Vijaya Kumar Rajah (born 14 January 1957), better known as V. K. Rajah, is a Singaporean lawyer who was the eighth

attorney-general of Singapore The attorney-general of Singapore is the public prosecutor of Singapore, and legal adviser to the Government of Singapore. The functions of the attorney-general are carried out with the assistance of the deputy attorney-general and the solici ...

between 2014 and 2017 and a former judge of the Supreme Court.

Early life

Rajah was born in Singapore on 14 January 1957. His father was Thampore Thamby Rajah, better known as T. T. Rajah, a leader of

Barisan Sosialis Barisan Sosialis ( eng, Socialist Front) was a political party in Singapore. It was formed on 29 July 1961 and officially registered on 13 August 1961 by left-wing members of the People's Action Party (PAP) who had been expelled from the PAP. ...

, and founder of one of the "Big Four" law firms in Singapore,

Rajah & Tann Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP is a law firm headquartered in Singapore, with affiliate offices in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam , DUTAMAS Founded in 1976, it is a member firm of Rajah & Tan ...

. Rajah graduated from the National University of Singapore with a

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 ...

degree in 1982. He went on to complete a

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 ...

with first class degree at

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

in 1986..

Career

Rajah was among the first batch of lawyers in Singapore to be appointed

Senior Counsel The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel (post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictio ...

in 1997, and was once the managing partner of law firm

. He was also part of the

National University of Singapore Faculty of Law The National University of Singapore Faculty of Law (NUS Law) is Singapore's oldest law school. NUS Law was initially established in 1956 as the Department of Law in the University of Malaya. After its establishment, NUS Law was Singapore's only ...

moot team which won the

Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, also known as the Jessup Moot or The Jessup, is the oldest and largest international moot competition in the world, attracting participants from almost 700 law schools in more than 90 ...

in 1982, a first for the university. The other members of the team were Davinder Singh, Jimmy Yim and Steven Chong. He was first appointed Judicial Commissioner on 2 January 2004, Judge of the High Court on 1 November 2004, and subsequently Judge of Appeal in April 2007. Rajah's publications include ''Judicial Management in Singapore'' (with T. C. Choong, Singapore: Butterworths, 1990). He was also the chair of a committee that produced an influential report in 2007 reviewing Singapore's legal sector. Rajah has been a Director at

Monetary Authority of Singapore The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is the central bank and financial regulatory authority of Singapore. It administers the various statutes pertaining to money, banking, insurance, securities and the financial sector in general, as well ...

since 1 November 2014. Rajah served as

Attorney-General of Singapore The attorney-general of Singapore is the public prosecutor of Singapore, and legal adviser to the Government of Singapore. The functions of the attorney-general are carried out with the assistance of the deputy attorney-general and the solici ...

until he was succeeded by

Lucien Wong Lucien Wong Yuen Kuai (born 1953) is a Singaporean lawyer who has been serving as the ninth attorney-general of Singapore since 2017. A former corporate lawyer, Wong was the chairman and a senior partner of Allen & Gledhill, as well as the ch ...

on 14 January 2017. During his term, he "emphasised fair prosecution and outcomes", even appealing as a prosecutor for a reduced sentence in 2015, which was unprecedented in Singapore.

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Lee Hsien Loong Lee Hsien Loong (; born 10 February 1952) is a Singaporean politician and former brigadier-general who has been serving as Prime Minister of Singapore and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party since 2004. He has been the Member of Par ...

thanked him for carrying out his duties "with dynamism and commitment".

References

External links

*. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rajah, VK 1957 births Living people Anglo-Chinese School alumni National University of Singapore alumni Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Singaporean Hindus Singaporean Judges of Appeal Attorneys-General of Singapore Singaporean people of Tamil descent Singaporean people of Indian descent Singaporean Senior Counsel 20th-century Singaporean lawyers 21st-century Singaporean judges