Teo Soon Kim (23 June 1904 - 23 April 1978, also Teow Soon Kim and Lo-Teo Soon Kim) was a barrister 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, borde ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

and also in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. She was the first woman admitted to the

Straits Settlement The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...

bar, and the first woman barrister in Hong Kong. She also became the third Malayan Chinese woman to become a barrister in England.

Biography

Teo's father,

Teo Eng Hock Teo Eng Hock ( zh, 张永福; 1872 - 5 April 1959) was a rubber tycoon and the founder of the Singaporean branch of the Tongmenghui and later the Kuomintang. He later moved to China and became involved in politics there. Early life Teo was born i ...

, was a rubber baron from Teochew. Teo was encouraged by her father to get an education and attended the

Methodist Girls' School Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...

. She later taught at the school for two years, but what she really wanted to do was become a lawyer. Part of her motivation for becoming a lawyer was because few women in Asia had done so and none in Singapore had been admitted to the bar. She went to the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

to study law and lived in

Finchley Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross. Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...

. She entered the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in London in May 1924 where she studied with H. H. L. Bellot. In 1927, became the third

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

woman to be admitted to the

bar of England and Wales Barristers in England and Wales are one of the two main categories of lawyer in England and Wales, the other being solicitors. Barristers have traditionally had the role of handling cases for representation in court, both defence and prosecutio ...

. Teo returned to Singapore and married Lo Long Chi in December 1928. In 1929, Teo was admitted to the Singapore bar. She practiced for a few years in Singapore after spending two years in China. In Singapore, she took on civil and criminal cases and argued in front of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

in 1932. She was first woman to argue a case in front of the Supreme Court and drew a crowd in the public gallery. In 1932, she moved to Hong Kong and became the first woman admitted to the bar there in August 1932. In the early 1920s, Teo converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. She was inducted into the

Singapore Women's Hall of Fame The Singapore Women's Hall of Fame is a virtual hall of fame that honors and documents the lives of historically significant women in Singapore. The hall is the creation of the Singapore Council of Women's Organisations (SCWO), and grew out of an ea ...

in 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Teo Soon Kim 1904 births 1978 deaths 20th-century Singaporean lawyers Singaporean women lawyers Singaporean people of Teochew descent Alumni of the University of London 20th-century women lawyers

Biography

See also

References