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Singapore Academy of Law

Legal Heritage

The Long Road To Lawnet, As Told By Charles Lim
It’s difficult to imagine a law firm operating without a computer today. But up until the 1980s, this ubiquitous technology was not something in every law office let alone on every practitioner’s desk. Mr Charles Lim of the Attorney-General’s Chambers shares how officers like himself helped build the landscape we know today.

Mr Charles Lim (left) and Justice Lee Seiu Kin (in blue tie) at the launch of LawNet in 1990 The

A Class Act: How Singapore’s First Law Faculty Came To Be
Students across the country have begun the academic year in earnest. SAL marks the occasion with a look at the history of Singapore’s law faculty which took root at the then-University of Malaya. It started in 1959 with barely three academic staff: Dean Professor LA Sheridan, Mr B L Chua and Mr Tan Boon Teik, a magistrate who taught part-time. Mr Tan Boon Teik, who would later become Singapore’s longest serving Attorney-General, continued to teach part-time at the faculty for many years. His wife, Professor Tan Sook Yee, would became the faculty’s 10th Dean in 1980. This two-part series is based on SAL's oral history interviews with former deans Prof Sheridan and Prof Tan Sook Yee. They recount the nascent years of the law faculty and their love of teaching which have nurtured many legal illuminaries who have made their mark in Singapore and overseas.

It wasn’t always a given that a law degree from a Singapore university would be recognised as a qualification for