HOW HE WON THE CHRISTOPHER BATHURST PRIZE 2019
Last year’s recipient of the Christopher Bathurst Prize, Darren Low of Davinder Singh Chambers, shares his winning approach.
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.
Mr Low was then in his late-20s and had been selected for the internship after winning the Christopher Bathurst Prize. Offered by FCC and the Singapore Academy of Law, the Prize honours its namesake, who was regarded by many practitioners in Singapore not just as a formidable advocate and adviser but also as a friend and mentor.
Participants of the annual award are tasked to write an argument to a chosen problem and the best one wins. Mr Low had just begun at Davinder Singh Chambers last year when he decided to apply. “It has always been second nature to involve myself in competitions of various sorts for as long as I can remember, even before law school,” he explains. “As a junior lawyer, I also found an internship with FCC very attractive.”
THE METHOD
“I had approximately three weeks after initially reading the question to mull over the issues it raised. I then took two days to gather the materials that I needed,” shares Mr Low. “Once that was ready, I was able to come up with an initial draft shortly after. Following that, I spent 30 minutes every day tweaking the answer until the submission deadline.”
Before crafting his response, Mr Low also set out to guess what others would include in their answers—and proceeded to vary his response from this. This wasn’t his only strategy; beyond content, he also pondered its presentation. “I tried to structure the arguments and order the points in a way that allowed the reader to sense the flow of the advice logically and coherently.” Omission is also an important skill, adds Mr Low. “I drafted—and eventually jettisoned—an entire section on the Evidence Act. In hindsight, that was the right—but tough—call; although it was an interesting point, it did not change the substance of the advice.”
Perseverance is also something Mr Low has come to value in hindsight. After all, his most recent entry for the Prize wasn’t his first. It took him two previous tries before he eventually won. “You miss all the shots you don’t take! It certainly helped that the issues raised by the questions were interesting to me, and so I enjoyed researching and learning new things.,” he says. “I would encourage everyone to participate and not let a “no” in the past stop them from trying again.”
Applications for Christopher Bathurst Prize 2020 are now open. Click here to view this year's Questions and Rules. The contributor of the best entry will win an all-expenses-paid 2-week internship with Fountain Court Chambers in London, which will take place at a time to be mutually agreed between the winner and Fountain Court within a year of the announcement of the winning entry.
A LIFE IN THE LAW
Mr Darren Low (Associate, Davinder Singh Chambers)
Called to the Bar: 2018
Darren Low is an award-winning postgraduate legal associate who is currently a litigator in commercial disputes at Davinder Singh Chambers LLC. A graduate of the University of London (Queen Mary, First Class Honours) and the University of Cambridge (Downing College), Darren was admitted to the Singapore Bar in 2018 and was one of the top students in Part A of the Bar Examinations. Darren is a passionate advocate and has won several awards in a number of prestigious mooting competitions. His highlights include winning the 2014 Oxford University Press UK National Moot, the Best Researcher Prize in the DM Harish International Moot Court Competition and the 3rd prize in the 2017 European Court of Human Rights Moot.
