Sundaresh Menon (born 26 February 1962) is a Singaporean lawyer and judge who has served as the fourth

Chief Justice of Singapore The chief justice of Singapore is the chief justice, presiding member of the Supreme Court of Singapore. It is the highest office in the judicial system of Singapore, appointed by the President of Singapore, president, on the advice of the Prime ...

since 2012 after being appointed by president

Tony Tan Tony Tan Keng Yam (; born 7 February 1940) is a Singaporean banker and politician who served as the seventh president of Singapore between 2011 and 2017. Prior to entering politics, Tan was a general manager at OCBC Bank. He made his polit ...

. He is the first Singapore-born Chief Justice and the second to have previously served as the Attorney-General of Singapore after Chan Sek Keong. Menon has played a prominent role in the development of Singapore's legal landscape, particularly in the areas of commercial law and legal technology, and is recognised for his efforts to strengthen the rule of law and judicial cooperation across Asia. He was a founding partner of law firm WongPartnership, and was also a partner at Shook Lin & Bok, Rajah & Tann, and Jones Day. Educated at the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

and

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, Menon began his career in private practice and was appointed Senior Counsel (SC) in 2008. He held senior positions in several prominent law firms before being appointed Judicial Commissioner in 2006 and subsequently as

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

(AG) in 2010. He was appointed as Judge of Appeal in 2012 before assuming the office of Chief Justice later that year. As Chief Justice, Menon has overseen significant reforms in legal education, court processes, and professional ethics. He has also advocated for the internationalisation of Singapore law, including the establishment of the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) in 2015. His speeches and writings have contributed to academic discourse on transnational justice, legal pluralism, and the evolving role of the judiciary in a globalised legal environment.

Early life and education

Born in Singapore, Menon graduated from the

in 1986 with a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree with first-class honours. He subsequently completed a

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

degree at

in 1991...

Career

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, 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 In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

between 2006 and 2007. Returning to legal practice with Rajah & Tann after, he was appointed Senior Counsel on 5 January 2008, and became its managing partner in August 2009. Menon was appointed

on 1 October 2010, where he served until 25 June 2012. He was subsequently appointed a Justice of the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

on 1 August 2012. On 6 November 2012, he was appointed as the fourth

by then-president Tony Tan. 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..

Notable judgments

As a Judicial Commissioner, Judge of Appeal, and Chief Justice, Menon has delivered the following notable judgments: * ''Public Prosecutor v Lew Syn Pau''

006 Alec Trevelyan is a fictional character who is the main antagonist in the 1995 James Bond film ''GoldenEye,'' portrayed by actor Sean Bean. Bean's likeness was also used as the model for Alec Trevelyan in the 1997 video game '' GoldenEye 007' ...

4 SLR(R) 210
[2006
SGHC 146">006">[2006
SGHC 146(as a JC) * ''Re Shankar Alan s/o Anant Kulkarni''

007 The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

1 SLR(R) 85
[2006
SGHC 194">006">[2006
SGHC 194(as a JC) * ''Tan Chui Lian v Neo Liew Eng''

1 SLR(R) 265,

SGHC 203 (as a J

** Affirmed by the Court of Appeal in ''Ong Chai Soon v Ong Chai Koon'' 0222 SLR 457
[2022
SGCA 36">022">[2022
SGCA 36* ''Goh Nellie v Goh Lian Teck''

1 SLR(R) 453
[2006
SGHC 211] (as a JC) * ''Hong Leong Singapore Finance Ltd v United Overseas Bank Ltd''

1 SLR(R) 292
[2006
SGHC 205">006">[2006
SGHC 205(as a JC) * ''Lee Hsien Loong v Review Publishing Co Ltd''

2 SLR(R) 453
[2007
SGHC 24] (as a JC) * ''L W Infrastructure Pte Ltd v Lim Chin San Contractors Pte Ltd'' 0131 SLR 125
[2012
SGCA 57">012">[2012
SGCA 57(as a JA) * ''Yong Kheng Leong v Panweld Trading Pte Ltd'' 0131 SLR 173
[2012
SGCA 59">012">[2012
SGCA 59(as a JA) * ''Dorsey James Michael v World Sport Group Pte Ltd'' 0133 SLR 354
[2013
SGCA 31] (as CJ) * ''Wee Kim San Lawrence Bernard v Robinson & Co (Singapore) Pte Ltd'' 0144 SLR 357
[2014
SGCA 43">014">[2014
SGCA 43(as CJ) * ''Zoom Communications Ltd v Broadcast Solutions Pte Ltd'' 0144 SLR 500
[2014
SGCA 44] (as CJ) * ''Citiwall Safety Glass Pte Ltd v Mansource Interior Pte Ltd'' 0151 SLR 797
[2014
SGCA 61">014">[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'' 0141 SLR 1047
[2013
SGHC 262">013">[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''

017 017 may refer to: * DOL-017, GameCube console * '' Global Underground 017'', DJ mix album * Road FC 017, 2014 Mixed Martial Arts event * Swift 017.n, racing car * Tyrrell 017, Formula One racing car See also * 17 (disambiguation) Seventeen o ...

1 SLR 373
[2017
SGCA 6">017">[2017
SGCA 6(as CJ) * ''Law Society of Singapore v Udeh Kumar s/o Sethuraju''

4 SLR 1369
[2017
SGHC 141] (as CJ) * ''Execution of Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, Nagaenthran a/l K Dharmalingam v Public Prosecutor'' [2019] 2 SLR 216
[2019
SGCA 37">019">[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'' 0221 SLR 1347
[2022
SGCA 16">022">[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">Roszaidi Osman">Roszaidi bin Osman v Public Prosecutor'' [20231 SLR 222
[2022
SGCA 75] (as CJ) * ''Law Society of Singapore v Ravi s/o Madasamy'
[2023
SGHC 112] (as CJ)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menon, Sundaresh 1962 births Attorneys-general of Singapore Singaporean people of Indian descent Singaporean people of Malayali descent Harvard Law School alumni Indian diaspora in Singapore Living people National University of Singapore alumni Malayali people 20th-century Singaporean lawyers Singaporean Roman Catholics Singaporean Senior Counsel Chief justices of Singapore 21st-century Singaporean judges