HOSTING INSTITUTION - NUS LAW
Established over sixty years ago, the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law (NUS Law) is widely regarded as Asia’s leading law school. It has been consistently ranked amongst the top 20 law schools in the world by Quacquarelli Symonds (#11 in 2022 and #10 in 2021) and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (#8 in 2022 and #12 in 2021).
Founded in 1956 as the Law Department of the University of Malaya in Singapore, the faculty accepted its first undergraduate cohort in 1957 — including Ambassador-at-large Professor Tommy Koh, Singapore’s former Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong and Emeritus Professor Koh Kheng Lian, who went on to play important roles in shaping Singapore’s laws and legal practices. Over six decades, NUS Law has made a tremendous impact on the study and the practice of law in Singapore.
Despite its humble beginnings, the faculty’s student population has expanded from its pioneer batch of 22 students to an intake of 250 undergraduate students and almost 200 graduate students per year today. These students are taught by over 70 full-time faculty members, as well as adjuncts and visitors, representing most of the major jurisdictions around the world.
To date, NUS Law has produced more than 10,000 law graduates, who have gone on to occupy the senior ranks of the judiciary, government, private practice, business, the arts and media communities as well as almost every niche of professional life in Singapore. Prominent NUS Law alumni include Singapore’s first female President Madam Halimah Yacob ’78, Minister for Law K. Shanmugam ’84, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon ’86, actor and playwright Ivan Heng ’88, co-founder and CEO of Razer Inc, Tan Min-Liang ’02, and fashion designer Priscilla Shunmugam ’06.
NUS Law is dedicated to building a vibrant community and creating an environment that facilitates critical thinking and reflection on the fundamental legal issues confronting our interconnected world. It houses the following research centres:
- Asian Law Institute
- Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law
- Centre for Asian Legal Studies
- Centre for Banking & Finance Law
- Centre for Maritime Law
- Centre for Legal Theory
- Centre for Technology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & the Law
- EW Barker Centre for Law & Business
CENTRE FOR TECHNOLOGY, ROBOTICS, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE LAW
The Centre for Technology, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & the Law (TRAIL) was established in NUS Law to explore the relationship between technology and the various areas of legal research.
TRAIL's focus is to inform the debate on the legal, ethical, policy, philosophical and regulatory questions associated with the use and development of information technology (IT), artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics and robotics, in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, through contributions by way of original thinking, research, writing and publications; and to collaborate with like-minded research centres around the world to further inter-disciplinary research in, and the development of, possible guidelines, standards, and solutions to the legal, ethical, policy, philosophical and regulatory issues associated with the development and application of IT, AI, data analytics and robotics in key industries.
TRAIL was officially launched by Mr Edwin Tong, Senior Minister of State, Ministry for Law and Ministry for Health, at the 8th Asian Privacy Scholars Network (APSN) Conference on 5 December 2019.
INSTITUTE OF AIR AND SPACE LAW
The Institute of Air and Space Law (IASL) at McGill University is the world’s premier graduate educational and research institution in the fields of air law and space law. Established in 1951, the IASL is consistently recognised as the hub for world-class quality graduate education and research in legal and policy issues related to aerospace activities. In the decades since its founding, the IASL’s rich offering of courses and outstanding staff and expertise have paved the way for over 1,200 graduates to fill some of the most eminent positions in the aviation and space industries, in the legal profession, at academic and governmental institutions as well as international organisations around the world.
EW BARKER CENTRE FOR LAW & BUSINESS
A successor institution to the former Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS), the EW Barker Centre for Law & Business seeks to enhance and promote research and educational opportunities for faculty, students, legal practitioners and business executives who share a common interest in the fields of Law, Business and Economics. These opportunities will be encouraged through the Centre's work and sponsorship of seminars, conferences and research endeavours. The EW Barker Centre for Law & Business will also engage in appropriate research projects commissioned by industry from time to time.
The vision of EWBCLB is to be the leading law centre in Asia in the field of Law and Business, and one of the leading research institutions in this field globally. It will seek to do this through inter-disciplinary work that has a strong comparative law focus, which includes examining the extent to which legal convergence is taking place in a globalized and interconnected world.
Areas of interest include:
- Bankruptcy law and insolvency law
- Business Organizations: Companies, General Partnerships, LLPs, LPs, Business Trusts, etc
- Competition Law and Policy, and Mergers and Acquisitions
- Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law and Policy
- International Business, and International Commercial Litigation
- Private law
- Taxation: Legal, Regulatory, and Accounting