Book Reviews: Corporate Law by Hans Tjio, Pearlie Koh and Lee Pey Woan

Abstract

For a long time, Professor Walter Woon’s seminal work on the Singapore company law has been the sole authoritative text in this area. However, as Singapore continues to position itself as a prime location for legal services and commercial dispute resolution in Asia, a single company law book may not be sufficient to serve the growing needs of the legal profession and the law students. Our legal professionals require more indigenous academic writings that embrace both the intellectual rigour and practical reality to guide them in their day-to-day work. At the same time, our law students yearn to read more books that can challenge their way of thinking and inspire them to love the area of law in which they are studying. It is therefore very heartening to see all these qualities incorporated in the latest corporate law book jointly written by our three prolific local legal scholars. In addition, this book is forward-looking in that it is written on the basis that all amendments to the Companies Act (Cap 50, 2006 Rev Ed Sing) [Companies Act] introduced by the Companies (Amendment) Act 2014 (No 36 of 2014) [2014 Amendment Act] have been effected. The 2014 Amendment Act was the product of extensive work done by the Steering Committee for the Review of the Companies Act, chaired by Professor Walter Woon that began in October 2007. After a few rounds of public consultations and various discussions with the Ministry of Finance, Attorney-General’s Chambers and ACRA, the bill was finally passed by the Singapore Parliament in October 2015. However, as the changes to the corporate landscape are extensive, the amendments will take effect in phases. This book will therefore stay useful and relevant for some time after it is published.