Teo Keang Sood, Tan Lee Meng and Tan Yock Lin appointed as Emeritus Professors

(L to R): Professors Teo Keang Sood, Tan Lee Meng ’72, Tan Yock Lin

NUS Law is pleased to announce that Professors Teo Keang Sood, Tan Lee Meng ’72 and Tan Yock Lin have been appointed as Emeritus Professors in recognition of their distinguished careers at the Faculty and outstanding contributions to the field of law.

Educated at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur and Harvard Law School, Professor Teo Keang Sood’s principal areas of research lie in real property law and strata title. The author of the leading textbook on Strata Title in Singapore and Malaysia, several of his works have been cited with approval at all levels of the courts in Singapore and Malaysia as well as in local and international publications, including the New Zealand Law Commission. He was invited to serve as amicus curiae by the Singapore Court of Appeal in 2019. He has written extensively, and presented papers locally, regionally (including China and Hong Kong) and in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, Serbia and the United States, on land law, strata title and contract law. He has also been appointed as external examiner for universities in Australia and Malaysia for their doctoral candidates in the areas of property law, contract law, and taxation. He was named an Excellent Teacher by NUS in 2002-2003. Among many service contributions, he has served as Vice Dean of NUS Law’s then Graduate Division from 2003-2006 and as General Editor of the Singapore Academy of Law Annual Review of Singapore Cases 2000-2021. In 2007, he was conferred the Public Service Medal (PBM) in recognition of his contributions as the inaugural General Editor of this publication. He is also on the editorial board of the Singapore Academy of Law Journal (SAcLJ) and is a panel member of the Strata Titles Boards as well as a member of the Disciplinary Panel of the Council for Estate Agencies.​

Professor Tan Lee Meng completed his Bachelor of Laws in 1972 at what was then the University of Singapore. He graduated with First Class Honours, which was quite rare at the time, and went on to earn a Master of Laws degree with Distinction at the University of London in 1974. He joined what became the National University of Singapore, serving as Master of Raffles Hall from 1980 and being promoted to full Professor of Law in 1988. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Law from 1987 to 1992 and as Deputy Vice-Chancellor from 1992 to 1997. His publications include important works on shipping law and insurance, in particular The Law in Singapore on Carriage of Goods by Sea (2^nd edn, Butterworths, 1994; 3^rd edn 2018) and Insurance Law in Singapore (2^nd edn, Butterworths, 1997). In 1997 he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Singapore, initially as a Judicial Commissioner but then swiftly confirmed as a Judge. Because of the nature of a judicial appointment, Lee Meng had to resign from his position at NUS, unlike some of his colleagues who went into government and retained their titles being formally seconded or going on long-term leave. In the course of his appointment to the Supreme Court, Lee Meng served as President of the Industrial Arbitration Court (2002-2007) and as a Senate Member of the Singapore Academy of Law. He rejoined NUS Law in 2013, returning with gusto to research and teaching, including a unique module entitled “Insights of a Judge”.

Professor Tan Yock Lin has served on the Singapore Academy of Law’s Law Reform Committee almost since its inception. One of its first chairs, Justice of Appeal LP Thean, was known to have said many times that Yock Lin was its most important member and that he had a lot of time for him. Indeed, he is the longest serving member on the Committee and has written the largest number of law reform papers either solely or jointly. He has been very influential in various areas of law reform including illegality, trust law, conflict of laws, and evidence and procedure, and was awarded a Public Service Medal for his work on the Committee in 2008. His many books have ranged across diverse fields including Evidence, Criminal Procedure, Trusts and Equity, Conflicts of Laws, Personal Property and the Legal Profession. Many of these are in areas where there are no other textbooks even today. While the books may have been more for the Singapore profession, Yock Lin was also one of the few from his generation that achieved international recognition for his writings overseas. These have included articles in leading journals such as the Law Quarterly Review, Legal Studies, the Journal of Business Law, and Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly. The fact that he is both a specialist and generalist also shows up in his career. Yock Lin started work first at the Economic Development Board, and then, after obtaining an economics degree and BA in Jurisprudence from Oxford, came back to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, where he was among those who worked for the late Dr Goh Keng Swee as an economist. It is only after that that he moved to NUS Law where he has remained till now. In Yock Lin’s time here, he has taught many subjects outside his research interests, not out of choice, but because the Faculty needed him to teach in those areas. This included Singapore legal system, constitutional law, and comparative law. This has been on top of teaching in those other areas on which he has written extensively. Yock Lin has also been an informal mentor (there were no formal mentors in the old days) who has been very helpful in legal discussions with many academics in Singapore including Hans Tjio, Ho Hock Lai, and Wee Meng Seng.

Join us in congratulating them on this exceptional recognition of their many achievements!