Chief Justice and URA chairman receive honorary degrees from NUS

They are university’s highest form of recognition for outstanding individuals

- Taryn Ng

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) chairman Peter Ho received the highest honours from the National University of Singapore (NUS) on July 11.

Chief Justice Menon was conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, while Mr Ho was conferred an honorary Doctor of Letters.

The honorary degrees were presented by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who is also the NUS chancellor, at the commencement ceremony for 468 graduates from the Faculty of Science and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, the first of 31 such ceremonies held by NUS at the University Cultural Centre on its Kent Ridge campus.

The honorary degrees are the university’s highest form of recognition for outstanding individuals whose service have had an impact in Singapore and globally.

Chief Justice Menon first graduated from NUS with a first-class law degree in 1986 and earned a master’s degree in law from Harvard Law School five years later, in 1991.

He began his career in 1987 with Shook Lin & Bok, where he later became a partner at age 27 in 1990.

Two years later, he co-founded WongPartnership, before moving on to Rajah and Tann in 1995.

In 2003, he joined international law firm Jones Day, but returned to Rajah and Tann as a managing partner in 2009.

In 2010, he became Singapore’s sixth attorney-general, and was appointed as chief justice of the Supreme Court in 2012.