NUS Law Dean Andrew Simester appointed Academic Master of the Bench of the Inner Temple

The National University of Singapore Faculty of Law (NUS Law) is delighted to share that its Dean, Professor Andrew Simester, has been elected as an Academic Master of the Bench (or “Bencher”) of The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple – one of the four historic Inns of Court in England and Wales.

This appointment is a singular honour and a remarkable milestone, recognising Professor Simester’s leadership at NUS Law as well as his international scholarly standing in criminal law and legal philosophy. It also affirms the strong ties between Singapore’s legal community and one of the most venerable institutions of the common law.

Masters of the Bench are eminent members who collectively govern the Inn and steward its mission of educating and training the Bar of England and Wales. While many Benchers are judges and senior barristers, from time to time the Inn also appoints Academic Benchers to enrich its work with scholarly expertise and to advise on pedagogy and thought leadership.

As an Academic Bencher, Professor Simester joins a collegiate body that shapes high-quality legal education, promotes rigorous ethical standards, advances public legal education, and champions the rule of law not only in the UK but internationally. His appointment reflects academic distinction and educational commitment: The Inner Temple expressly recognised both his legal expertise and his leadership as Dean of NUS Law.

On his appointment, Professor Simester said, “I may be the Dean, but teaching and research is the lifeblood of what an academic does, and I am delighted to become an Academic Bencher of the Inner Temple. The Temple is grounded in centuries of education and training for courtroom advocates. At the same time, it works to promote admirable goals such as the rule of law, not purely in the UK but internationally. Academics do that too. Right now, the world needs more institutions like this, institutions that give to the world and do not take.”

This is not the first time that Professor Simester’s academic distinction has been recognised internationally. In 2019, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Uppsala, one of the world’s oldest universities boasting some eight Nobel Laureates. Very few scholars attain both academic and professional honours of this nature. A world-leading researcher whose work in criminal law and theory has been cited by senior appellate courts across multiple common law jurisdictions, Professor Simester has served as Dean of NUS Law since 2023 and holds the Amaladass Professorship of Criminal Justice.

Before joining NUS in 2006, Professor Simester taught at the University of Cambridge and the University of Nottingham. He was elected an external Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, in 2007 and held an honorary professorship at the University of Oxford from 2014 to 2017. In 2015, he was elected on a part-time basis to the Edmund-Davies Chair in Criminal Law at King’s College London, a position that he relinquished in 2023 after becoming Dean of NUS Law.

His service to the field includes sitting on the editorial boards of the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies and Criminal Law and Philosophy. His latest book, Fundamentals of Criminal Law, has prompted multiple international journal symposia.

About The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple

The Inner Temple is a centuries-old community at the heart of the common law tradition. Its roots reach back to the Temple precinct established by the Knights Templar in the 12th century; by the late 14th century, lawyers had formed the Inner Temple and its neighbour, the Middle Temple, as societies dedicated to education, collegiality and professional formation. Today, the Inner Temple is both historic and forward-looking. It delivers high-quality professional education, upholds ethics and integrity, advances public legal education, and invests substantially in scholarships and outreach to promote equality, diversity, inclusivity and social mobility.