Sundaresh Menon

Singaporean lawyer (born 1962)

The Honourable

Sundaresh Menon

സുന്ദരേഷ് മേനോൻ

Menon speaking at the SMU School of Law in 2019

4th Chief Justice of Singapore

Incumbent

Assumed office
6 November 2012
President| Tony Tan
Halimah Yacob
Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Preceded by| Chan Sek Keong
Justice of the Court of Appeal of Singapore
In office
1 August 2012 – 5 November 2012
Appointed by| Tony Tan
6th Attorney-General of Singapore
In office
1 October 2010 – 25 June 2012
Appointed by| S. R. Nathan
Preceded by| Walter Woon
Koh Juat Jong (acting)
Succeeded by| Steven Chong
Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court of Singapore
In office
3 April 2006 – 2 April 2007
Appointed by| S. R. Nathan
Personal details
Born|  (1962-02-26) 26 February 1962 (age 62)
State of Singapore
Alma mater|

* National University of Singapore (LLB)
* Harvard University (LLM)

Sundaresh Menon (born 26 February 1962) is a Singaporean lawyer who has been serving as Chief Justice of Singapore since 2012.

Prior to his appointment as Chief Justice, Menon was a Judicial Commissioner between 2006 and 2007, Attorney-General between 2010 and 2012, and a Justice of the Court of Appeal.

Menon studied law at the National University of Singapore and Harvard Law School. He was a founding partner of law firm WongPartnership, and was also a partner at Shook Lin & Bok, Rajah & Tann, and Jones Day.

He was appointed as Chief Justice of Singapore by former president Tony Tan.

## Education

[edit]

Menon graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1986 with a Bachelor of Laws degree with first-class honours. He subsequently completed a Master of Laws degree at Harvard Law School in 1991.[1][2]

## Career

[edit]

Menon started his career at Shook Lin & Bok as a legal assistant in 1987, and became a partner in 1990. In 1992, together with Wong Meng Meng and Alvin Yeo, Menon co-founded WongPartnership,[3] one of the largest law firms in Singapore, and remained a partner in the law firm until 1995. He then joined Rajah & Tann as a partner and served as its Head of Projects & Infrastructure Group until 2003, and thereafter joined Jones Day as a partner until 2006.

Menon served a one-year term as a Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court between 2006 and 2007. Returning to legal practice with Rajah & Tann after, he was appointed Senior Counsel on 5 January 2008,[4] and became its managing partner in August 2009.[2] Menon was appointed Attorney-General on 1 October 2010, where he served until 25 June 2012.[5] He was subsequently appointed a Justice of the Court of Appeal on 1 August 2012.[6] On 6 November 2012, he was appointed as the fourth Chief Justice of Singapore by then-president Tony Tan.[7] He is the first Chief Justice to be born in Singapore.

He has served as Deputy Chairman of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, a member of the Senate of the Singapore Academy of Law, and Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Singapore Management University School of Law.[1][8]

## Notable judgments

[edit]

As a Judicial Commissioner, Judge of Appeal, and Chief Justice, Menon has delivered the following notable judgments:

* Public Prosecutor v Lew Syn Pau [2006] 4 SLR(R) 210, [2006] SGHC 146 (as a JC)
* Re Shankar Alan s/o Anant Kulkarni [2007] 1 SLR(R) 85, [2006] SGHC 194 (as a JC)
* Tan Chui Lian v Neo Liew Eng [2007] 1 SLR(R) 265, [2006] SGHC 203 (as a JC)[1]
* Affirmed by the Court of Appeal in Ong Chai Soon v Ong Chai Koon [2022] 2 SLR 457, [2022] SGCA 36
* Goh Nellie v Goh Lian Teck [2007] 1 SLR(R) 453, [2006] SGHC 211 (as a JC)
* Hong Leong Singapore Finance Ltd v United Overseas Bank Ltd [2007] 1 SLR(R) 292, [2006] SGHC 205 (as a JC)
* Lee Hsien Loong v Review Publishing Co Ltd [2007] 2 SLR(R) 453, [2007] SGHC 24 (as a JC)
* L W Infrastructure Pte Ltd v Lim Chin San Contractors Pte Ltd [2013] 1 SLR 125, [2012] SGCA 57 (as a JA)
* Yong Kheng Leong v Panweld Trading Pte Ltd [2013] 1 SLR 173, [2012] SGCA 59 (as a JA)
* Dorsey James Michael v World Sport Group Pte Ltd [2013] 3 SLR 354, [2013] SGCA 31 (as CJ)
* Wee Kim San Lawrence Bernard v Robinson & Co (Singapore) Pte Ltd [2014] 4 SLR 357, [2014] SGCA 43 (as CJ)
* Zoom Communications Ltd v Broadcast Solutions Pte Ltd [2014] 4 SLR 500, [2014] SGCA 44 (as CJ)
* Citiwall Safety Glass Pte Ltd v Mansource Interior Pte Ltd [2015] 1 SLR 797, [2014] SGCA 61 (as CJ)
* SGB Starkstrom Pte Ltd v Commissioner for Labour [2016] 3 SLR 598, [2016] SGCA 27 (as CJ)
* Which effectively departed from Chiu Teng @ Kallang Pte Ltd v Singapore Land Authority [2014] 1 SLR 1047, [2013] SGHC 262
* Nam Hong Construction & Engineering Pte Ltd v Kori Construction (S) Pte Ltd [2016] 4 SLR 604, [2016] SGCA 42 (as CJ)
* Attorney-General v Ting Choon Meng [2017] 1 SLR 373, [2017] SGCA 6 (as CJ)
* Law Society of Singapore v Udeh Kumar s/o Sethuraju [2017] 4 SLR 1369, [2017] SGHC 141 (as CJ)
* Nagaenthran a/l K Dharmalingam v Public Prosecutor [2019] 2 SLR 216, [2019] SGCA 37 (as CJ)
* Asia Development Pte Ltd v Attorney-General [2020] 1 SLR 886, [2020] SGCA 22 (as CJ)
* Tan Seng Kee v Attorney-General [2022] 1 SLR 1347, [2022] SGCA 16 (as CJ)
* A decision which was criticised by the previous Chief Justice, Chan Sek Keong SC in an extra-judicial article: "Equal Justice and the Prosecutorial Power" (2022) 34 SAcLJ 256
* Roszaidi bin Osman v Public Prosecutor [2023] 1 SLR 222, [2022] SGCA 75 (as CJ)
* Law Society of Singapore v Ravi s/o Madasamy [2023] SGHC 112 (as CJ)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b NUS Faculty of Law Congratulates our Alumni Sundaresh Menon, SC '86 on His Appointment as Attorney-General of Singapore, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, 4 March 2010, archived from the original on 27 July 2010.
2. ^ a b Advisory Board Member: Mr Sundaresh MENON, SC, School of Law, Singapore Management University, 18 October 2010, archived from the original on 2 April 2011.
3. ^ Arbitration pioneer Alvin Yeo offers tip to young lawyers, The Straits Times, 27 March 2017.
4. ^ Senior Counsel Directory, Singapore Academy of Law, archived from the original on 30 March 2010, retrieved 30 March 2010.
5. ^ Attorneys-General of Singapore, Attorney-General's Chambers, 26 November 2015, archived from the original on 9 November 2015.
6. ^ K.C. Vijayan (1 June 2012), "Changes in Appeal Court, A-G Chambers", The Straits Times, p. A1; Teo Xuanwei (1 June 2012), "A-G to be appointed appeal judge: As Justice Steven Chong succeeds Mr Sundaresh Menon, lawyers are divided over implications of shorter tenures", Today, p. 2, archived from the original on 2 June 2012; Appointment of Mr Sundaresh Menon, S.C. as Judge of Appeal: Fact Sheet (PDF), Attorney-General's Chambers, 31 May 2012, archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2012; Sundaresh Menon to be Judge of Appeal, Channel NewsAsia, archived from the original on 5 July 2012, retrieved 29 August 2012.
7. ^ Tham Yuen-C (30 August 2012), "Sundaresh Menon to be new Chief Justice", The Straits Times, p. 1; Teo Xuanwei (30 August 2012), "Sundaresh Menon is new Chief Justice", Today, pp. 1 & 4, archived from the original on 31 August 2012; Sundaresh Menon sworn in as new Chief Justice, Channel NewsAsia, 7 November 2012, archived from the original on 9 November 2012, retrieved 9 November 2012.
8. ^ Management Details: Mr Sundaresh Menon, S.C. Attorney-General, Attorney-General's Chambers, 24 January 2011, archived from the original on 17 February 2012.

Legal offices

Preceded by

Chan Sek Keong

|  Chief Justice of Singapore
2012  | Incumbent

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Legal profession in Singapore

Executive officers|

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|

Minister for Law|

* K. Shanmugam

Former Attorneys-General|

* Ahmad Mohamed Ibrahim
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* Chao Hick Tin
* Walter Woon
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* Sundaresh Menon
* Steven Chong
* V. K. Rajah

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* Lucien Wong

Judicial officers|

| Former Chief Justices|

* Wee Chong Jin
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|

Chief Justice|

* Sundaresh Menon

Judges of Appeal|

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* Christopher Tan
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Notable former judges|

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* George Wei
* A. V. Winslow

Notable lawyers|

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* Jane Ittogi
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* Kwa Geok Choo
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* Robert Carr Woods
* Lionel Yee
* Stephanie Yuen-Thio

Notable academics|

* Simon Chesterman
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* Tommy Koh
* Lionel A. Sheridan
* M. Sornarajah
* Tan Cheng Han
* David Tan
* Eugene Tan
* Tan Yock Lin
* Simon Tay
* Thio Li-ann
* Thio Su Mien
* Eleanor Wong

Politicians with legal backgrounds|

* Amrin Amin
* Chen Show Mao
* Chia Yong Yong
* Chiam See Tong
* Chin Tet Yung
* Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss
* Christopher de Souza
* He Ting Ru
* Ho Peng Kee
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* Pritam Singh
* Hany Soh
* Tan Chye Cheng
* Dennis Tan
* Tang Liang Hong
* Patrick Tay
* Edwin Tong
* Sandrasegaran Woodhull
* Alvin Yeo
* Charles Yeo
* Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim

Major law firms|

* Allen & Gledhill
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* Ashurst
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* Harry Elias
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* Lee & Lee
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* Rajah & Tann
* Rodyk & Davidson
* Shook Lin & Bok
* Spruson & Ferguson
* TSMP Law Corporation
* WongPartnership

Law schools|

* NUS Faculty of Law
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* Yong Pung How School of Law

Legal organisations|

* Law Society of Singapore
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Authority control databases

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