Professor Ernest Lim appointed inaugural Chair of the Chan Sek Keong Professorship in Private Law

We congratulate Professor Ernest Lim ’02—Vice Dean for Faculty Development at the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law, and Co-Director of the Centre for Technology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and the Law—on being appointed to the Chan Sek Keong Professorship in Private Law, in recognition of his distinguished achievement and leadership in the field of corporate law.

This named Professorship is a University-level Chair that acknowledges outstanding and internationally recognised faculty, who have significantly advanced their work as scholars and researchers.

Established as a result of a generous endowment by the late Mr Lin Tah Hwa in 2023 in honour of his personal friend, Dr Chan Sek Keong ’61, who was Singapore’s third Chief Justice, the Chan Sek Keong Professorship in Private Law enhances the Faculty’s capacity to attract and retain world-leading scholars in this vital field.

Commenting on his appointment, Professor Lim said: “It is a tremendous honour to be appointed to the inaugural Chan Sek Keong Professorship in Private Law, a University-level endowed Chair, named in honour of Singapore’s former Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, who made invaluable contributions to the rule of law. I am immensely grateful for the trust and confidence that has been placed in me. I look forward to continuing to contribute to the Faculty’s position at the forefront of research and teaching in private law, particularly in corporate law and governance.”

Professor Lim is a graduate of the University of Oxford (DPhil and BCL), Harvard Law School (LLM) and NUS (LLB). His research expertise in comparative corporate law and governance, as well as other areas of private law, addresses global opportunities and challenges such as sustainability and artificial intelligence. The author of award-winning monographs and numerous articles in top peer-reviewed journals, Professor Lim’s works include A Case for Shareholders’ Fiduciary Duties in Common Law Asia (2019), Sustainability and Corporate Mechanisms in Asia (2020) and Social Enterprises in Asia: A New Legal Form (2023). He is also co-editor of The Cambridge Handbook of Private Law and Artificial Intelligence (2024) and The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Private Law (2026, forthcoming). He is a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute.

Professor Lim has also provided expert witness evidence to the Technology and Construction Court of the High Court of Justice in London and has delivered keynotes at leading universities. He has also served on the board of and consulted for international non-governmental organisations. Before joining academia, he was a corporate and securities lawyer at a multinational law firm, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, in New York and Hong Kong.