[26 October 2009]
Singapore Management University Law School and New York State Bar Association Partner for U.S. Internships, Exchange Programmes and Knowledge Sharing
The Agreement is a First Between a U.S. Bar Association and a Singapore Law School
Singapore, 26 October 2009 (Monday) – The Singapore Management University (SMU) School of Law and the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) – a statewide organisation of lawyers in New York and the largest voluntary state bar association in the United States – today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that creates a framework for law student internships, exchange programmes and knowledge sharing that will develop deeper linkages between faculty and students of SMU's law school and NYSBA members. The landmark agreement is the first between an American bar association and a Singapore university. The MOU was announced at the 2009 Seasonal Meeting of NYSBA's International Section during its opening cocktail reception hosted at SMU and attended by Mr. K. Shanmugam, Singapore's Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs.
The agreement will facilitate the creation of overseas internships for SMU law students at New York firms, particularly those with multi-jurisdictional operations and practice. In addition, SMU School of Law and its faculty will be identified as a key resource for Asian legal expertise that can be shared with NYSBA membership. SMU law faculty also will be invited to participate, as speakers or panelists, in topical conferences and seminars organised by NYSBA's International Section. The agreement allows SMU law faculty and students to help the International Section on the creation of white papers, research memoranda, drafting of international agreements and legislation. A working team, of senior representatives from NYSBA and the SMU School of Law was formed to develop and implement initiatives under the collaboration.
Professor Howard Hunter, President of SMU said, “The 2009 Seasonal Meeting is an important forum for members, their foreign counterparts and key players in the legal profession to come together for discussions. We are happy to be able to contribute to this key conference as one of the venue hosts as well as provide ideas and input for several plenary sessions. SMU School of Law looks forward to forging closer relations with the New York State Bar Association in various areas of cooperation.”
Professor Michael Furmston, Dean, School of Law at SMU said, “We are honoured to be chosen as the Asian university partner to form a close working relationship with the New York State Bar Association. The broad-ranging collaboration is mutually beneficial, allowing our students the exposure to American law practice, legal education and the top minds in the profession. SMU law students currently benefit from opportunities for overseas internship and exchange studies around the world including the United States, Europe, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Middle East, Israel, United Kingdom and India. We look forward to further expanding their global reach and experience.”
“This groundbreaking partnership between the New York State Bar Association and the Singapore Management University Law School is an excellent way for students and law practitioners to share expertise, resources and ideas across a variety of legal disciplines,” said New York State Bar Association President Michael E. Getnick (Getnick Livingston Atkinson & Priore, LLP and of counsel to Getnick & Getnick of New York City). “I am particularly grateful to the members of the International Section and to Chair Michael Galligan for collaborating with our Asian colleagues on this outstanding initiative and I look forward to working together with them to expand our growing international network of legal professionals.”
“The International Section of the New York State Bar Association is very pleased to undertake this collaboration with the Singapore Management University Law School to create this exciting opportunity for joint cooperation and joint projects,” said Michael Galligan (Phillips Nizer LLP), chair of the NYSBA International Section. “This collaboration will provide law students in Singapore with the opportunity to gain more knowledge of the American legal system and give the State Bar's legal practitioners a new platform from which to view legal issues with a global perspective. I would like to thank my colleagues at Singapore Management University for their enthusiastic hospitality for our 2009 Singapore Conference and for initiating this way of creating a lasting bond between the legal professions and the legal academies of our two jurisdictions.”
This is Singapore's first year hosting the International Section's annual Seasonal Meeting, which is always held in a city outside the United States. The 2009 Meeting provides American lawyers and their international colleagues the opportunity to meet, network and expand their international practices. This year's Meeting titled New York and New Asia: A Partnership for the 21st Century is being held from October 26 to 29 and will be attended by close to 200 delegates, about half coming from New York State.
The 2009 Meeting includes three days of Continuing Legal Education (CLE) sessions that focus on recent developments in international business and private law. Speakers include the Singapore Minister of Law, the Chief Justice of the Singapore Supreme Court, senior Singapore government officials and experts in the areas of international business and international law. The full program can be found by going to: http://www.nysba.org/Content/ContentFolders/InternationalLawandPracticeSection/InternationalMeetings/IS-ProgramFinal101609.pdf.
SMU is one of the venue hosts for the Seasonal Meeting and will be involved in several other events including:
- October 28 – A plenary discussion titled Co rporate Social Responsibility: Regulation and Governance on October 28. Included as panelists are SMU law school advisory board members Mr. Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara of WongPartnership LLP and Mr. Eduardo Ramos-Gómez of Duane Morris Singapore LLP; SMU Assistant Professor of Law Eugene Tan; and internship partners Mr. Zia Mody of AZB & Partners and Mr. John Winski of Monsanto Singapore.
- October 29 – An interactive forum on October 29 for SMU law undergraduates titled What Does It Mean To Be An International Lawyer?
- October 29 – A forum titled Globalisation of Legal Education.
- A cocktail dinner for delegates on its city campus.
More details about the Seasonal Meeting are on an Annex.
About the SMU School of Law
The School of Law was established at SMU in 2007 as Singapore's second law school, welcoming its pioneer batch of students in August of that year. For the first time in Singapore legal education, a new contextualised teaching of law has been introduced to produce lawyers ready for corporate and commercial practice. SMU leverages its existing strengths in business and finance, and extends the unique SMU brand of education which serves a select, smaller cohort of students to the School of Law . The objective of the different law curriculum is to develop law graduates who have a broad-based understanding of the real world, practice-relevant legal knowledge and expertise and the ability to think across disciplines and geographical borders. The School of Law offers a four-year single law degree (LL.B), a five-year double degree programme and the Juris Doctor (a graduate legal programme). There are currently 377 undergraduates and 27 students on the J.D. programme. The first batch of SMU law undergraduates will complete their LL.B in 2011.
About the New York State Bar Association
The 76,000-member New York State Bar Association is the official statewide organization of lawyers in New York and is the largest voluntary state bar association in the United States. Founded in 1876, State Bar programmes and activities have continuously served the public and improved the justice system for more than 130 years.
