# Sundaresh Menon

Sundaresh Menon SC (born 26 February 1962) is a Singaporean lawyer who has been serving as Chief Justice of Singapore since 2012.
Prior to his appointment as Chief Justice, Menon was a Judicial Commissioner between 2006 and 2007, Attorney-General between 2010 and 2012, and a Justice of the Court of Appeal.
Menon studied law at the National University of Singapore and Harvard Law School. He was a founding partner of law firm WongPartnership, and was also a partner at Shook Lin & Bok, Rajah & Tann, and Jones Day.
He was appointed as Chief Justice of Singapore by former president Tony Tan.

## Education

Menon graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1986 with a Bachelor of Laws degree with first-class honours. He subsequently completed a Master of Laws degree at Harvard Law School in 1991.

## Career

Menon started his career at Shook Lin & Bok as a legal assistant in 1987, and became a partner in 1990. In 1992, together with Wong Meng Meng and Alvin Yeo, Menon co-founded WongPartnership, one of the largest law firms in Singapore, and remained a partner in the law firm until 1995. He then joined Rajah & Tann as a partner and served as its Head of Projects & Infrastructure Group until 2003, and thereafter joined Jones Day as a partner until 2006.
Menon served a one-year term as a Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court between 2006 and 2007. Returning to legal practice with Rajah & Tann after, he was appointed Senior Counsel on 5 January 2008, and became its managing partner in August 2009. Menon was appointed Attorney-General on 1 October 2010, where he served until 25 June 2012. He was subsequently appointed a Justice of the Court of Appeal on 1 August 2012. On 6 November 2012, he was appointed as the fourth Chief Justice of Singapore by then-president Tony Tan. He is the first Chief Justice to be born in Singapore.
He has served as Deputy Chairman of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, a member of the Senate of the Singapore Academy of Law, and Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Singapore Management University School of Law.

## Notable judgments

As a Judicial Commissioner, Judge of Appeal, and Chief Justice, Menon has delivered the following notable judgments:
* Public Prosecutor v Lew Syn Pau [2006] 4 SLR(R) 210, [2006] SGHC 146 (as a JC)
* Re Shankar Alan s/o Anant Kulkarni [2007] 1 SLR(R) 85, [2006] SGHC 194 (as a JC)
* Tan Chui Lian v Neo Liew Eng [2007] 1 SLR(R) 265, [2006] SGHC 203 (as a JC)
** Affirmed by the Court of Appeal in Ong Chai Soon v Ong Chai Koon [2022] 2 SLR 457, [2022] SGCA 36
* Goh Nellie v Goh Lian Teck [2007] 1 SLR(R) 453, [2006] SGHC 211 (as a JC)
* Hong Leong Singapore Finance Ltd v United Overseas Bank Ltd [2007] 1 SLR(R) 292, [2006] SGHC 205 (as a JC)
* Lee Hsien Loong v Review Publishing Co Ltd [2007] 2 SLR(R) 453, [2007] SGHC 24 (as a JC)
* L W Infrastructure Pte Ltd v Lim Chin San Contractors Pte Ltd [2013] 1 SLR 125, [2012] SGCA 57 (as a JA)
* Yong Kheng Leong v Panweld Trading Pte Ltd [2013] 1 SLR 173, [2012] SGCA 59 (as a JA)
* Dorsey James Michael v World Sport Group Pte Ltd [2013] 3 SLR 354, [2013] SGCA 31 (as CJ)
* Wee Kim San Lawrence Bernard v Robinson & Co (Singapore) Pte Ltd [2014] 4 SLR 357, [2014] SGCA 43 (as CJ)
* Zoom Communications Ltd v Broadcast Solutions Pte Ltd [2014] 4 SLR 500, [2014] SGCA 44 (as CJ)
* Citiwall Safety Glass Pte Ltd v Mansource Interior Pte Ltd [2015] 1 SLR 797, [2014] SGCA 61 (as CJ)
* SGB Starkstrom Pte Ltd v Commissioner for Labour [2016] 3 SLR 598, [2016] SGCA 27 (as CJ)
** Which effectively departed from Chiu Teng @ Kallang Pte Ltd v Singapore Land Authority [2014] 1 SLR 1047, [2013] SGHC 262
* Nam Hong Construction & Engineering Pte Ltd v Kori Construction (S) Pte Ltd [2016] 4 SLR 604, [2016] SGCA 42 (as CJ)
* Attorney-General v Ting Choon Meng [2017] 1 SLR 373, [2017] SGCA 6 (as CJ)
* Law Society of Singapore v Udeh Kumar s/o Sethuraju [2017] 4 SLR 1369, [2017] SGHC 141 (as CJ)
* Nagaenthran a/l K Dharmalingam v Public Prosecutor [2019] 2 SLR 216, [2019] SGCA 37 (as CJ)
* Asia Development Pte Ltd v Attorney-General [2020] 1 SLR 886, [2020] SGCA 22 (as CJ)
* Tan Seng Kee v Attorney-General [2022] 1 SLR 1347, [2022] SGCA 16 (as CJ)
** A decision which was criticised by the previous Chief Justice, Chan Sek Keong SC in an extra-judicial article: "Equal Justice and the Prosecutorial Power" (2022) 34 SAcLJ 256
* Roszaidi bin Osman v Public Prosecutor [2023] 1 SLR 222, [2022] SGCA 75 (as CJ)
* Law Society of Singapore v Ravi s/o Madasamy [2023] SGHC 112 (as CJ)