NUS Law

Big news for international arbitration and an exciting new chapter for NUS Law.

This morning, at his opening address at the Singapore Convention Week 2026, Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs Mr Edwin Tong SC announced the establishment of a new centre dedicated to advancing research, thought leadership, international engagement and postgraduate education in arbitration and other forms of international dispute resolution.

Jointly established by the Ministry of Law, Singapore and NUS, the new centre at NUS Law will be led by Professor Stavros Brekoulakis, connecting leading academics, practitioners, policymakers, institutions and users to engage with the issues shaping the future of international dispute resolution.

As international arbitration evolves against a rapidly changing global landscape, this new centre complements Singapore's existing world-class dispute resolution ecosystem to deepen Singapore’s contribution to the development of international arbitration on the world stage.



Read more: https://news.nus.edu.sg/new-centre-for-arbitration-and-international-dispute-resolution-to-be-established/

📷: NUS Law’s Professor Stavros Brekoulakis, an international expert, academic and practitioner in international arbitration, speaking to the media about the new centre for arbitration and international dispute resolution at the Singapore Convention

*Reposted from National University of Singapore's page

Congratulations to our NUS Law students on their outstanding results at the Asian Environmental Negotiation Competition 2026!

Held in July at the NUS Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, the competition centred around the hypothetical development of Azania, a hyperscale data cloud centre campus, in the fictional state of Kisiwa. Teams were challenged to balance commercial interests against realistic socio-economic and ESG concerns.

We are proud to celebrate the achievements of our students:
First Place: Dorthy Wang ’27, Ellery Tan ’27 and Taesha Tan ’27
Third Place: Alyssa Lee ’27, Yeo Rei Ya ’27 and Klare Phua ’27
Spirit of Negotiation Award: Arjun Chhabra ’27, Joel Leong ’27 and Rdu Dillon ’26

Organised by the NUS Law Environmental Law Students’ Association and sponsored by the Asian Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Allen & Gledhill LLP, this year’s competition brought together over 150 participants from NUS, SMU and institutions across Asia, including Thailand and India.

Congratulations to Professor James Penner on being awarded the 2026 Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize.

Widely regarded as one of the most influential property theorists of this century, Professor Penner has been cited in jurisdictions around the world.

Professor James Y. Stern, Professor of Law at William & Mary and Director of the Property Rights Project, shared, “[Professor] James Penner has reshaped how we understand the very idea of property, influencing practical accounts of how property works, philosophical accounts of its moral foundations, and legal doctrines that shape its operation on the ground."

The Brigham-Kanner Prize is awarded annually to a scholar, practitioner or jurist whose work affirms the fundamental importance of property rights. This honour is a testament to Professor Penner's intellectual leadership and contributions to the study of property law.

We extend our warmest congratulations to Professor Penner on this well-deserved recognition.

We are proud to share that fourth-year NUS Law student Fong Jun Yi ’27 has published a case note in The Modern Law Review, one of the world’s leading peer-reviewed journals in legal scholarship.

His article examines the UK Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Rukhadze v Recovery Partners GP Ltd, offering fresh insights into fiduciary law and contributing to an important international legal conversation.

Publishing in a journal of this calibre is a remarkable achievement, particularly as a law student. It reflects the values that we seek to nurture in all our students — intellectual excellence, analytical rigour and commitment to legal research.

“I am grateful to NUS Law for providing an academic environment where we are encouraged and inspired to ask tough questions, and given a wealth of tools to pursue our areas of interest in great detail. This case note emerged from discussions I had with my professor and classmates in my Equity & Trusts class, and it was incredibly rewarding to embark on independent legal research building on those discussions.”

Congratulations Jun Yi on this outstanding achievement.

Read the case note at:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-2230.70053

Assistant Professor Tan Weiming was on a recent podcast episode of Trusts Talk to discuss his Law Quarterly Review article, "Account of Profits in Dishonest Assistance, the 'Equal Rigour' Principle, and the Retreat from 'Status'" (2026) 142 L.Q.R. 58.

The podcast hosted by Professors Adam Hofri-Winogradow (University of British Columbia) and Mark Bennett (Victoria University of Wellington), features leading scholars and practitioners in equity and trusts.

In this episode, Asst Prof Tan makes the case for the "equal rigour" principle, arguing that the availability of an account of profits in dishonest assistance should not depend solely on whether the defendant is a fiduciary. Instead, the law should also protect the fiduciary relationship from deliberate third-party interference with equal rigour.

We're proud to see our faculty contributing to scholarly discussions and thought leadership in law on the global stage, reinforcing our commitment to research excellence.

Watch the full podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rSMOOub22A

Congratulations to all NUS Law’s Long Service Award recipients!

We would like to thank the following faculty members and administrators for their dedication and hard work:

𝟱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲
Assistant Professor Benjamin Goh
Associate Professor Linda Yanti Sulistiawati
Professor Christian Witting
Mr lfraim Sofian Faylasuf
Mr Joshua Koh
Ms Kong Shi Ning

𝟭𝟬 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲
Assistant Professor Dian Diana Binti Abdul Hamed Shah
Assistant Professor Jeremiah Lau
Professor Ernest Lim
Associate Professor Vincent-Joel Proulx
Instructor Daryl Yong
Ms Jothi Bhavani D/O Panchasaram
Ms Pauline Wong

𝟭𝟱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲
Associate Professor Arif A. Jamal
Associate Professor Kelry Loi
Professor Umakanth Varottil

𝟮𝟱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲
Professor Kumaralingam S/O A Amirthalingam
Ms Gail Lee
Mr Mohamad Razali Bin Sak Yok
Ms Rahima Binte Hussain
Ms Zanariah Binte Zainol Abidin M
Ms Khairiyah Binte Abu

𝟯𝟱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲
Ms Ophelia Loh

𝟰𝟬 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲
Associate Professor Stephen Phua

Read more at: https://law.nus.edu.sg/media/nus-law-honours-dedicated-staff-at-long-service-awards-2026/

Huang Fan PhD ’28, a second-year PhD student at NUS Law, has been awarded the prestigious Fox International Fellowship at Yale University for the academic year 2026/2027. This is an achievement that underscores the world-class calibre of our research community, with the Fellowship being a highly competitive graduate student exchange programme between Yale and a select network of only 20 world-renowned partner institutions. This is the second time our student has been awarded the Fellowship.

When choosing where to anchor his doctoral work, Fan, who hails from Guangxi, chose Singapore. “My research adopts a Global South perspective, which resonates with the prevalent concerns within Asia where Singapore is located,” he explained. “However, NUS is far more than just an Asian institution. As the Former Dean of NUS Law, Professor Tommy Koh, put it, ‘it is where civilisations of the world meet and co-mingle’.”

Fan’s research spans many fields, as he explores what the term “developing country” means when used in international dispute settlement. Refining a topic of this magnitude requires a delicate balance of intellectual freedom and rigorous testing, paired with the input of diverse perspectives, and Fan found the perfect launchpad at NUS Law. The research culture here challenged him, and he pointed out the frequent academic conferences, seminars and workshops by well-known scholars that kept him abreast of developments in the field, as well as the excellent campus facilities.

The journey to Yale will be an extension of Fan’s relentless academic exploration. We wish him the very best!

Read more at: https://law.nus.edu.sg/media/from-nus-to-yale-navigating-the-global-south-discourse/

NUS Law welcomes the following Visiting Faculty for AY2026/2027, Phase 1 of Semester 1:

Professor Devika Hovell, Kwa Geok Choo Visiting Professor; Professor Thomas Poole, Tan Ah Tah Visiting Professor; Professor Howard Bennett, Sat Pal Khattar Visiting Professor; Professor Andrew Schwartz; Associate Professor Gilad Abiri and Associate Professor Marie-Louise Holle.

Read more at: https://law.nus.edu.sg/media/nus-law-welcomes-visiting-faculty-ay-2026-2027-semester-1/

🏅🏅 We are delighted to share that NUS Law achieved an outstanding Double Gold at the 68th NUSSU Rag & Flag Day, held on 8 August 2026 at University Town Green.

NUS Law’s Freshmen Orientation Central Committee (FOCC), led by Yin Qile ’29, Clarabelle Tan ’29, Claire Lim ’29 and Natalie Teo ’29, brought together 137 freshmen and 42 seniors in support of the University’s annual Rag & Flag initiative. This year, our students raised over $40,000 for charity, and their Double Gold achievement is a testament to their dedication, passion and community spirit.

A fantastic achievement to kick off the new academic year. Congratulations to all our students involved! 👏

Pictures taken by: Ke-ian J Leong ZhengXi