The Curious Case of How Big Firm Lawyers and Female Lawyers Perform in Court
[Straits Times] Does the quality of a lawyer affect your chances of winning a case in court? Should it? Earlier this week, non-essential court proceedings resumed in Singapore after two months on hold due to the Covid-19 circuit breaker. In most cases, lawyers will continue to appear remotely before judges via teleconference. Trying to […] more…
Do Better Lawyers Win More Often? Measures of Advocate Quality and Their Impact in Singapore’s Supreme Court
[Asian Journal of Comparative Law] Parties to a dispute that goes to court typically seek to retain the best lawyer they can afford. But do the ‘best’ lawyers get better results? This article surveys the literature across various jurisdictions before introducing a recent study of determinants of litigation outcomes in Singapore. The focus is on […] more…
Codes, Puzzles, and Conundrums
The fourth book in the trilogy is now available! (Well, a companion book that makes an ideal present for a know-it-all relative — or a precocious child whom you want to keep quiet for a few hours…) Enter the world of secret codes, cunning puzzles, and mind-bending conundrums. Inspired by the Raising Arcadia series, this book […] more…
Being Arcadia
The trilogy is complete! Arcadia Greentree confronts her past — and her future. The pieces of Arcadia’s life are slowly falling into place when Moira returns to scatter them once more. Arcadia must now choose whether to trust her nemesis as they uncover the dark secret of their birth. Advance Praise “Wonderfully satisfying puzzles to […] more…
Trump and the Triumph of Kakistocracy
And to think it was in the dictionary all along: “Trumpery. Noun. Worthless nonsense; tawdry finery. From the French tromper, to deceive.” We are now into the second month of the three-ring circus that is the Trump presidency, as what seemed inconceivable became unbelievable but is now undeniable. In an electoral upset that made the […] more…
Finding Arcadia
The second book of my Raising Arcadia trilogy is now available worldwide! To understand the present, Arcadia Greentree must dig deep into her past. Her family torn apart by tragedy, Arcadia tries to locate the “professor” whom she believes to be ultimately responsible. A series of clues lead her to Oxford University and a confrontation with […] more…
Raising Arcadia
And now for something completely different… my first novel! Arcadia Greentree knows she isn’t exactly normal. But then she discovers she isn’t Arcadia Greentree either. Arcadia sees the world like no one else. Exceptionally observant, the sixteen-year-old is aware of her surroundings in a way that sometimes gets her into trouble — and out of […] more…
Musing on Vampires and Writing a Teen Novel
As an academic and as a lawyer I am paid to organize words. Given the limitations of the alphabet and of space, enough monkeys at enough typewriters would eventually produce not only everything that I have ever written but the entire works of Shakespeare as well. “Eventually” is a fairly long time, however. In the […] more…
The Myth of Magna Carta
The Hereford Cathedral Magna Carta will be on display in Singapore’s Supreme Court from Thursday. But almost everything you think you know about this 800-year-old document is wrong. Magna Carta bears an iconic status in legal history. Signed eight centuries ago by King John at Runnymede, near Windsor, it laid the foundations for constraints on […] more…
I.O.U.
Bankruptcy may represent a financial failure, but recent changes to the law show that it need not be regarded as a moral failure also. Not long ago, a member of staff at an organization in Singapore told her boss that she was resigning. As she was a productive employee and had seemed happy, her […] more…
Tinkering with the Machinery of Death
The death penalty is being reassessed in the three industrialised countries that continue to impose it: the United States, Japan, and Singapore. In centuries past, the death penalty was a spectacle for the masses. Four hundred years ago, those involved in the Gunpowder Plot — still merrily celebrated as Guy Fawkes Night — failed in their attempt to assassinate […] more…
Lee Kuan Yew the Lawyer
On 4 June 2013, the National University of Singapore conferred an honorary degree of doctor of laws on Singapore’s founding prime minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. I was asked to serve as the public orator, describing some of Mr Lee’s achievements in support of the award. But what was there to say about Lee Kuan Yew […] more…
Singapore and the Rule of Law
The rule of law is like oxygen: easily taken for granted, but quickly noticed when it is absent. If you have it, the rule of law makes organised society possible. If you lack the rule of law, it is a recipe for disorder and corruption. An extreme example of the absence of the rule of […] more…
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