Latest update: SMU officially renames its law school Yong Pung How School of Law
Singapore Management University (SMU) broke ground on its new School of Law building on 20 January 2014. The new building will be a distinctive landmark that will contain state-of-the-art facilities used both to enrich the learning experience of SMU law students as well as involve others within the legal fraternity who are important stakeholders of the University.
Standing at the junction of Armenian Street and Canning Rise, the new 23,000-square-metre building - about the size of 52 basketball courts – will be ready by 2017. A key feature of the new building is the Kwa Geok Choo Law Library, named in memory of the late Madam Kwa Geok Choo, wife of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. The 2,200-square-metre Law Library will be fully equipped with modern technology wired for legal research in the 21st century. Also housed within the new building will be the David Marshall Moot Court, the SMU Pro Bono Centre, and other research centres.
The new School of Law building will nurture a greater sense of belonging and identity.
"Future generations of students of the SMU School of Law will have classes in this new building. Books will be read; friendships will be forged; eminent lawyers and leaders of the legal profession will be born. If, and when they look back on this day, they might wonder how the law school ever functioned without its own building."
(The Honourable Attorney-General Mr Steven Chong, S.C., who was the Guest of Honour at the ground-breaking ceremony held on 20 January 2014.)
The new building will foster closer ties among students, alumni and the law fraternity.
"SMU city campus already enjoys close proximity with the law courts, being less than a kilometre from the Supreme Court. We are also near the offices of many of our partners in the legal fraternity. The new building, with its inclusive facilities, will further promote these links and engagement as it will provide an ideal location for students, alumni and the fraternity to meet and interact… The project team and architects have also done a good job in incorporating design elements that will bring students and faculty closer to the lush nature that embraces the new building. These sustainable and inclusive design elements are an extension of the current SMU campus design, and stand true to the essence of SMU being both a global city university and integral part of the local environment and community."
The new building will inspire the next generation of lawyers.
"We believe that the new School of Law building must have the power to inspire. In fact, the Kwa Geok Choo Law Library will be the inspirational heart of the School of Law. The library is strategically placed at the high point of the site next to Stamford Green and is expressed architecturally as a sculptural form to represent an ‘inspirational beacon’ that seeks to illuminate the lives of SMU’s law students. It will be symbolic of a ‘moral compass’ to remind students of the importance of dignity, truth and justice in society."
(Dean of SMU School of Law, Professor Yeo Tiong Min)
The SMU School of Law, which proudly welcomed its first cohort of 116 students in August 2007, now takes in about 180 students per year. The School will see its 10th intake of students and seventh batch of alumni in 2017, the year in which the new building is slated for completion.
Media Coverage
- 21 January 2014, The Straits Times: SMU breaks ground for new law school building
- 21 January 2014, 联合早报: 外形似“明珠”柯玉芝法律图书馆如“明灯”指引学生
- 21 January 2014, TODAY: SMU School of Law model unveiled
- 20 January 2014, The Straits Times, Breaking News: SMU's new School of Law building to be ready by 2017
- 11 November 2011, The Straits Times: Bust of David Marshall to grace SMU court named after him
- 6 July 2011, The Straits Times: NUS, SMU to honour late Mrs Lee
- 6 July 2011, 联合早报: 新大国大法学院多项目以柯玉芝命名
- 5 July 2011, Channel News Asia: NUS, SMU honour late Mdm Kwa Geok Choo
Press Releases
- 20 January 2014 – Ground-breaking of new building for SMU School of Law
- 10 November 2011 - Bust of David Marshall finds permanent home in the SMU School of Law
- 5 July 2011 – SMU and NUS to pay tribute to the late Madame Kwa Geok Choo