NUS Faculty of Law

NUS Bukit Timah Campus from the air

The Eu Tong Sen building and Block "B"

Inside Block "B": the corridors of the law school

After its establishment in 1956 as the Department of Law of the University of Malaya, NUS Law attained faculty status in 1959, and Lionel Astor Sheridan was appointed as its founding dean. Its pioneer batch of students graduated in 1961, featuring notable figures such as Chan Sek Keong and Tommy Koh. After the division of the University of Malaya in 1962, the faculty continued as part of the new University of Singapore. Subsequently, the faculty became part of the National University of Singapore which was formed in 1980 by a merger between the University of Singapore and Nanyang University.[1]

The LL.B. programme at NUS Law is a four-year programme. Students take compulsory modules in their first two years and elective modules in their third and fourth years.

In terms of exposure to non-law subjects, students may choose to take non-law elective modules offered by other NUS faculties,[6] read for minors outside of law,[7] and take on concurrent or double degree programmes.[8]

Undergraduate students usually go on exchange in their third year, at law schools in "Australia, Canada, East Asia, Europe, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States".[9] Students on the exchange programme pay only tuition fees at the NUS Law rate, thus avoiding paying the often higher fees of the host institutions.[10]

Selected students can also combine completion of their LL.B. at NUS Law with an LL.M. from a partner institution in four years. This is presently possible with New York University, Boston University, Erasmus University, King's College London, University of Melbourne, and University of Toronto.[11]

The indicative grade profile of the 10th percentile of GCE A-Level applicants offered places in its LL.B. programme in 2020 was AAA/A.[12] Applicants are required to sit for a selection test and attend a formal interview to assess their suitability for the study of law.[13]

For graduate students, NUS Law offers a J.D. programme, several coursework LL.M. programmes, and a research Ph.D. programme.[14]

Admissions for graduate programmes generally require a good bachelor's degree in law.[15]

NUS Law publishes the Singapore Journal of Legal Studies, one of the oldest law journals in the Commonwealth.[16] It also produces the Asian Journal of International Law (which is published by Cambridge University Press and succeeds the Singapore Year Book of International Law),[17] and the Asian Journal of Comparative Law (also published by Cambridge University Press).[18]

Additionally, the Singapore Law Review,[19] which is Asia's oldest student-run legal publication, is managed exclusively by the students of NUS Law.

NUS Law hosts the following centres:[20]

In addition, NUS Law hosts the Secretariat of the Asian Law Institute.[21] It also hosts the Secretariat of the Asian Society of International Law (AsianSIL).[22]

The deans of NUS Law from 1956 to present are listed below:[23]

NUS Law has produced a number of notable alumni, including Senior Counsel, Attorneys-General, Members of the Singapore Parliament, Ministers of the Cabinet of Singapore and Judges of the Supreme Court of Singapore:

• Andrew Ang – Supreme Court Judge
• Andrew Phang – Senior Counsel and Judge of Appeal
• Chan Sek Keong – Senior Counsel, former Attorney-General and former Chief Justice
• Steven Chong – Senior Counsel, Judge of Appeal, former Attorney-General and former Managing Partner of Rajah & Tann
• Ho Peng Kee – Former Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Law and Ministry of Home Affairs
• Hri Kumar – Senior Counsel, Deputy Attorney-General and former Member of Parliament for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC
• S Jayakumar – Former Senior Minister in Prime Minister's Office and former dean of NUS Law
• Kan Ting Chiu – Supreme Court Judge
• Karpal Singh – Former Member of the Malaysian Parliament
• Tommy Koh – Ambassador-At-Large for Singapore and former dean of NUS Law
• Lai Siu Chiu – Supreme Court Judge
• Sylvia Lim – Chairman of the Workers' Party of Singapore
• Sundaresh Menon – Senior Counsel, Chief Justice and former Attorney-General
• Ong Keng Yong – Director of the Institute of Policy Studies and former Secretary-General of ASEAN
• Judith Prakash – Judge of Appeal
• Indranee Rajah – Senior Counsel and Minister in Prime Minister's Office
• V K Rajah – Senior Counsel, former Judge of Appeal and former Attorney-General
• K Shanmugam – Senior Counsel, Minister for Law and Minister for Home Affairs
• Sin Boon Ann – Former Member of Parliament for Tampines GRC
• Davinder Singh – Senior Counsel and former CEO of Drew & Napier
• Tan Cheng Han – Senior Counsel and former dean of NUS Law
• Tan Lee Meng – Supreme Court Judge and former dean of NUS Law
• Tan Min-Liang – Co-founder, CEO and Creative Director of Razer Inc
• Eleanor Wong – Playwright
• Woo Bih Li – Senior Counsel and Supreme Court Judge
• Walter Woon – Senior Counsel and former Attorney-General
• Halimah Yacob – President of Singapore

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore.

• NUS Law Website