Bala Reddy (

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

: பாலா ரெட்டி) is a veteran Singaporean senior lawyer. He is presently the senior principal district judge and director of the Community Justice and Tribunals division in the

State Courts of Singapore The State Courts of Singapore (formerly the Subordinate Courts) is one of the three categories of courts in Singapore, the other categories being the Supreme Court and Family Justice Courts. The State Courts comprise the District and Magistrate ...

. Reddy is an authority in international criminal justice systems and served as a legal expert for the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

as well as the United Nations Convention against Corruption. Prior to his judicial appointment to th
State Courts
in 2014, Reddy was the Chief Prosecutor in the Attorney-General's Chambers of Singapore during Justice Steven Chong's tenure as Attorney-General.

Early life and education

Bala Reddy was born in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

on 18 September 1955 to parents who had migrated from

Madurai, India Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in T ...

. He graduated from the National University of Singapore (

University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the ...

) Faculty of Law where he was conferred the

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

and

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

degrees. He subsequently also qualified as a barrister in Singapore, Brunei, England and Wales. In 1991, he was awarded a Singapore Legal Service Commission scholarship to pursue an MPhil in Criminology at Trinity Hall,

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

where he was supervised by the distinguished criminologist, Nigel Walker. In 1999, Reddy was awarded a Legal Service sponsorship to join the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School.

Legal practice and judicial career

Reddy began his career in private legal practice specializing as an arbitrator in

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

Banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Becau ...

and

Insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

law. In 1985, he joined the

Singapore Legal Service The Singapore Legal Service is the collective body of lawyers who work in the courts, the Attorney-General's Chambers, and the legal departments of various government ministries and statutory boards in Singapore. Lawyers who are a part of the le ...

, an autonomous wing of the Public Service Commission. He was appointed a Deputy Public Prosecutor and State Counsel in the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) and represented Singapore at several international negotiations including the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime and the

to strengthen the legal capacity of Vietnam. After 20 years of service in the AGC, Reddy was appointed as a judge in the

in 2005. In 2015, Reddy joined the faculty of the SMU School of Law where he leads the seminar course "Evidence, Litigation & Criminal Process".

Community court

Reddy is a proponent of favoring comprehensive community-level justice solutions (as opposed to traditional punitive custodial sentences) to rehabilitate and reintegrate minor offenders from vulnerable groups back into the community. As a judicial officer in the State Courts, he spearheaded the introduction of the community court model and in 2006, Reddy presided over the inaugural Community Court in Singapore. The first problem-solving court in Asia; the community court "adopts a non-traditional, multi-disciplinary team approach and explores sentencing alternatives" such as counseling, rehabilitation and community service to discourage recidivism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reddy, Bala 1955 births Living people 20th-century Singaporean lawyers Singaporean people of Indian descent 21st-century Singaporean judges National University of Singapore alumni Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Cambridge Recipients of the Pingat Pentadbiran Awam