DAVINDER SINGH CHAMBERS REIGN SUPREME AT CJ’S CUP 2023
The legal profession raised over $165,000 through SAL’s signature CJ’s Cup
BY SEAN LEE
On 13 May 2023, the annual Chief Justice’s Cup (CJ’s Cup), organised by SAL, returned for the first time since the pandemic. It saw the legal community place their court documents and legal pads aside to lace up their football cleats for a good cause. Together, they raised more than $165,000 for the SAL-YRF STAR (Skills Training Assistance to Restart) Bursary, which funds the education of financially disadvantaged ex-offenders.
The tournament began in earnest with an exhibition match between Team SAL and the Law Society Women’s Team. A highlight of this match was the friendly rivalry between Justice Kwek Mean Luck (on Team SAL) and his wife Ms Vivienne Lim (on the opposing team). Despite it being billed as an ‘friendly’, both sides did not hold back, with Team SAL eventually pulling ahead with a 1-0 win.
In the matches that followed, Davinder Singh Chambers, Clifford Chance, Allen & Gledhill and WongPartnership emerged victorious and proceeded to the semi-finals. The final match between Davinder Singh Chambers and Clifford Chance was especially nail-biting, as neither side could find a breakthrough and the match ended up going to penalties. Davinder Singh Chambers prevailed and their players celebrated with jubilation after scoring the winning penalty.
As guest-of-honour Justice Andre Maniam, co-chair of the SAL Professional Affairs and Membership Committee, awarded the medals and trophy, their players were clearly overcome with emotion, visibly caught up in the euphoria of the moment.
Reflecting on the charity futsal competition, Mr Justinian Tan, a first-year law student from SMU said: “The experience was fun, made better by how competitive the teams were. While you’re heated at some moments, it was quite an enriching experience getting to know people around in the profession.”
For Eugene Thuraisingam LLP, which sponsored the event, the tournament served as an opportunity for the firm to gather not only their lawyers and trainees, but their interns both past and present. Mr Chooi Jing Yen, partner at the firm, said: “Participating in this competition was a very natural decision to make because this event combines the Yellow Ribbon and futsal so it's a way to bring people of all walks of life together.”
“A lot of the conception of what lawyers do, criminal defense lawyers do in particular, is that our job ends at the end of the court hearing when, for example, the accused person is sentenced to prison. However, the rehabilitative process lasts a lot longer than that.”
“And there are also things that we should do to help offenders reintegrate into society once they complete their stint in prison. That’s why we felt that the Yellow Ribbon is a very meaningful project for us to support, given the role that we play in the criminal justice system.”
Mr Thio Shen Yi SC, chair of SAL’s Corporate Social Responsibility Working Group, firmly believes that the buck of supporting ex-offenders should not stop with just the CJ’s Cup.
“What we want to do is go beyond the law firms, reach out into the international law firms, reach out to the halfway houses, reach out to firms that do work within the legal industry - like the accountants, like the experts, like the valuers, and forensic investigators - we want to get them involved so that they all are part of this larger ecosystem that supports a charity that gives second chances,” said Shen Yi, who is also Joint Managing Partner of TSMP Law Corporation, another sponsor of the event.
