Welcome to SAL Blogs
The arguments between a Queen’s Counsel and a Judge are often the most thought-provoking, entertaining and engaging in the law. “I saw that everyone was incredibly sharp. The level of detail covered in these exchanges could only have happened if everyone was prepared and ready to engage with each other on the materials and the cases,” recalls Mr Darren Low, who witnessed these exchanges first-hand during an internship at Fountain Court Chambers (FCC) last year.
Armed with this belief, he applied for the programme in 2013 and flew to London for a three-month stint that year. During his time there, he was rotated between barristers. “By the end of the stint, I had a chance to work and interact with six barristers with varying styles,” he shares. “Some would ask you to sit in their office with them, as if you were their pupil, discussing cases in detail and involving you in every part of the process. Others will be more hands-off and just share their case files.” Irrespective of the approach, Prof Goh said there was still an element of learning,…
Listening to Professor Goh Yihan’s memories of his three months in London is like hearing someone talk of a bygone era, when terms like “coronavirus” were the stuff of medical journals, not daily chatter. But while the times are radically different, the value of such an experience hasn’t diminished, shares Prof Goh, the Dean of the Singapore Management University (SMU)’s School of Law. “Say what you will, but the world will still be a very internationalised one, especially to a country like Singapore, even after COVID-19.”
“Just how much will I get?” is a common question posed to advocates as they see clients through a divorce. While it may be tempting to respond with a precise figure, Ms Tricia Ho advises against this, cautioning that the division of matrimonial assets is in no way an exact science, even in certain “clear-cut” cases. “I think advocates should avoid taking an overly-arithmetical approach when advising their clients on division, and when making submissions to the ancillary matters court,” she says.
After the trials have ended and the death sentence passed, what happens to prisoners on death row? In an oral history interview, Sister Gerard Fernandez sheds light on the final days of some of Singapore’s most famous death row inmates.
