Chief Justice of Singapore conferred NUS Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree

06 July 2010

In recognition of his contributions in the legal field, The Honourable the Chief Justice of the Republic of Singapore Mr Chan Sek Keong was conferred the NUS Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws by Singapore President and NUS Chancellor Mr S R Nathan at the first NUS Commencement ceremony on 5 July 2010.

The Honorary Degree is one of the University's highest forms of recognition for outstanding individuals including those who have rendered distinguished service to and had a great impact on the University.

NUS President Prof Tan Chorh Chuan described Chief Justice Chan as "a man of many talents and outstanding qualities". "I would like to highlight a particular quality of Chief Justice Chan that stands out. This is his deep empathy and concern for the community. Chief Justice Chan firmly believes that a good judge must understand the culture and contexts of the communities that make up our multi-racial society. As he has shown through his work, it is by valuing our society that we can really serve it well," noted Prof Tan.

In his acceptance speech, Chief Justice Chan said: "I wish to thank the Law Faculty for its extremely positive assessment of my legal work, which may in part be attributed to my abiding interest in what the law academics from the Law Faculty write on the law. Their articles, especially the critical ones, have helped me to look at the law from different perspectives. The Law Faculty has played a valuable role in the development of Singapore law and its influence will continue to be greatly felt in the years to come."

Hailing from Ipoh, Malaysia, Chief Justice Chan was among the first graduating class of 1961 of the law school of the University of Malaya in Singapore, which later became the Faculty of Law, NUS. He obtained a Second Upper, which was very sparingly granted at the time.

He blazed a trail of firsts for an alumnus of the NUS Law Faculty – the first Judicial Commissioner in 1986, then Judge of the Supreme Court in 1988, the first Attorney-General in 1992, and the first Chief Justice in 2006.

He counts among his numerous accolades the Distinguished Service Order (Singapore) in 1999, a Dato-seri from the Sultan of Perak. In 2008, he received the Order of Temasek (Second Class) for his contributions in Singapore's successful claim to sovereignty over Pedra Branca. In the same year, he became the first local law graduate to become an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln's Inn, England. More recently, in 2009, he became the first Asian jurist to receive the International Jurists Award by the International Council of Jurists.