SMU today celebrated the official opening of its new School of Law building and the Kwa Geok Choo Law Library. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (PM Lee) officially opened the 23,000 sq m School of Law building, located at the junction of Armenian Street and Stamford Road. Among the building's features are a pearl-shaped dome, which houses the Kwa Geok Choo Law Library, named in memory of the late Mrs Lee Kuan Yew, who is PM Lee's mother.

In his opening speech, PM Lee shared with the 800-strong audience present that his mother, who was a conveyancing lawyer for over 30 years, kept a small personal library of law books in her office. Besides nurturing young lawyers, PM Lee also added that his mother had paid special attention to the female lawyers in her firm and she was even a pioneer of work-life balance in the 1980s. PM Lee later toured the 2,200 sq m, three-storey library, which will focus on developing special collections in commercial law, dispute resolution and Asean law, among other areas. He also visited the new David Marshall Moot Court, which is named after the country's first chief minister and one of its top criminal lawyers.

Overlooking Fort Canning and the city, the Kwa Geok Choo Law Library will house a digital collection which will serve not only the SMU community, but also "the entire legal fraternity in Singapore and beyond", SMU Board of Trustees Chairman Ho Kwon Ping said at the ceremony. "It is expressed architecturally as a sculptural dome to represent an inspirational beacon that seeks to illuminate the lives and minds of those who draw upon the library’s centuries of legal knowledge. It is also symbolic of a moral compass to remind students of the importance of ethical principles, truth and justice in society," Mr Ho added

In his speech, SMU president Arnoud De Meyer called the building "a real engineering achievement". He commended the building's designer MKPL Architects and its builders Kajima Overseas Asia for their "sensitivity, skills and care", as the project is "constructed on the slopes of the historic Fort Canning Hill, on a site encompassing heritage trees" with several conservation buildings and the Fort Canning Tunnel close by. SMU School of Law Dean Professor Yeo Tiong Min said: "It is without a doubt that the new School of Law building will be a venue where legal minds will be able to meet, interact, network and collaborate."