Vol 1 No. 2 July - December 2002 - Faculty of Law - National ...

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Contents 03Message from Dean Tan Cheng Han ‘87 04Law School Highlights 12Feature Interview 14ALAWMNUS Feature 22Future Alumni 28ClassAction LAWLINK is a publication of: The Alumni Relations Committee NUS Law School 13 Law Link, Kent Ridge Singapore 117590 Special thanks to: Gary Bell, Tracey Evans Chan ‘97, Jamila Osman, Valerie Sam, Alfian Ahmad & Dean Tan Cheng Han ‘87 To get on our mailing list, write with full contact details to lawlink@nus.edu.sg or LAWLINK , NUS Law School, 13 Law Link, Singapore 117590. A Word from the Editor It has been six months since the launch of the inaugural issue of LAWLINK . In that time, numerous alumni have written in to express their support for the magazine, and for stronger alumni relations in general. We are extremely heartened by your encouragement, and look forward to presenting even more interesting issues of LAWLINK in the future. Vast changes are afoot at the Law School. In this issue, alumni will have an idea of how the Law School is striving to keep abreast of developments around us. The introduction of a new curriculum, with emphasis on legal skills and transnational perspectives, is explained by Robert Beckman and Eleanor Wong ’85. The opening of the new C J Koh Law Library marks a tremendous improvement to our library facilities, thanks to the philanthropy of our benefactor, the estate of the late Mr Koh Choon Joo. More student exchange agreements have been signed, and new collaborations with law schools in the United States and China have been forged. Our law students continue to excel in international mooting competitions - the latest victory was at the Vis Moots in Vienna, where we emerged champions in our very first attempt. The Singapore Law Review continues to grow in strength and our student editors recently hosted a lecture by the Chief Justice of Malaysia. To foster greater student - alumni links, the Law School has introduced a seminar series which aims to bring distinguished alumni back to campus to speak to students on their work and interests. Now that the Law School is in its fifth decade, it is perhaps opportune to reflect on our history and heritage. In this issue, we bring you an interview with our Founding Dean, Lee Sheridan, who pioneered the establishment of the Law School in the 1950’s. We also feature several of our alumni who have excelled in various endeavours - national sailor and Olympian Stanley Tan ’99 is pursuing his dreams, Nuraliza Osman ’00 fulfilled hers by becoming Miss Singapore 2002, while Ng Yuina ’92 and Arul Ramiah ’95 are actively engaged in overseas aid work and traditional Indian dance respectively. Meanwhile, scores of alumni have shown great support for the ClassAction segment dedicated to keeping classmates updated on one another’s developments. The Classes of 1992 and 1993 have started Class Websites hosted on the Law School server (http://law.nus.edu.sg/alumni). We are also helping several classes plan their reunions in the next few months. Do get in touch with us to see how we can facilitate class websites and reunions. LAWLINK has now grown substantively in its content even though this is only our second issue. In that regard, LAWLINK is testimony to the strengthening relations between the Law School and her alumni. We hope that this publication will continue to steer us in that direction. Alan Tan Khee Jin ‘93 Associate Professor and Editor, LAWLINK LAWLINK can be accessed on-line at http://law.nus.edu.sg/alumni
03 LAWLINK Message from Dean Tan Cheng Han ’87 Cheng Han during his visit to Shanghai in April The NUS Law School will soon start its new 2002/03 academic year in late July. This new year will be an important one for us as the Law School is implementing a new curriculum. In this curriculum, we will continue to focus on core subjects such as Contract, Tort, Criminal Law and Property Law, just to name a few. These core subjects constitute the basic building blocks of legal knowledge and are arguably the most important components of legal education. In addition to these ‘traditional’ subjects that are found in the curricula of many other law schools, we will also be introducing a number of ‘perspective’ law courses into our list of compulsory subjects, as well as a Legal Analysis, Writing and Research programme. The ‘perspective’ subjects are ‘Introduction to Legal Theory’, ‘Singapore Legal System’, and ‘Comparative Legal Traditions’. These subjects are intended to give our students a broader understanding of the law that goes beyond subject - specific legal rules and principles. The Legal Analysis, Writing and Research programme will require law students to write a great deal more than they currently do. They will be required to write across different legal subjects, thereby reducing (hopefully) the tendency for students to ‘segmentalize’ the law rather than taking a more holistic approach that sees the various subjects as parts of an overall framework. Students will also be taught how to engage in legal research, including the many electronic research tools that are currently available. Mooting and trial advocacy will continue to be a part of the curriculum to ensure that oral communication skills are not neglected. Finally, the Law School must continue to keep up with developments and offer new electives where these become necessary. To this end, a number of new electives will be offered in the new academic year including Corporate Restructuring, Infocommunications Law, International Tax Law, Marine Insurance, Personal Property Law, Restitution, and Trade Dispute Mechanisms. In most Australian, Canadian and US law schools, fund raising is a major priority. It is often said that the principal role of a Dean of a US law school is fund raising. This is increasingly becoming a priority for us too. If we are to continue to remain competitive vis-à-vis other leading law schools in the world, we will need to build up our endowment. I am therefore pleased to announce that my colleagues have resolved to establish the Lee Sheridan Legal Education Fund. This Fund, named in honour of the first Dean of the Law School, hopes to raise at least $2 million. The funds raised will be principally used to fund scholarships and visiting appointments. The establishment of this Fund also allows us, happily, to honour Professor Sheridan, who did so much to establish the Law School and to place it on a firm footing. Professor Sheridan has been kind enough to consent to the establishment of this Fund, which he regards as a “great honour”. It is my hope, therefore, that you will donate generously to this Fund, or to the Law School for any other specified purpose. Many have already done so and the Law School thanks you for your generosity. We will be establishing a Donors’ Board to recognize all donations of $10,000.00 and above, whether made in a single donation or through a number of donations made over a period of time. I hope you enjoy reading this issue of LAWLINK and I congratulate the editorial board on producing another very interesting issue. Law School Donors (Jan - Jun 2002) Dean’s Circle Ong Tiong Tat, trustee of the estate of C J Koh - $250,000 Nesadevi Sandrasegara ’61 and Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara ’88 - $50,000 V.K. Rajah ’82 - $50,000 Alumni Circle - Up to $1,000 Tommy Koh ’61 Lai Siu Chiu ‘72 Lee A Sheridan Faculty Circle - Up to $500 Foo Tuat Yien ‘76 Anthony Wee ‘96 Tan Boon Heng ‘93 Davy Devaraj ‘77 Tiu Lue Ping ‘81 Lim Mei Mei Michele ‘88 Ong San Kyar Edwin ‘99 Balasubramaniam s/o Appavu ‘91 Ngoh Siew Yen ‘01 Mah Swee Keong ‘94 Tay Teck Guan Patrick ‘95 Somusundram Doradevi ‘74 Koh Keng Boon Patrick ‘74 Lilian Goh ‘77 Ng Yin Yin ‘67 Ong Ban Chai ‘68 Chow Peng ‘76 Liew Thiam Leng ‘75 Vincent Lim ‘94 Huang Yen San Petrus LLM ‘91 Judith Prakash ‘74 Louis D’Souza ‘82 Chow Peng & Partners
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