting complex commercial and securities frauds. She obtained a masters in corporate law from New York University in 1990. Eleanor thereafter joined international law firm Coudert Brothers, working in their New York and Singapore offices. She specialised in international banking and finance work for Coudert and, later, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. In 2000, she joined the leading local media company The Right Angle. There, she provided communications consultancy and training for top executives. Eleanor continues her links to industry as a Consultant with Helmsman LLC.

In addition to her legal publications, Eleanor is a playwright and poet, whose works have been produced in Singapore and ASEAN.

Did you know?

Eleanor is equal parts techie and arty. She was once writer-in-residence at the Centre for Quantum Technologies. She takes (guilty) pleasure in watching music reality shows such as the Masked Singer and Songland.

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Professor Damian Chalmers
Vice Dean (Research)

Professor Damian Chalmers works on how regional organisations reshape trade, regulation and investment. He has written or co-written eight books and over 65 articles. Damian worked for 24 years at the London School of Economics and Political Science, including 10 as Professor of EU Law. During that time, he was Head (Dean) of its European Institute and Jean Monnet Centre for four years. He has held Visiting Appointments at the CEU, College of Europe, Copenhagen, EUI, Fudan, Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Instituto de Empresa, Michigan, NYU, the Institute of Advanced Studies Vienna, and Trento.

During the referendum period, Damian was one of three EU lawyers that were appointed by British ESRC ‘UK in a Changing Europe’ programme (the central UK research body) to provide a clear opinion on the claims by both sides. He has been cited heavily by media across the world. He was co-editor of the European Law Review, one of the three leading journals in EU law, for six years.

Did you know?

Damian’s proposal on restructuring the relationship between EU and national citizenship was a central element of the agreement between the United Kingdom and the other EU states that formed the basis for the UK government recommending that the UK remain in the European Union in the 2016 referendum there. “It was no good”, he said. “The British still voted to leave.”

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 Ms Jayagowry Appalasamy
Associate Dean (Head of Administration)

Ms Jayagowry Appalasamy joined NUS Law in 2014 after spending more than a dozen years as a senior administrator with the Ministry of Home Affairs. Jaya’s stints include heading the Police National Service Branch at Clementi Police Division; the Operations & Corporate Services Branch of the Police Psychological Services Unit; and the Manpower Branch at the Training Command in the Singapore Police Force. She was also a senior para-counsellor and an editor of “Mind Matters”, an internal publication of SPF on mental wellness.

An alumna of NUS Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences (’99), Jaya holds a Bachelor’s Degree with majors in English Language and Political Science. She 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.

Did you know?

Apart from being an avid runner, Jaya is an Auxiliary Security Trooper with the Singapore Armed Forces Volunteer Corps and is an active grassroots leader.