Change and Yet Continuity - What Next after 50 Years of Legal Education in Singapore?

Abstract

As the NUS Faculty of Law celebrates 50 years of legal education in Singapore, this article explores some of the likely developments in Singapore legal education in the next few years. The paper suggests that globalisation will mean a greater emphasis on comparative law and more international collaboration amongst law schools. It also suggests that inter-disciplinary perspectives in the study of law will become more important, as will skills programmes designed to serve as vehicles to develop both practical and higher order thinking skills. A student-centric teaching pedagogy will remain important although resource constraints may lead to changes in the teaching methods used. The paper also opines that with globalisation, there is a growing awareness of what teaching best practices in legal education are and this will lead to calls for reform in the many parts of the world where law teaching is of poor quality.