    thumb|right|100px|david marshall, wearing his political uniform of white bush-jacket and grey trousers, with a hammer david saul marshall (12 march 1908 â 12 december 1995) was a politician and lawyer from singapore who served as singapore's first chief minister from 1955 to 1956. he was the founder of workers' party of singapore, one of the two dominant parties in singapore. he served as president of the party, which was the highest post before the creation of secretary-general. he was also instrumental in the negotiations leading up to the independence of malaya. ==biography== born into an orthodox jewish family descended from indian baghdadi jews in singapore, david marshall was educated at saint joseph's institution, saint andrew's school and then raffles institution. he became interested in politics and the independence movement at an early age. after graduating from the university of london, he was called to the bar at the middle temple in 1937. he later became the most successful criminal lawyer in singapore, with a reputation "marshall never loses". known for his sharp eloquence and imposing stances, he claimed that he had secured 99 acquittals out of 100 cases he defended for murder during singapore's period of using trial by jury. when singapore's leader (and marshall's political opponent) lee kuan yew abolished the jury system in 1969, he quoted marshall's reputation to illustrate its "inadequacy". he was the brother of joseph saul marshall who died under odd circumstances in sydney in 1945, potentially connected to the taman shud case. david marshall died in 1995 of lung cancer. ==political career== a colourful and stirring orator, marshall led the left-wing labour front to a narrow victory in singapore'
1908_births 1995_deaths Alumni_of_the_University_of_London Deaths_from_lung_cancer Jewish_politicians Labour_Front_politicians Members_of_the_Middle_Temple Members_of_the_Parliament_of_Singapore Raffles_Institution_alumni Saint_Andrew\'s_School,_Singapore_alumni Singaporean_Jews Singaporean_lawyers Workers\'_Party_of_Singapore_politicians