Education

National University of Singapore (NUS): Law

Category Law, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore, Undergraduate
Tags Law, National University of Singapore, NUS

At the NUS law school we continue to relentlessly pursue a goal that has existed since our establishment in 1957. Simply put, it is to offer the best legal education possible. With this goal in mind, we periodically review our curriculum to ensure that it keeps up with changing circumstances as the law must be responsive to the needs of the wider society that it serves. Our most recent curriculum review was completed in 2002 and led to a number of innovations, one of which is the first comprehensive legal writing programme in Asia. Foundational subjects continue to be taught in small groups, a luxury long since abandoned by most law schools. We also offer a wide range of elective subjects from the theoretical to the practical as well as a number of specialist Master of Laws programmes such as our most recent LLM in Maritime Law, LLM in Asian Legal Studies and NYU@NUS - our double LLM degree programme with NYU.

At the same time, we demand a lot from our students. If you are a student here, you will be constantly challenged to think about things and to do things that will be unfamiliar to you. The faculty at the law school expect a great deal from you. We want you to grow as individuals and to discover the depths within yourselves that you probably never knew existed. At the same time, just as we expect a great deal from you, my colleagues and I recognise that we must play our part to inspire you, to bring new ideas and methodologies to you, and to engage you in a dialogue that has taken place for millennia, and that will continue to take place for as long as humanity exists, for law is part of the glue that holds societies together.

Just as teaching is important, so too is research for a law school must advance the boundaries of legal scholarship. Legal academics must continue to think about how laws can be improved in the quest for a more just and equitable society. At the NUS law school, faculty are engaged in the great legal issues of the day such as terrorism laws, corporate governance, environmental protection, social justice, and the impact of technology on society.

Teaching and research do not take place in a vacuum. Faculty at the NUS law school work with various governmental organisations, public bodies, civic groups, and international organisations to bring our specialist knowledge to bear on real problems and issues. Faculty are also members of tribunals, they regularly argue cases before the courts or arbitral bodies, and have been appointed as arbitrators. All this adds to the richness that faculty bring to the classroom and their research. At the same time, it reflects the institutional idealism that is a key trait of the NUS law school.

The quality of a law school is reflected in its students. The alumni of the NUS law school include leaders of the legal profession, government ministers, Supreme Court judges, ambassadors, community leaders, social workers and more. At NUS we like to think that we don’t just give our students a law degree, we also inculcate in them a sense of purpose and a calling.

I hope you enjoy browsing through our website. If you are considering applying to read law at the NUS law school, I hope that I will have the opportunity in the near future of welcoming you personally to NUS.

The NUS Faculty of Law is one of the finest law schools in the world, and is widely regarded as Asia’s leading law school. Staffed by an outstanding permanent faculty with law degrees from more than a dozen jurisdictions, the law school is an institution dedicated to building a community and an environment in which faculty and students can discuss and reflect on the fundamental legal issues that affect societies in today’s globalised world.

The strength of the NUS law school is seen in the broad and diverse range of subjects that it offers. Students at the law school can choose subjects from many clusters including Asian legal studies, banking and finance, biomedical law, commercial law, comparative law, corporate law, criminal law, intellectual property, international law, law and social justice, legal jurisprudence, legal process and skills, public law, and transportation law, just to name a few. While the subjects range from the theoretical to the practical, the overriding objective is to provide students with a liberal education through the medium of law that will allow them to maximise their potential to the fullest degree.

Located in Singapore, which for almost 200 years has been a major international commercial centre and a cosmopolitan city, the NUS law school is very much Asia’s Global Law School. Ever since its establishment in 1957, the teaching of law at NUS has been conducted against the backdrop of legal developments in other parts of the world. Today, virtually all faculty at the NUS law school incorporate global perspectives from civil law or other common law jurisdictions in their teaching. In addition, each year the law school plays host to around a dozen visiting faculty who add to the cosmopolitanism of the law school by bringing their own unique perspectives to legal education. All this reflects the strong belief of the law school that with the increasing demands placed on legal practice by globalisation, it is essential for legal professionals to approach the study of law from a broader, multi-jurisdictional perspective.

Global perspectives are also very much evident in the cutting edge research produced by faculty at the NUS law school. In the constant search for better legal solutions to the issues that confront all societies, faculty often incorporate comparative material in their articles and monographs. Writing as they do for a global audience, articles from NUS faculty are published regularly in leading academic journals. In recent years the journals faculty have published in include the Australian Law Journal, Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, Cambridge Law Journal, Canadian Foreign Policy, Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts, Connecticut Journal of International Law, Harvard International Law Journal, Human Rights Quarterly, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, International Constitutional Law Journal, International Journal of Evidence and Proof, International Maritime and Commercial Law Yearbook, Journal of Business Law, Journal of Contract Law, Journal of Corporate Law Studies, Journal of World Investment, Law Quarterly Review, Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, Legal Studies, Modern Law Review, Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, Regent University Law Review, Restitution Law Review, Singapore Academy of Law Journal, Singapore Journal of International and Comparative Law, Singapore Journal of Legal Studies, South African Law Journal, The Law Teacher, Torts Law Journal, Tort Law Review, and UCLA Pacific Basin Law Journal.

Reflecting the cosmopolitan, outward-looking nature of the law school, our undergraduate and graduate students come from many countries, representing all the continents. In the 2007/08 academic year, our students come from nearly 50 countries and territories, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Rwanda, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Vietnam. In addition, the law school plays host each year to students from more than 40 student exchange partners all over the world, including law schools in Australia, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The diversity of students at NUS adds to an already vibrant and stimulating intellectual environment.

The city and country of Singapore also provides a wonderful environment for a legal education. Singapore is a gracious Asian city that has long been regarded as a meeting point between the East and the West. It is a natural place to live in to understand Asia better. There are also internship opportunities with public and private organisations in Singapore or other parts of Asia.