NUS Law students cast spotlight on criminal legal aid, with seminar on criminal defence

On 16 July 2024, the NUS Law’s Criminal Justice Club-CLAS (CJC-CLAS) organised its first Guest Speaker Training (Panel Discussion and Networking) Session. Aimed at stimulating thought on legal topics covered by experts in a field, the event saw NUS students taking the lead in inviting distinguished guests, among whom were two NUS Law alumni, to discuss criminal defence.

In line with the CJC’s mission to instil in members a passion for criminal law, the panel discussion, moderated by Associate Professor Mervyn Cheong ’08, saw the guest speakers discuss a broad range of topics related to criminal defence work, as they shared their experiences, know-how and motivations for engaging in pro bono criminal defence.

The guest speakers comprised Mr Pramnath Vijayakumar (Deputy Head of Representations, Pro Bono SG), Mr Kevin Ho (CLAS Advocate, Pro Bono SG), Mr Abraham Vergis S.C. ’98 (Managing Director and Founder, Providence Law Asia LLC) and Mr Eugene Thuraisingam ’00 (Founder and Partner, Eugene Thuraisingam LLP).

When the floor was open to the NUS Law students, they pushed the guest speakers further with challenging questions, such as how they managed clashes between morals and professional duty, their perspective on whether a mandatory pro bono service requirement for practising lawyers would be beneficial, and whether they felt emotionally drained dealing with death penalty cases.

Associate Professor Cheong, who is also the Deputy Director at the Centre for Pro Bono & Clinical Legal Education, underlined the significance of such sessions. He said: “This is a great initiative by the students to find out more about the ethics and practice of criminal law, especially in the provision of criminal legal aid. This shows that the students are seriously considering incorporating criminal legal aid work as an important aspect of their work in the future. It means a lot to the students to hear from the guests, who are all accomplished in their own areas, that criminal legal aid can be a sustainable part of a lawyer’s journey in practice.”